My Cousin's Flower Garden

 So it was my cousin's daughter's (which I guess is my cousin) birthday, so I headed over there to celebrate with them.  His wife and him maintain a really nice garden and it was nice to see some that had flowered already.

The lilacs looked pretty nice.  Especially against the backdrop.

I don't usually take pictures of dandelions but I liked the looks of this one.

I wandered around the tree looking for different flowers.

I liked this one.

But I really liked this one.

I'm not sure what kind of flower this is.

I think this is a red version of the other.

And then I saw this dandelion seed thing.  I love the look of these.

Especially the almost symetry.

It reminds me of one of the early chaos functions.

And we are back to the dandelion flower.

My Cousin's Flowers

 One the things I like about visiting my cousins' place is that they have a really nice flower garden.  His wife has put a great deal of work into it.

The lilacs were in bloom.

So I had to get a few different shots of it.

I love these flowers.

Another closeup.

I kind of like this one.

In the front yard was a few peonies.  And this reminds me that I'm going to have to check out the arboretum soon because their peonies will be in bloom soon.

This is a pretty flower.

The group of them.

One more before moving on.

Lilacs and a Cessna

After I had lunch today,  I decided to take a little walk.  There is a lilac bush that I pass every day on the way into work and I've been meaning to get some pictures of it.  Well at least of the flowers anyway.

 I do like the look of lilacs.

 Although the road was a little dusty and that was falling on the plant.

 But it does look pretty cool.

 I pulled back a little bit to get more of the flowers.

 But I think I like the closeups more.

 This one is probably my favorite.

As I was walking back to the office, I saw a Cessna circling the area.  I assume the pilot was doing touch and goes.  I changed lenses so that I could get a picture of the plane as well.

Some Lilacs in Mackinaw City

So we decided to stop in Mackinaw City to grab lunch at the pasty place just off the Bridge.  I got a beef pasty and it was pretty good.

 There was a lilac bush on the outside, so I had to take some pictures of it.

 It looked pretty cool but I'd imagine it's not going to be around much longer.

they looked pretty nice though.

Walking Through Chicago - Part II

So I made it over to Shedd Aquarium.

 I noticed that the cherry blossoms in Chicago were in bloom.

 I kind of liked the way the lines lead into the skyline.

 The skyline looked pretty nice in the fog.

 A nice little frame.

 There were also some lilacs.

 So much for my plans to go to the Shedd Aquarium.

 Looking towards the skyline again.

 My plans shot, I decided to walk back towards the train.  The only problem was that it was pretty chilly on Saturday.

 I almost thought about going to the Field Museum.

 But I suspected there was a line there too.

 A path through the cherry blossoms.

 I think if I had gone a week later, they would have been gone.

 But they still looked nice.

 I kind of like the pink ones.

 I was trying to get a shot of the building with the blossoms in the foreground.

 I kind of liked the looks of this building.

 I keep saying this, while New York may have a taller skyline, I think Chicago's is more interesting.  There seems to be a greater variety of buildings in the skyline. 

 This represents one reason why I like the train.

 Still pretty fog shrouded.

 I liked this view.

 I couldn't pass up on a train picture of sorts.

 I liked the looks of the wavy building.

 Looking down Michigan Avenue.

 One of the Native American statues.

 One of the Lions in front of the Art Institute.  By this time, I had to think about getting back to the train.

So I decided to catch the water taxi.