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Two lakefront excursions this week. 

 Fort Sheridan is an unusual forest preserve in that it has a lot of human history as well as natural history. When the fort was decommissioned the land was divided as a natural area but also a town. The officers' quarters and even the stables are now very upscale housing.  This year's trail followed a ravine and part of the parade ground.   

Farther north along the lakefront:  the Southport Quilters is the Kenosha guild. Their annual show is an exhibit at the Anderson Arts Center.  The staff at AAC hang the quilts in the ...

Familiar ground for this week's Hike Lake County walks.   On Wednesday, Ethel's Woods (named for Ethel Untermyer who led the effort to create the Lake County Forest Preserve District in the 1950's).   Today, Lyons Woods (named for Isaac Lyons who settled the area in 1843).   

The monarch stayed still long enough for several snapshots.   

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Bottle Gentian, 2024

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In the studio:  

Four placemats for the ongoing Rotary project.  (They'll be given away in February at our spaghetti dinner delivery to shut-ins.  I have about 100 more ...

 Hike Lake County 2026 is underway.  Each year the Lake County Forest Preserve District marks 1.5-2.5-mile trails in 14 preserves.  Participants have from mid-August to the end of November to walk, run, or bike 7 of them to win a commemorative medal.   Though HLC began in 1999 we started in 2020 (with Stevens 'guarding the parking lot' while I walked). Thus this will be my 7th year.   

The special exhibit at the Dunn Museum opened back in October.  I finally went to see it on Friday, two days before it closes. (Hmm. I went to last summer's big exhibit at the Art Institute a couple of days before it closed.)

The Dunn Museum is a division of the Lake County Forest Preserve District. Museum programming includes county-wide history (the annual history symposium (Zoom) this month was great), natural history, and traveling exhibits like this one.  Just $3 admission for seniors.

So many familiar and favorite illustrators were included.  You may not know their names but surely ...

Upper left:  this channel is the Middle Fork of the North Branch of the Chicago River.  It flows into the Des Plaines which flows into the Illinois which flows into the Mississippi and then to the Gulf of Mexico. 

Monarch on ironweed.  Top:  Scarlet lobelia and asters; compass plant.  Center: Obedient plant; water smartweed or amphibious bistort (what a wonderful name!). Bottom: monarch on ...

 We've had glorious weather with lots of sunshine and low humidity.  Ideal for hiking.  Three more forest preserves checked off the Hike Lake County list:   Fort Hill Trail and Singing Hills Farm on Saturday and Buffalo Creek on Monday. 

Cormorants on a rock in the Buffalo Creek reservoir.  

Singing Hills was a dairy farm.

Purple coneflower, ironweed, velvetleaf. Vervain, Maximilian's sunflower, goldenrod.  More goldenrod, stiff goldenrod, false sunflower. 

Zion Woman's Club started the club year yesterday with a potluck luncheon and a program about chair yoga.  September is National Library Card Sign Up Month and we showed ...

Tussock moth and monarch caterpillars both eat milkweed.  Their coloration is meant to deter predators; apparently milkweed-filled caterpillars don't taste very good.  (How do scientists figure that out?)

On Monday afternoon I helped set up for ...

(They designate 14 trails.  Participants have to walk (run, bike, jog...) seven of them to get the little commemorative medallion.  I overachieve and do all 14.)

I picked as many black raspberries as I could reach and carried them in my cap. They were great with vanilla ice cream.

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 Every year the Lake County Forest Preserves designates 14 trails for ...

We also had the reveal for the 2024 round robin!  There was so much interest that there were two ...

I was intent on trying to see the blue jay that flew across the path and nearly stepped on this little guy.  He slithered away fast. (Young garter snake.)  

Yesterday the AAUW Exploring Culture interest group enjoyed a tour of the Adlai E. Stevenson Historic Home in Mettawa.

I helped with set up and brought Stevens to the banquet.  It was great to see some long-time friends. 

The old guys: Nate, Phil, Stevens

Jack was a charter member of the club and an avid golfer. He came up with the idea of the golf outing that has become our signature fundraiser.  He passed away in 2003.  His widow and their four daughters and their families ...

Hike Lake County 2024 is a wrap!  They allow a wild card, meaning a 2-mile hike at any forest preserve not on the list.  On Friday afternoon we went to Van Patten Woods which is close to home. To change things up I went in the opposite direction from usual.  

There were many monarchs and other butterflies flitting about.  One of them stayed still long enough for a photo.  

Bumblebee on goldenrod, Carolina horse nettle (also called Radical Weed or Tread Softly).  Wild cucumber, giant hyssop.

I hope we can do the final trail ...

Top: water lilies at Half Day, thistles, Jack-in-the-Pulpit seed bundle. Middle:  burning bush seeds, river ...

I planned to do the Hike Lake County trails systematically, starting with those farthest away and ending with those closer to home.   That didn't quite work out -- the most-farthest is yet to come -- but we did go to the next-to-farthest as well as two others sort-of-far.  Two on Friday:  Cuba Marsh and Heron Creek.  

Ripe blackberries at Heron Creek.  I left my cap in the car.  If I'd had it I would have harvested more than a handful. 

One on Sunday:   Fourth Lake/Millennium Trail.  This was something of a cop-out because it was mostly an asphalt path ...

Lower right is white snakeroot, a poisonous plant. When cows grazed on it they absorbed the poison When people drank their milk they contracted milk fever.  Here's the story of Anna Pierce, the white woman who learned about the relationship between the plant and the sickness from Native Americans. 

I had a woman's club board meeting Tuesday afternoon, so no walk.

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I took up HLC in 2020 as a pandemic exercise.  Each year I've overachieved by doing all of the designated trails.  Regular readers know I keep going all year.  

A couple of these are new.  Some are close to home, others are at the opposite corner of the county.   

It rained off and on yesterday but the sun is out today. Tune in ...

These are scarlet lobelia or cardinal flower.  I've found them in only two forest preserves (here, Sedge Meadow Canoe Launch)  though surely they grow in others.  The red is really red!