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Happy 90th Birthday!

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Yesterday we celebrated my mother-in-law's upcoming 90th birthday with a party for about 75. She knew about the party, but had no idea how many family members and friends would show up for it. Tracy's sister was the mastermind and planner for the event which she and her siblings had catered. It was a gorgeous day, and the event room where Ellie has her condo was the perfect spot for it. A nice big room that opened up onto a patio with lots of grassy lawn for the great-grandchildren who ranged in age from one to eight.

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Here's Mom before the doors opened. You can see the stunning cake on the right, and the family tree that Tracy put together in the center.

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Here she is with her five children and two step-children. Tracy (standing behind his mom) is the oldest of five born within five years! Bobbi and Marcy (on the left) are the daughters of Ellie's second husband. 

Making a card for this momentous occasion was a lot of fun. Jill had decided on black, white, and lime green as the color scheme for the party (Mom's favorite colors), so that's where I started. I also knew I had exactly the right stamp set and dies for the card: Papertrey Ink's "Big Birthday Wishes" and "By the Number."

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After die cutting the numbers, I layered the top piece on a piece of patterned paper from Reverse Confetti's paper pad, "Fun Times." It's a pretty appropriate title, as yesterday was definitely in the "fun times" category.

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I'm linking this card up at Seize the Birthday without the optional twist this time.

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Take Three Thursday: Garden Vibes

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It's been a few weeks since I joined in with Mary-Lou's Take Three Thursday meme. Last night we attended the George Eastman Museum's "Garden Vibes" concert on the lawn of the mansion and I thought I'd share three photos from the event. It's been a favorite summer activity of ours ever since we joined the museum and found out about them. Typically there are three concerts during the summer—one each month. This year, however, there are only two because the gardens are undergoing extensive renovation this summer. We missed the first concert last week while we were at the lake, but the weather was much better last night—a nearly perfect summer evening in the high 70's with a gentle breeze. 

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Songs From the Road Band from Asheville, North Carolina was terrific! They're a bluegrass band that perform highly original remakes of a few familiar songs and lots of their own compositions. All four are excellent musicians but two are truly outstanding–the mandolin player and the fiddler. The fiddler has won two National Fiddler Championships.

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We arrived an hour before the concert, knowing it gets crowded, and we had great seats. It's bring your own chairs, your own supper, and your own wine if you'd like. We stopped and got delicious wraps at a new deli, and did bring a bottle of wine, so waiting was not a problem. The crowd was appreciative and it was a perfect way to spend a summer evening

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I'll be anxious to see the renovated gardens next year, and equally anxious to get to the Garden Vibe Concerts which they promised would return in 2020.

Something Blue

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Yesterday I had time to play around for awhile with watercolors. Although I've been following the CAS Watercolor Challenge for some time, I don't often have a chance to play. The current challenge is "Something Blue."

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Here's my card:

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Once again, I pulled out the Altenew 36 pan watercolor set. I contemplated using my good Daniel Smith watercolors, but that would have required a bit of mixing to get the blues I wanted. It was easier to start with the several blues in the Altenew set and do a bit of mixing both on the palette and on the watercolor paper as well. I love the rich colors in the background piece, and decided a white die cut would be most effective. 

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This die cut is Simon Says' "Morning Glory Vine." The sentiment is from Simon Says "Tiny Words" white embossed on black and trimmed out. This will most likely be a birthday card since that's the most frequent card I send. The sentiment lends itself to other occasions so it's more versatile than usual. I decided to add some dimension by layering the watercolored piece on a smaller piece of Bristol cardstock and then again on the card base. I used a set of Spellbinder dies to cut each of the layers.

Happy Anniversary!

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There were two anniversaries in May to celebrate: my brother-in-law and sister-in-law celebrated their 40th anniversary and Sarah and Adam celebrated their 13th anniversary. I made both couples the same card–a near total CASE of this card. 

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As soon as I saw the Simon Says "Deco Heart" die, I knew I'd want to own it. I already had the very similar stamp set which has been a favorite all along–see here and here. The patterned paper is from MFT "Black and White Stripes," and the sentiment from Hero Arts "Everyday Sayings." I typically wouldn't post such a close CASE but my real reason for the post today are two anniversary cards that were created from the scraps and left-overs on my desk when I finished the one above.

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I had one black die cut left, and cut a white heart as a frame for it, layered on a Pure Poppy card base. Same sentiment as above. 

