Easter Vacation

What can be better than visiting with your grandchildren? I flew to Maryland to be with daughter Pamela while she delivered her third son, Leandro. Well Leandro didn't get on board with the program and didn't make an appearance until after I headed home but I had a great time with the family (including grandsons Gabriel and Sebastian) anyway.

I took 3 completed quilts with me.

"By the Sea" for Gabriel. The gal who does my machine quilting on her long-arm machine, Vicki Cooley, used a shell pattern on this quilt. I love the colorful striped backing - which I also used for the binding.

"Fireworks" for Zachary.

and "My First Quilt" for Leandro. (This picture was taken before Vicki Cooley did the machine quilting.)

When I returned home, I had two more to complete. This one is "Cascades" and is in the mail for grandson Dylan. The machine quilting is in a leaf pattern. Dylan's dad, Rick (my oldest) told me Dylan's favorite color is blue - so I hope he likes it.

and "Monkey Business" for grandson Sebastian. I am not as pleased with this one - the colors (which I loved when I bought them) didn't speak to me when I put them together.

I think Sebastian will like the back of his quilt best. The animal print is adorable and Vicki did a wonderful job with the quilting. I hope to quilt my own in the future - but for now I am having a blast selecting the fabrics & patterns, cutting & piecing. I'm really enjoying hand sewing the bindings - which is the part I thought I'd hate. Who knew?

Grandson Zachary arrived here in Ocala Sunday evening - after being delayed almost 24 hours - and it has been go-go-go ever since (except when we eat - which is often with a teenager in the house!)

Zachary is as tall as I am now!

Fort McCoy was the scene of our first adventure. We took a private two plus hour eco-tour on a pontoon boat down the Ocklawaha River on the Anhinga Spirit. We saw Great Blue Herons, Little Blue Herons and Great Egrets - but we told our guide Captain Erica what we really wanted to see were owls. She immediately pulled into an inlet and started calling with a throaty "whoo-whoo." Sure enough, a Barred Owl flew in and perched on a nearby limb. While we were watching, a Red-shouldered Hawk flew over and shoved him off his perch. It was quite exciting - and boy were we impressed with Captain Erica!

And, oh yes, we saw lots of alligators on the banks. Zachary was the first one to spot this guy.

He was also the first to spot this Carolina Wren. After a great ride, we had a picnic lunch on the river bank while we watched the Cardinals play near-by (think birds, not baseball).

Bill and Zach have bonded at the RC flying field (where they are right now). This is Zachary with the club instructor while he takes his maiden flight. I was really proud of how well he did!

...and I think he enjoyed it too! The instructor was very nice - but he kept calling Zachary by the wrong name - Jason, Jake, Jack - everything but Zach.

We've been to Rainbow Springs before - and knew Zachary would enjoy swimming in the cool (74 degrees) crystal clear headwaters. He and Bill ventured in while I took pictures from the shore.

I took this picture for Zachary's mother. Yes, he swam with the alligators! We actually saw a small one outside the roped off area.

But the best part of the day was the family of Barred Owls in one of the huge trees by the river. We heard a guide ask a group of kindergarten children if they wanted to see the baby owls - and we turned to follow the group! I don't know if this is mama or papa - but he/she was keeping a watchful eye on his/her 3 youngsters.

This is one of the babies. He couldn't fly yet and was covered in fluffy down feathers.

He had to walk along the limb back to the nest.

The other adult owl flew to a nearby perch to keep an eye on us as we watched the babies.

Beautiful, beautiful birds. This was a real thrill!

As we were walking back to the car, this turtle came over to the side of one of the springs to take a look. It was a fun, fun visit!!

We spend afternoons at the pool with all the other visiting grandchildren. The days are quite warm now - highs near 90 degrees but as you can see, the Florida room can get even warmer when you forget to close the blinds.

Zachary has managed to get some sunburn even though we cover him in sunblock - but nothing a little Solarcane can't fix!

Tomorrow we are heading over to Cedar Key for raw oysters and a special surprise for Zach. Stay tuned!

