Moving South (Zolfo Springs, FL)

We have covered a few miles since my last posting.  We are still making our way south towards Key West, FL.  

We stayed for the first time in Three Rivers State Park with a site on the river.  We had a great view of the airboats passing by while letting the cats explored.  We only stayed for one night and wished we had planned for more nights.  Maybe next time. 

 Our next stop was at the Suwanee River State Park.  We have been here before and had enjoyed walking the Lime Sink Run Trail several times.  This time of year it is not so much fun between large spiders making huge webs to walk through and mosquitoes having lunch on us.

Needless to say, we only walked it once this time. 😐

I did get a few good photos between ducking and dodging....

The big wheel below is from an old paddle wheel steamboat near the river path.  A much better walk under big shady trees with Spanish moss.

Next stop was Clermont, FL near Orlando.  Since June, my schedule has been to get out early before the day becomes too hot and humid for walking.  As soon as I return, we take cats out.  Hard to believe Fall officially starts tomorrow.  The weather still feels more like mid-July.

Most days have been very hazy so we end up spending most of our time indoors unless we have some shopping to do.

One good thing about hot days is that it does motivate me to get moving early enough to get those golden moment photos!  I'm rarely out the door before sunrise. 😀 ...or out of bed. 😴

By noon, the clouds are building up and soon we have a downpour that will last for about an hour or two.

We even had a nice rainbow one day.

Did I mention that our site backed up to a cattle's field?  It must have been a large fenced in area because the cattle only showed up once in awhile. I have never seen such happy cattle with so much energy by showing off their prancing and head butting skills.

We had a couple of visitors one day.  One of the Sand Cranes was begging for food until I showed him open hands.  Can a Sand Crane looked disgusted?  This one certainly gave it a good try as he walked away from me. "The nerve of some people.  Take a photo and NOT offer any food! Really!"

One more photo of the lake reflecting the clouds before we left the Orlando TT campground.

Dan discovered a Cat Cafe nearby.  I have read about the cafes in Japan and never thought we would have the opportunity to visit one in the US and here was one within a 10 minute drive from our campground!

 

The Orlando Cat Cafe is a partnership between the Axum Coffee and the Florida SPCA. All cats are up for adoption.

We ordered a small lunch with drinks from the cafe and paid $8 each to enter the Cat's room.  They limit the cat's room to 20 visitors at a time.  It was a slow day for visitors so it was nice and quiet for the cats.  We spent our time eating lunch, watching cats play or wander around, and hearing about their stories.

A very relaxed atmosphere for cats to meet their humans.  After visiting a Humane Society and seeing so many stressed out animals in cages, I have to admit that I was a little worried that I would feel very guilty for not adopting a cat, but they all looked very happy with their new temporary home.  Except for this one....such a woeful look.  Her look must have worked well on someone because her photo is gone from the adoptable list.

I felt good that we were able to donate some time and attention to the cats.  Adoptions have been very good since they started the Cat's Cafe.  I hope this idea catches on in other towns and we start seeing more of them.  

On The Cutting Board

I finally finished quilting all four quilt tops.  

I'm binding them now....

...and getting plenty of supervision from Max.  😻

2 down and 2 more to go!
Happy Quilting!

Done and Done (Clermont, FL)

Since returning to the RV park in Clermont, we have been watching hot air balloons fly by every morning.  Sometimes they were close enough for us to hear people talking and the roar of the burners.  Most of the time, they were off in the distance.

Yesterday was quite a bit different.  The balloons were east of us and rapidly descending into our park.

It made for an exciting walk for us.  Usually the campground is quiet in the early mornings.  Only a few people are out enjoying the cooler weather and except for a few sightings of cranes and balloons, there just isn't a whole lot going on.  This time was definitely different.  People appeared out of nowhere to watch the balloons land, and the cranes were running, not flying, away from the balloons.

The pilots did a wonderful job of landing by navigating around tall trees, buildings, and rigs.  One landed between sites near a trailer.  Imagine looking out your window to see a hot air balloon sitting next to your rig!

The other three were able to land in open space near the center and once their chasers showed up they were soon deflated, packed, and gone like the wind.  Sigh!  What a great morning!

On The Cutting Board

All right!  Three quilts done!  Quilting - Done!  Binding - Done!  Okay, I do have another three more to finish and I am working on them right now.  So, I should have more photos soon.

I got a little more creative with the flower by quilting in the center and petals.  I also did more loops than squiggly lines to imitate bees flying around.  On the bear quilt, I did clouds, heart shaped balloons, stars, and swirls of wind.  It was a nice change from the usual meandering.

I finished the Macaw's Welcome wall hanging.   I might try this one again on a smaller scale so I won't have to do as much hand quilting in the open space.  The words can certainly be made smaller and still be able to read them.

Does the "Welcome" look like his toy?

I was going to use beads but the glass bead collection I was gathering together were starting to feel rather heavy.  I was afraid they would cause some problems with the lightweight wall hanging laying flat.

The buttons worked a lot better.  Lightweight and bright, they look like part of a birds toy.  Oh, and I added a few bells.  Got to be able to make some noise while he is playing, right?

I also finished my Hawaiian Turtle block!  It is now a HUGE pillow.  22 inches to be exact, but still it is so big compared to all my other pillows.

See, it is even bigger than the back of our couch.  Dusty can hide behind it.  He likes to hide under my quilts while I am working on them.  Although, he wasn't quite sure why I was putting this big pillow on top of him.

One good thing is that Dan says he plans to use the big pillow.  It is nice to know it will not be wasted just taking up room on the end of the couch.  Well, I have more things on my list that I would like to check off soon so I better get to them....

Happy Quilting!

All Legs and Neck (Clermont, FL)

I hope everyone is having a safe and Happy 4th of July weekend!  They certainly are having a great time here with outdoor activities, bounce houses with a pool, and barbecues.  The campground is booming with activities and families.  Tonight, they plan to gather along the lake to watch Disney's fireworks display.

We moved back to Clermont, FL near Orlando on Wednesday.  We passed the rest of our time in Wauchula with walks and celebrating our 40th anniversary with my brother Jay and his wife Beverly.  We had a wonderful surprise visit with them.

Today, I thought I would just share some pictures with a different view of Sandhill Cranes. Since moving back to Clermont, the Cranes have visited our site at least once a day.

I took this opportunity to get photos of them using my 500mm lens from ground level.

I love the way they look - like they are made of nothing but legs, knobby knees, and a long neck.

They did not mind me taking their pictures.  They actually started moving closer at one point....until one male started giving his intruder alert.

  I thought he was upset with discovering me sitting on the ground, but when I put down my camera I realized he was alerting on one of our cats.  Squirrel was less than 15 feet away and trying to sneak up on the birds when I grabbed his leash.  Silly cat!  The Cranes walked away unconcerned by being attacked by a puny cat.  I think I was more worried.

I had enough photos so I brought out Hitch for some outdoor time.  He soon discovered that the Cranes had not moved on like I had thought.  He was a little smarter about not wanting to get too close.  Of course, my tight hold on his leash might have kept him from making that decision too.

I have been finishing up quite a few quilts and I hope to have photos to share soon.  I'm happy to be back in a populated area.  I need to get a little shopping done before we move farther south.  I just used up the last of my batting and I have quite a few more scrappy quilt tops planned for this winter.  There is no Joann Fabrics in Key West so I need to do a little pre-planning and stock up on batting and backings.
Well, I want to get back to my quilting so until next time....
Happy Quilting!