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I also had a white die cut heart and mounted it on a red heart. This time I used a premade card that came with a Simon Says kit some time ago.

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I added a thin border of red cardstock on the inside of the card to accentuate the scallop on the bottom of the card. It's not often I get two more cards from the left-overs on the desk, but it worked out well this time.

I'm linking this up to the Wednesday Simon Says Challenge: Wedding/Anniversary.

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Happy Father’s Day!

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Father's Day was celebrated here yesterday. This post was ready to go, but after celebrating with Matt and Betsy at her dad's and a long Face Time call with Sarah and her family, we got busy and it just didn't happen.

I'm always happy to make cards for three of the best dads I know–Tracy, Matt, and Adam. All three are hard-working, affectionate, loving, and kind. They've all been totally involved with raising their kids, and put in lots of quality time with them. I made three of the same card this year using Pink Fresh Studio's "Adore" alphabet die. The die cuts two images-a very thin outline and a chunky inner letter. 

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I layered three of each letter and outline to provide some texture–once with Simon Say's "Smoke" and once with "Slate." To get enough of them for three cards, meant die cutting 54 letters, but I love the contrast so it was well worth it. After assembling the letters I arranged them on a piece of Simon Says "Fog" cardstock die cut with Simon Says "Stitched Rectangles." The sentiment was white embossed on black cardstock with a sentiment from W+9's "Super Star" set which has been a go-to for masculine cards for many years.

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I attached the sentiment with dimensional tape, and then adhered the cardfront to a card base made of Simon Says "Slate" cardstock. Another CAS design that I hope all three will like.

I'm linking this up to the "Father" challenge at Addicted to CAS. It's been awhile since I played along with this challenge, and this is clearly CAS!

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Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt

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It's late in the day, but I'm still on time for the first link-up for Mary-Lou's Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt. We've been away nearly every day this week at a cottage on Honeoye Lake with Tracy's family. Many of them spend the week there, but we always drive back and forth because we have too many commitments in the city. It does, however, take a big bite out of the day. We typically leave after lunch, and arrive home just about now (9:00 in the evening.) So here are my finds so far:

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Single and Pretty #2

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Two considerations for #3: Repetition

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Blurred Vision: #4

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Umbrellas (open or closed) overlooking Seneca Lake: #6

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A Curving Path: #7

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A bridge: #9

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Two views of Something Made of Stone: #10

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A Fish (sadly deceased): #11

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Something that Should Be Found in Pairs: #18

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Alternate A: A Birdhouse (If you look closely you'll see three birds peeking out.)

So I have nine of the twenty on the list, as well as one alternate. Numbers 2, 3, 9, and 18 and the alternate were from our day in Holland, Michigan. I found #4, 7, 10, and 11 while we were in Racine visiting Sarah. Only one was relatively local, #6 was found in the Finger Lakes. Clearly, I'm most tuned into this hunt when I'm on the road!

Thanks, Mary-Lou, for devising the list and hosting it this summer! You can find a host of other entries on her blog, right here.

 

Wishes and Dreams

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I have a birthday card to link up with two challenges. The first is a new challenge to me called The Library Challenge. Being an avid reader, I'm intrigued by this challenge which uses books as the inspiration. There are two current challenges open, and I'm joining in with "The Art of Stripes."

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I'm also entering it in the Seize the Birthday Challeng: Anything Goes.

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The Simon Says June Card Kit is wonderful—filled with leafy frames, flowers, and branches just calling out to be colored. I pulled out my Copic markers for this card.

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After coloring the circular wreath, I fussy cut it out, and die cut a "Stitched Circle" from Simon Says for the sentiment from Papertrey Ink's "Day Dreamers."  I also die cut a piece of Carta Bella 'Botanical Gardens" patterned paper which also came with the June kit. After layering it on a white card base, I added the wreath, with dimensional tape.

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The only embellishment was a few drops of Nuvo Crystal Drops that came with a previous kit.

 

Photowalk #18: Rock Throwing at Wind Point Lighthouse

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One night when Caleb had karate lessons, Sarah asked Hannah if she'd like to go to the lighthouse to collect some rocks. She had her sweatshirt on in no time. It was a perfect opportunity for me to get another photo walk in, and we happily went along. Sarah and her family live just a mile or so from the lighthouse so it makes an easy outing. 

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This is the view of the lighthouse from the parking lot.

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Hannah was immediately off with her bucket to collect rocks, while I went off to see what I could find to photograph.