A Visit with Nancy & Joe

We had the best week! Our very good friends, Nancy and Joe from Colorado Springs, came for a visit. We had a great time showing them our Florida.

This picture was taken at Rainbow Springs State Park.

The gardens and water features are beautiful.

Nancy had never seen a Cardinal before - but by the end of the visit, Bill was calling them trash birds because we saw them everywhere we went.

I think this is a Yellow-rumped Warbler.

One of our favorite places to walk is Paynes Prairie State park - so we were anxious to share this gem with our friends. I was especially happy to point out this American Bittern to Nancy. I think they are really neat birds!

We watched this Great Blue Heron shop for lunch on the river.

Nancy walked on the far side of the path past the many, many alligators. She didn't want them nibbling on her ankles.

My sister took the BEST picture of a Belted Kingfisher while she was in Fort Myers. I've been trying to get decent one for over a year - but I am never close enough. At least this one sat still while I clicked.

The herons and egrets are showing their mating plumage. Do you see the extra feathers on this Snowy Egret?

After our walk we went into Gainesville to the Butterfly Gardens. I don't know what I enjoyed more - the beautiful butterflies or the flowers and plants.

This guy decided that Nancy's hair was a nice soft place to rest.

Another day trip was to Cedar Key - a lovely and quaint fishing village on the Nature Coast. We had lunch at Tony's. They have the best clam chowder I've ever had!

Just outside of town, we watched several fishermen.

Nancy had lots of new clothes that she bought especially for the trip - and apparently they took up all the room in the suitcase as it looks (from these pictures) like Joe wore the same shirt the entire week.

This morning we got up before o'dark thirty and took them to the Orlando Airport for their flight back to Colorado. We hated to see them leave - but they promised to come back again next year.

Rainbow Springs State Park

Rainbow Springs is a beautiful State Park. The admission is $2 a person and well worth it. This time of year, the Dogwoods, Azaleas and Wisteria are in full bloom and just gorgeous.

The springs form the headwaters for the crystal clear Rainbow River.

I love the Azaleas.

There are seven water falls along the garden paths.

The park was once a privately-owned tourist attraction - before the state took it over.

Our favorite area was the butterfly garden.

A "Butterfly Volunteer" told us to be sure and stop back in a couple of weeks because the garden will be thick with all different kinds butterflies.

The gardens were originally part of the old attraction but the state is doing a good job of restoring them to their former beauty.

And, of course, there were birds enjoying the gardens with us.

There is a large picnic area and a place to swim - if you dare! The water is a constant 72 degrees.

The Florida State bird - a Mockingbird.

We detoured beyond the boundaries for a short 3-mile hike. The trail was well marked.

This is the very rare, endangered Pine Palm. (not)

This is how clear the water is. The round spots on the sandy bottom are where water is bubbling up.

As we were walking, I looked up into the fork in a tree. See that little white spot in the hole?

I turned on my flash and manually adjusted the focus to capture this snake looking out of the hole at me.

Six Mile Cypress Slough

The Six Mile Cypress Slough is one of my favorite places in south Florida - and we couldn't miss an opportunity to visit while we were in the area. We didn't see too many birds on our short walk, so I took some pictures of Dragonflies.

Look at the neat colors. Now when I see beautiful colors I think how nice they would look in a quilt.



The birds are in full mating plumage. This Great Egret had bright green lores.

The swamp Iris were beautiful.

We don't see as many Osprey in central Florida as we did in Ft. Myers. This hungry hawk was eating his fish dinner atop a light post right in the middle of the median on a busy street.

It's that time of the year and this Red-bellied Woodpecker was excavating a hole in the tree to build a nest. From the looks of it, he had been working for some time.

The end.

Owls

Yes, I really am going to blog again! I've just been so darn busy - and today I'm heading to the Trenton, FL craft fair and my favorite (so far) quilt store. So here's a picture of a couple of my favorite birds - Burrowing Owls - taken on a recent trip to Cape Coral.