Gazing through Windows With Wonderment!

– photo courtesy of http://chicago-architecture-jyoti.blogspot.com

(This is a repost from last year; I absolutely love windows and thought it would be nice to bring this post to light (pun intended – you know me)!  I hope you enjoy it again or for the first time!)

I have always been fascinated by windows; in the literal sense, and in addition to looking through them.  Or, in some instances, imagining what is behind them.

Take stained glass, for instance.  It can be a magnificent piece of artwork in and of itself.

This superlative gem is a Tiffany Stained Glass Dome located at the Chicago Cultural Center.  Note the astrological symbols embedded into the glass.  The first time I gazed at this wonderful window, I began to feel quite dizzy.  Not necessarily from its majestic wonder, but because it’s a dome, and located high in the Cultural Center sky!  This will put things into perspective:

– photo courtesy of robsaker.com

Some stained glass is opaque; to me, this doesn’t appear to be very ‘stained’.  *grin*  I like beveled glass windows, too.  The glass distorts whatever is behind it, and thus the imagination begins.  What on earth is that wavy-looking creature staring at me?  It’s either a cow, monster, or a monster cow with a forked tongue!

– Photo courtesy of http://www.sanssoucie.com

– photo courtesy of max99x.com

Ah, the orange glow of a night-time window.  This fascinates me.  I think of magical villages from another time, place, or realm.  What is behind these windows?  I think the imagination is likened to be much more appealing than the reality of what’s veritably going on behind the scenes.

Speaking of windows (which I am, as you can tell), this leads me to discuss the intriguing, mixed bag of happenstance that I have surveyed whilst looking out our condo windows.

One lovely sunny afternoon, this gargantuan “Minion” came floating by my view:

Have you seen the movie, “Despicable Me”?  If you have, you will no doubt recognize one of its stars meandering across the blue sky here in Chicago.

Less than two weeks ago, this colorful burst adorned my view:

Ah, watching the graceful sailboats skim past is a like a dream:

I have often described the view from our windows as an always-changing, ever-fascinating painting that allows a vast amount of emotions and perceptions to be experienced without leaving one’s abode!

There’s that orange glow that I so love!

This winter photo was pretty in pink!

My goodness, I was once witness to a glowing green object that literally zoomed across Lake Michigan!  Perhaps it was a meteor; I’ve never seen anything like it, and of course it occurred in the glimmer of an eye!

I’ve seen a cavalcade of firetrucks and ambulances (32, to be exact; I counted) all lining the street due to a fire in a nearby highrise building.

To quote the iconic band, “Pink Floyd”, “A distance ship smoke on the horizon”; that too, I have observed.

I think I need a nap just writing about the myriad of window wonderment!

– photo courtesy of mothergoosesmiles.wordpress.com

I am most certainly against excess trash and the lack of many individuals who refuse to reuse, recycle, and keep our planet green.  Nonetheless, I must make a confession.  One of the most interesting performances I have witnessed out of the window thus far was a plastic bag on a Windy City blustery day.  As I watched this bag dance with almost precision-like swooping motions, I couldn’t help but ponder the question:  Where on earth did it learn to move like that in such rhythmic oscillation?  *grin*

I hope I have shed some window light on, and perhaps given a slightly new meaning to the phrase, “gazing out the window”.  An enlightened soul once said, “If a window of opportunity appears, don’t pull down the shade.”  I couldn’t agree more!