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I'm always happy to find a collection of cairns.

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Although we've visited the lighthouse a couple of times, we've never been there when it's open to visitors. I'm not sure what the museum includes, but an accompanying sign says the original, built in 1880, included two wooden structures. Those were replaced with the current brick building in 1990 when the two copper trumpets seen above were installed. The fog horn first sounded during a heavy snowstorm in 1901, and was taken out of service by the Coast Guard in 1965. The Fog Horn Building was restored to its present condition in 1995.

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While I was exploring, Hannah was collection rocks.

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Sarah found a nice collection of fossils and a piece of sea glass. 

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Grandpa, Hannah, and Momma got into some serious rock throwing (skipping.)

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Which Hannah clearly enjoyed!

I have two other photographs from this outing that I'm saving for the first link-up for the Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt. And finally, the view of the lighthouse from the beach.

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Watercolor #2 for AAA Birthday Challenges

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Although I have a ways to go to perfect this technique, I finally gave no-line watercoloring a try. I used Ink on 3 for the stamping, and I was pleased with the way it worked. I used my MISTI to stamp the images, and that was a good decision as both needed a double stamping in order to be seen well enough. The lines remained clear until I touched them with the watercolor brush. Several days transpired between stamping and watercoloring the leaves.

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Once again I used the Altenew 36 pan watercolor set which has wonderful colors for flowers, mixing together a couple of pinks, and using two different greens for the leaves. The stamped images are from my recent favorite set, Simon Says "Delicate Flowers." I fussy cut the flowers after watercoloring, but ended up ordering the dies when I got a coupon code for Simon Says, and waited for them to arrive before die cutting the leaves. The circular mat was die cut with Papertrey Ink's "Shape Shifter Circle #1," using just the two outer dies.

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The sentiment is from a new set from Waffle Flower, "Label Greetings." I couldn't resist the font or the narrow border around the sentiment. I embossed it in white on the same Raspberry Fizz cardstock as the card front.

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The final embellishment were three small white pearls.

Entering this at AAA Birthday Challenge: Use Watercolors.

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I'm also linking this up to the sister challenge AAA Cards for their 5th birthday celebration. This gets in just under the wire!

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Five in Five: Sunken Garden & Photowalk #17

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On Sunday afternoon, I served as a "House Host" for the local Landmark Society's House and Garden tour. The morning was rainy and dark, but by the middle of the afternoon it cleared up, and we were really busy. Over 200 people went through the small, but charming, house where I was working. Before my shift, I made sure to leave home early enough so I would have time to visit the sunken garden that was on the tour. The quite expansive home on the same property was not on the tour. This is very unusual, but when you see the photos, you'll know the garden was exceptional. The rest of the street is a very ordinary residential street in a northern suburb of Rochester. Most of the homes were built in the early 20th century,

According to the Landmark Tour guide, the garden had been covered with leaves and debris for many years until the late 1990's. As the current owners began to remove the accumulated debris and underbrush, the  "elaborate terraced gardens" were revealed that "had been largely lost to time." I was totally unprepared for the magnitude of this garden set on this quite unremarkable residential street.

I didn't have long to spend, and all the photos were taken with my iPhone. But it was the perfect opportunity to take photos to join in with Eileen's Five in Five monthly meme.

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This is the first view you get as you approach the garden from street level.

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A more intimate view of the stone bridge. (SPSH #9 Bridge and #10 Made of Stone) Note another stone staircase going up the opposite side of the garden. 

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The south end of the garden.

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A detail at the north end of the garden; the rest of this side of the garden is a wooded area.

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I took several other photos, including one of some statuary, the wooded area at the north end of the garden, and some beautiful flowering bushes, including a lovely wisteria. I'm glad I didn't miss this stop on the tour.

 

 

AAA Birthday Challenge: Watercolor

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The new challenge at AAA Birthday is up: Use Watercolors.

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I still had an image from Simon Says "Mandy's Flowers" lying on my desk that I watercolored with Altenew's 36 pan watercolors when we were visiting Sarah. I used Reverse Confetti's "Pierced Round Top" dies to create a focal point for the image which is smaller than some.

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I die cut two different sizes, first with Papertrey's Green Parakeet cardstock, and then a pretty patterned paper from Reverse Confetti's "Fun Times" paper pad. I used dimensional tape to add the flower pot, and then added it all to a white card base.

