A Good Day

Sometimes days are so good. Easter Sunday was one of those days, beginning with a packed house at church, well no surprise there, but everything about it was joyous, including the wonderful work done by the Flower Guild. That is one skill I am sorely lacking, flower arranging.

These were in little paper cones, heading to shut ins following the service. Then too, the altar was gorgeous. As I was walking there with Liz to look at the brimming baskets, Talia, (one of our ministers), and her family, were looking to have their photograph made. I could not resist taking one of them myself.

Talia not only spoke about butterflies during the children's service, she wore them as well.

Michelle had made 1:15 reservations for brunch at Luke's in Maitland so, because church lets out around 11:30, we had some time to kill. Making the most of it, we went to the cemetery in Winter Park where Bruce's folks are buried. Unlike Greenwood Cemetery, which you've seen plenty of this spring, there are very few headstones, instead there are flat markers making it much more difficult to find your loved ones, in my opinion.

 I don't know about you, but I vacillate on the whole burial thing; cremation, or in ground?  Spending so much time in a cemetery will make a person think about such things.

We had a wonderful time with Michelle and David at Luke's, a new restaurant in the same location that once housed Steak and Ale, the place where we went for our senior prom all those years ago! You'd never know it to look at it now!

We barely had time to recover before it was time to head to David and Cheryle's for another fantastic evening at their place. Cheryle's gardens are on par with those over at Pam's house, with both haveing more butterflies than you can count! I was delighted to take this photograph after thinking about the chrysalis, and the Easter story. Plus, there are three cute little red bugs!

Before dinner I walked over to the lake with Catherine for her evening fish feeding ritual.

Drat....no pictures of the group, however, perhaps that is a good thing because I have more photos coming. In fact, probably too many, but one thing I've learned over time is, you've got to get them when you can! Come summer and the heat...oh wait, we won't be here for the worst of it!

Can you think how that day could have gone any better? I surely cannot!

Monday morning, I began working on the quilt, while Bruce flew to Dallas. Stan Fuller, the owner of Earls is coming to take a look at his investment. I say he's the owner, but really there are four Fuller brothers that oversee all of their over 150 restaurants. I decided to do a little wave pattern...simple and sweet, or so I hope!

After a few hours I needed a break, so I popped over to Greenwood for a little owlet hunt. No luck, but I did meet a sweet, enthusiastic woman from Winter Garden while I was there. She'd come to see not the owls, nor the eagles, but a Northern Flicker nest. Sally told me about it last week, and at the time I did not see it, however, yesterday morning I sure did, and now you can too!

Pretty cool, huh? You should have heard those babies squawking when Mom arrived with food! To tell you the truth, I had never even heard of a Northern Flicker before, but now I have.

Then I went home and quilted some more, attached the binding, ironed it in place, and here it sits waiting for me to sit still for some hours. I chose a solid hot pink backing fabric, and because I found no pink and green striped fabric, I went with solid green.

Except for the top of the quilt where I was about two inches short, so I had to add more of the Lily squares. Thank goodness I had them!

On our jaunt around Lake Eola the other night, I saw two things I wanted to see again, so I left before sunrise this morning to see what I could see. The lake looked lovely in the early morning light.

Albeit low...seriously low, because we've had no measurable rain in months. It is bound to start sometime soon, isn't it?

One of the things I wanted to have a closer look at was this mother swan sitting on her eggs. Presently there are two batches of cygnets, and now we'll have a third!

There were white feathers strewn everywhere around the nest which leads me to believe she was fighting off some predators. Your thoughts on this?

This duck looked as if it were going to lay an egg any minute!

Or maybe a bunch, as I saw another duck who stood up revealing about eight eggs! Walking around the lake I came across the most recently born cygnets who are so darn cute!

The cuteness--oh my!!

I've lost my siblings!!!!

What I was really interested in seeing, well, don't take that too seriously, I am interested in most anything that crosses my path. But I digress....Saturday night we saw some Moorhen babies, and I was hoping to see them again as they are cute as can be, albeit hard to photograph all that black.

There are about six of them running here and there along the shoreline.

Leaving our newborn theme, this swan was fascinating to watch as it dunked under time, after time.

Here is one of the most photographed features at Lake Eola, aside from the swans, both of which are pretty cool if you haven't seen them for years and take them for granted like I do.

Mission accomplished at Lake Eola, I stopped at Greenwood on my way home because I was so hoping to see the owls. Staying behind the barrier, I scanned the upper branches of the trees, craning my neck so far back, I was thinking what a nut I was, as it was quite uncomfortable. What we were all beginning to expect to see easily, was now a no show. I walked over to the Flicker nest which is actually between the eaglet and owl nests, and while watching for a few minutes, heard some big bird commotion. I looked over and saw what all the fuss was about--a hawk.  Little birds love to harass the bigger birds.

It was then that I began to hear the unmistakable hoot of an owl. Walking again under the big trees, I finally found Mama...

Again, straining my neck almost to the breaking point, only a small exaggeration mind you, baby was perched way higher than Mama, very hard to make out, but at least I know it has branched and is still safe.

Interestingly enough, this tree is outside of the boundary. :)

Whew...that was a bunch of photographs wasn't it? In my defense, most of the quilt bloggers I come across will show the same quilt about six times in the same post, usually in some park, or hanging on a barn, you know, stylized. When you come to this space on the web, I like to provide at least some variety, albeit heavy on BIRDS!!

Truthfully, unless I am sick, everyday is a good day, for which I am so very grateful.

yours truly,

Gail