Civil War

I caught this gun just as it fired.

Civil War reenactment at Cantigny Park.

Precursor to AC

I went to a car show at Cantigny Park today. One of the interesting things I was was a Thermador Car Cooler.

You put water in this and as you cruise along the water evaporates as the air flows over it into the car (with the window up.) This was especially effective in the southwest were there was little humidity.

Feeding

The bees and butterflies were out in full force this afternoon at Cantigny Park.

Dough Boy

Commemorating the WW1 soldier.

Revolutionary War Reenactment

Cantigny Park sponsored a number of family activities today. They brought in a group of Revolutionary War re-enactors who taught a variety of 18th century kids games. They also had a number of displays showing the daily life of the Continental Army as well as a canon firing demo.

This young girl hung around the table with a rifle and a muzzle loader. Anytime the adult (men) walked away she took up the "teaching" role tell listeners that the rifle was accurate up to 300 yrds but could only be fired once a minute, while the muzzle loader was only accurate up to 50 yards but could be fired 3 times a minute. She was really good. I think there's a teaching career ahead of her.

Vintage Base Ball

There was a round robin tournament between 3 teams today. The DuPage County Plow Boys home field is at Cantigny. They play by the 1858 rules: no gloves, no lead-offs, no stealing, no sliding and you are out if the ball is caught on one bounce. Pitching is underhand. Makes for a fast-paced, interesting game.

This ball dropped in for a base hit.

The other two teams were the Lemont Quarrymen 

 

and the Somonauk Bluestockings.

Sisters

8 June 2012*

These sisters had a wonderful time in the fountain at Millennium Park in Chicago.

* Taken June 8 but not posted until June 9.

Summer Concert

Tonight inaugurated the 87th season of the Wheaton Municipal Band conducted by Bruce Moss in Memorial Park. A crowd of 500-600 from 2 to 85+ yrs. attended. 

Giant Leaves

Elephant Ears at Cantigny Park & Gardens

Armed Forcers Day

I stopped at Cantigny today where they celebrated Armed Forces Day by showing vehicles and encampments. There were numerous volunteers in period costume.

 Here we see a female American Red Cross worker. Turns out the US military issued uniforms to Red Cross workers in WWI. 

Uniforms made it much easier for women to carry out their work. Many rich American women married Europeans and volunteered with the A.R.C. (Think Cora Crawley in Downton Abbey)

Airfield

Today I discovered that they fly remote control airplanes at Manville Oaks Park in West Chicago. This plane is a bit unique. They told me it was from Virginia and they are passing it from club to club across the US from the East coast to the West coast. Today it was is West Chicago. 

 This is a WWII model plane.

Lilacia Park

The Lilacs, Tulips and Daffodils were in all stages of bloom. Some were finished and others just peaking.

 

 

Bean

I went downtown into the Loop to see Luminous Field, a light show at Cloud Gate (commonly called "the Bean") in Millennium Park. This photo during the "Blue Hour" turned out amazing.

There were so many people standing around the bean you could only see the light show as a reflection but even that was impressive.

Remember

Tonight I went to Cantigny Park and the 1st Division Museum for a special Armisist Day program. 

I was not successful at taking photos of the Luminaries so I'm posting a photo I took last year.

Each light represents six, First Division soldiers killed in action, from WW1 through the present, (13,000+ lost soldiers.)

Revolutionary War Reenactment

It's Revolutionary War Encampment/Reenactment weekend at Cantigny.

See more photos on my Facebook photo album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.427840202778.198466.523177778&l=c0550e1a01

Arboretum

I went to Morton Arboretum tonight for the sunset. It's amazing how you see different things when the light changes. As I was walking along I saw this leaf hanging in thin air, caught in a spider web.

As soon as I lifted my camera to take pictures a little wind came along and the leaf started floating. It took about 5 tries before I got this shot.

PS As I drove through the park, a 4 or 5-point buck loped in front of my car. By the time I stopped and picked up my camera it was lost in the trees. It was a beautiful deer.

Butterfly

Spent a couple of hours this afternoon at Morton Arboretum.

Monarch

Lincoln

The are many statues of Abraham Lincoln around the state of Illinois, the US and probably a few on other countries. Today I saw one in Racine, Wisconsin. This on is a bit different because it is of both the Lincoln's; Mary Todd and Abraham.

 Three days ago I was in Chicago and saw Augustes Saint-Gauden's famous Lincoln statue in (where else would it be) Lincoln Park. 

 

Here's a link to a Time Magazine article from 1923 about the statue.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,715678,00.html