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The sentiment from Simon Says "Best Ever' set was embossed in white on black cardstock and trimmed out. Another pretty CAS design, although a bit more colorful than many.

Photowalk #16: Lake Michigan Pathway

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The weather was basically dismal when we were in Wisconsin—lots of rain and very cool temperatures. The high one day was 48°. On the one bright, sunny day with warmer temps, Tracy and I decided to take a walk along part of the Lake Michigan Pathway. We started just north of the Racine Zoo and walked to the marina downtown. It ended up being a little over three miles. Aside from the very brisk wind, it was a perfect day for a walk.

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Another entry for the SPSH: #7-A Curving Path

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There were lots of red-winged blackbirds along the path. This was one of the better shots. I had my small mirrorless camera with me with doesn't have much of a zoom lens.

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And there were hundreds of sea gulls on the beach.

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More seagulls, but a better look at the beautiful blue colors of the lake.

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A view of the marina. You can see that the leaves still haven't appeared on the trees, despite the fact that it was the middle of May.

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Another photo for my shadow collection.

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You can see the Wind Point Lighthouse in the distance. Sarah and Adam live just a mile or so from the lighthouse, and I have another series of photos from there coming soon.

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We're hoping to walk more of this pathway in our future trips to Racine.

Time Out: Home Sweet Home

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The current challenge at Time Out is inspiration from a photograph:

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I was inspired by the bright flowers and created a CAS card with two pretty flowers from Altenew's "Adore" stamp set.

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I started with a white card base, and added the Papertrey Ink "Bold Borders: Wave"  in white as a frame. After coloring the flowers with Copic markers, I fussy cut them and added them to the card after stamping a sentiment from Right at Home's " Grateful Heart" in black. 

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I added some white dots with a Signo broad pen to the center of the orange flower. This went off to a friend almost as soon as it was made!

Take Three Thursday: Flowers in the Yard & Patio

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I could share a lot more photos from the yard this week, but here are three of my favorites. We've spent a long time in the yard this week, getting ready for summer. We got home just in time to enjoy the gorgeous blossoms on our peony tree.

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These pretty dahlia came from our favorite nursery on the North Shore. Tracy gave me a generous gift for Mother's Day so I was able to purchase several plants and a few pots as well. The cool container came from a store in the Adirondacks last summer.

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Last, but not least, a close-up view of the double petunias in a hanging basket on our patio that I purchased as we were walking out of the Rochester Public Market early Saturday morning. Later I'll try to post a photo of the whole basket which includes some other flowers. Love this purple colors.

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Hoping the weather soon improves so we can spent more time on the patio. It's been pretty cool, and frequently rainy this month. Joining in with Mary-Lou at Patio Postcards for her Take Three Thursday meme.

 

Photowalk #15: Tulips in Holland, Michigan

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On our way to Wisconsin this month, we made a side trip to Holland, MI to see the tulips. They've hosted an annual tulip festival since 1929 after purchasing 100,000 bulbs the previous year. Now each September close to 1,000,000 tulip bulbs arrive in Holland. Planting begins in October and runs through mid-November with over 120 varieties being planted. 200,000 of those bulbs are planted by hand in a variety of locations. (Although they talk about sorting through the 1,000,000 bulbs they never say what happens to the other 800,00!)

We visited two of the major plantings: The Window on the Waterfront Park which is any easy walk from delightful downtown Holland, and Windmill Island Gardens. In addition, there are tulips in window boxes in pots, and along green spaces in the downtown area. The annual festival ended on May 12th this year, and we arrived on the 15th. It was perfect timing: the crowds were gone, and the tulips were still at their peak. We talked to one local photographer who was out with his very big lens and tripod who told us he believed the tulips were the best they'd been in quite a few years. Without a tripod, or a big lens here are some of the photos I took that morning.

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A closer view shows the beautiful color variation in the tulip.

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Although I'm holding back on a few photos for the Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt, but this is a good one for #3 Repetition.

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And now onto Windmill Island Gardens:

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I love this display of wooden shoes and this is another one for the scavenger hunt: #18 Something Found in Pairs.

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More repetition!

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And one final photo for my "Shadows" collection:

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We spent some time at the visitor's center where a lovely woman shared lots of the history, and told us of the year when all the tulips bloomed in March, and there were none left by the time of the May festival. After our tours of the park and the island, we spent some time looking through the lovely shops in downtown, and having lunch on the patio of an Irish pub. All in all, a very satisfying morning. We both agreed it was worth a return trip.