June 19, 2007

This will be the last picture of my swallow nest you have to be bored with as we leave in the morning for 3 weeks and the three birds will be gone by then. (I also will not be posting in that time, but I'll have more travel pictures when I return. This time from cruising the Mississippi from New Orleans to St Paul.)

June 18, 2007

A Bouquet of flowers made from clay whichI bought at an art fair. The frog is smaller than my little fingernail!

June 17, 2007

My grand daughter's tattoo she got on her 18th birthday.

June 16, 2007

My grand daughter on the day of her and her step brother's graduation party.

June 15, 2007

We have baby birds!

June 14, 2007

My neighbor's flag on Flag Day.

June 13, 2007

My orchids are still in bloom.

June 12, 2007

On March 29, I posted a picture of this plant with a new shoot questioning whether it was going to be a flower stem or a root. It's a flower stem!

June 11, 2007

A plant my husband gave me for our anniversary.

June 10, 2007

Saturday, we enjoyed a wonderful performance of Student Prince by Skylark Opera company, formerly North Star Opera.

June 9, 2007

A place I love to sit outside, enjoy a beverage, and read a good book.

June 8, 2007

A flower in my garden.

June 7, 2007

A visitor on our deck.

June 6, 2007

It's that time of the year again. This year, two of our grandchildren graduated from high school. Where has the time gone? It seems only yesterday they were born.

June 5, 2007

I was gone so missed the lilacs in bloom, but the French lilacs were blooming when I got home.

June 3, 2007

A goldfinch at our feeder.

June 2, 2007

Every time we go out our front door, the birds leave the nest, so I grabbed the kitchen stool, hopefully aimed the camera and took a picture to see what was in the nest! This must be what they mean when they say, "feather your nest."

June 1, 2007

What a beautiful piece of architecture and persistance! The nearest mud was usually a good 1/2 block away. We tried discouraging a pair of swallows from building a nest on the light by our front door, but they persisted-and won. Actually, most of this was made last summer, but the parents abandoned the nest with two eggs in it. My theory is that the couple were too young to settle down. The day they disappeared they were flitting around with another pair and then they were all gone, off to have fun. This year they came back, did some remodeling and so far have settled down.

May 30, 2007

A short shower produced this beautiful rainbow. Luckily, I took the picture stopped at a red light as it was gone when I got home 1/2 a mile away.

May 27, 2007

The cloud formations of a storm we had to fly around coming from Chicago to Minneapolis, resulting in us being 3 hours late. This is the last of the travel pictures! Now, I have nothing to post as I haven't been taking many pictures. I'll probably find some.

May 26, 2007

A sunset along the river in Russia.

May 25, 2007

A typical Russian apartment building. Some people rent their space, others elect to buy theirs.

May 24, 2007

A Russian village along the river.

May 24, 2007

A monument to Sebalius in Helsinki, Finland. We happened upon a free concert at the Sebalius Institute which was great-a young pianist who played several numbers, then accompanied a baritone who sang several pieces. It was probably a student recital, but was attended by only a few people. Excellent.

May 22, 2007

Tallinn, Estonia

May 21, 2007

Tallinn, Estonia

May 20, 2007

The Great Hall in Catherine's Palace named for Peter the Great's wife, Catherine the First. The original palace was heavily damaged during WW II and the restoration is said to be the finest replica in the world. The famous Amber Room is in this palace and is indescribable, paneled entirely with different colors of amber. We were unable to take pictures in that room. During the war the Amber Room was dismantled and taken away for safety, but has not been found to this day. The restoration was done entirely with black and white photos. (I'm reading a fun, fiction, mystery about this room and the search to find it, The Amber Room by Steve Berry. Amazon says his research was very thorough and the historical facts accurate.)

May 19, 2007

This is the Palace at Peterhof with fountains in front. It is made up of three waterfalls, nearly 150 fountains shooting more than 2000 jets of water and many statues and sculptures. After 250 years, all of the fountains and waterworks in this huge park with several buildings and many fountains, work without pumps, relying on a system of gravity.

May 18, 2007

This is one of the trick fountains at Peterhof Palace, the summer residence of Peter the Great. Imagine women in their beautiful ball gowns taking a stroll in the park, stopping to rest on this nice bench, only to discover that their weight on the rocks in front of the bench turn the fountain on.

May 17, 2007

St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia.

May 16, 2007

While in St. Petersbury we attended a school with emphasis on music partly supported by the Grand Circle Foundation (the company we travel with-great company). Here is the choir performing for us along with the orchestra and individual muscians of all ages. Later we visited a 7th grade classroom where we were able to ask questions and they questioned us. 7th graders are the same all over the world!

May 15, 2007

The town of SvirStroi. In this town we had an enjoyable home visit where we were served tea, some crackers, and piroshky, a speciality of this region of Russia. They are pastries with filling, we had potatoe, cabbage or apple.

May 14, 2007

Church Of the Transfiguration on Kizhi Island in Lake Onega. The island is one of the most ancient inhabited sites in Russia and was an early pagan center. The church has 22 onion domes and was made without nails. It will be undergoing restoration which can be followed on the internet.

May 13, 2007

A home in the small town of Goritsi. This is fairly typical of homes in small towns and on the outskirts of big cities. In the cities, there is very little land around the homes.