Kickin’ off the New Year with a beautiful day hiking up at Illinois Beach State Park in Zion, Illinois. It’s a beautiful lakefront park with plenty of sandy beaches, marshy wetlands & wooded areas to hike… and no people!!! I was there all day and saw a total of six other people! A hidden treasure – I basically had the place to myself!!!

Shhh… don’t tell too many people, let’s keep this between you & me!

Beautiful colors & textures on this Japanese maple tree during my early morning walk.
Almost as though it “forgot” to drop its leaves this Fall?!

A beautiful blue sky downtown… a city of contrast through the sunroof!

While most have fallen… there are still a few leaves hanging on & showing off!!!

A quick glimpse of one of my recent birdhouses out in the wild… quite literally!
Hanging around hoping to draw some birds to take up residence. Thanks for sharing Adam!

And yes, there will be just a couple birdhouses available at my HOLIDAY HOME SHOW next weekend!

A striking Fall gradation of color & natural perseverance growing through a wooden pallet in the alley. Nature always finds a way!

Fall colors still hanging on… great contrast against today’s blue skies!
Sure, a lot of leaves have dropped already.
But we still have a lot of “pretty” going on around town!

I can’t believe it’s already time to flip another calendar page
& time to change our clocks this weekend!