Finally some green… even if we can only enjoy it in between the rain clouds. I’ll take it…

Looks like someone has hunkered down amongst some of my “rusty metal” collection
on my front porch on this chilly Sunday morning!

So excited to see GREEN outside today! The weather is amazing today in the low sixties!!! The sun is out, the snow is gone, the ice has melted!!! And the moss is here!!! Sure… we live in Chicago and we’re bound to get snow again any day now!!! But until then… grab it while you can!!!

Imagine my surprise this morning when I opened my back door and there was a friendly face staring back at me!!! By the time I grabbed my phone, he had already ambled down three flights of stairs & was exiting to the alley. No food, no trash, no anything on my back porch… no reason except for him to stop by to say “Hello.” Ahhh… life in the City!

We’re supposed to get to “ten degrees above normal” today… and I’m already enjoying the clouded blue sky & the sun breaking though. Hopefully the brief warm-up will help melt that frozen fiasco in my back courtyard area. Pretty as those icicles are… I’m ready for them to go!

A little more icicle magic. Frozen fringe hanging on my back porch… encrusting some dead vines from last summer that “someone“ forgot to cutdown at the end of the season. But look what beauty my… I mean “someone’s” laziness has created!!!

I can always tell that it’s way too cold outside when I can’t see
through the windows to my front porch! Just a little chilly today…

Clear skies tonight with a beautiful crescent moon… and temperatures plummeting overnight!!!

More fortune cookies have been FOUND!!!
It was another great day for hiking & searching…

According to Nicole who shared these photos : “I was looking forward to this hunt all 2025, counting down the days to the New Year. Thank you for doing this, your work is absolutely beautiful. This year was just my husband and I, we really enjoyed the hunt. Here are our treasures & nature shots… the snow was magical today.”

It was a beautiful day to get outside for a little hike around ILLINOIS BEACH STATE PARK. It has become a bit of an annual tradition for me to kick off the New Year enjoying the scenery. And it is a wonderful “hidden gem” of a state park. I hiked all day and saw about six other people ALL day!!! I think I saw more deer than people!!! A great way to start the New Year!