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County Views.161

Cook County, Illinois, as captured by the lens of occasional contributor Sam 🙂

Signs of the City.121

A collection of “signs” images from the past few months in A’dam, including two at the bottom from the national memorial service on the 80th anniversary, to those lost in WWII and the colonial war which followed and led to Indonesia’s independence.

Coasting.131

Every photo in this post was taken between 3:15 and 4:31pm on the 22nd of January, as the boat traveled north towards the arctic circle which we crossed shortly after 8am the following morning.

Urban Garden.231

The joys of a contemplative, stress-free walking exploration of one’s local park & lake. E.g. I finally climbed up the top of a little hill with a sculpture on top, which I’d always just looked at from that path down below, previously. I’m lying on said sculpture in the image above. Also, a photo exhibit at the south end of the lake about building dialogue between communities.

Bridges.31

The same drawbridge shows up in each of these five photos from my exploration of the Chateau de Vincennes last year.

Windows.21

There are windows in all these shots from the Snowhotel Kirkenes – starting with a photo of the frozen fjord taken from the dining room mid-morning after we arrived and checked in. Note that the photo at the very bottom, which looks rather late-night, was taken 3:26 pm. On January 26, so I think they said five days or a week after the sun returned to Kirkenes. 🙂

Skylights.11

Please note the lovely sliver of moon in the top left 🙂

Village Views.111

I think I’ll aim to use up my snowy and dark Norway shots in July & August, in hopes maybe it’ll help friends sweltering in hot summer weather appreciate the seasons a bit. Including myself, though sweltering hot remains, mercifully, a rare weather pattern here in A’dam specifically. Last from our short port call at Finnsnes in January.

Urban Canals.201

In the center left of the photo above, you’ll see a bit straw sitting on the water, and a coot swimming slightly to the right. That’s a coot nest, of one of two in the mini lake – canal thing that wraps around my building here in A’dam (yep, the tall on reflected in the water there) that I’ve enjoyed watching this season. All the various shots in this post are from the past few months on the interconnecting canals and lakes in my neighborhood.

Urban Canals.200

Sunset on June 20, left; sunrise about seven hours later on June 21, right. Were we up in the arctic circle on these days, the sun would journey all the way around, continously above the horizon. Maybe next year I’ll get up there again and photograph that! The joy of summer solistice is followed by the pain of ever-shorter days as the sun migrates further south again from this annual high point. Ah, well, c’est la vie.

Village Views.110

Some last shots of Bissone, the lovely little village on the eastern shore of Lake Lugano where I stayed for four nights last November :-). The serpents are the city (village, really) symbol, taken by the public pool.

Skylights.10

OK, so I went for this fabulous dawn / sunrise walk in Rome last week, with various buildings framing the setting moon wonderfully as the sky lightened. Couldn’t help myself, just kept taking photos. Yes, you’ll see the moon in each of the photos below, if you look closely enough or tap and enlarge. Don’t hate me if I’ve again gone overboard on this whole beauty thing 🙂

Windows.20

A pair of Tromsø windows on Tuesday afternoon (before 3pm) back in January…