New York City - Day 2 - Another Day at the Bronx Zoo

Whenever, I visit the zoo, I seem to come away with a favorite animal for the day and this day it was this very large Silverback Gorilla.  He/She (?) was a real character.  In the below picture, you can see that the gorilla sat right in front of the glass peering out at all the people like we were the ones on television.  I couldn't get close as the people were taking turns posing.  He looked over at me down the way a bit and got up and walked over and posed right in front of me in this "what are they thinking" pose.  I fell in love with this gorilla!!

The gorilla  is definitely posing here and was too funny!

This is an Ebony Langur and they were very active.

This is a Wolf's Monkey from Africa.  The last time at the Zoo, I didn't see any of the apes.  We did get to almost every exhibit this time although we were both very tired by the end of the day.  

This was another of my absolute favorites this time -- a Tree Kangaroo!

When Debi and I went in June, we somehow missed the lions!!  

There were quite a few outdoor exhibits of various birds -- there were actually two different ponds with flamingoes.  These were the darker pink ones.

 This is a Hornbill and  you can see why!

 The exhibits with the aquatic birds were fantastic and there was nothing between you and the birds who were only feet away from you.  This is a lovely Scarlet Ibis for my sister Gail!

 This is a Guam Kingfisher posing.

 Like the song, this is the Laughing Kookaburra from Down Under!

These are Inca Terns.

This was an incredibly colorful bird called a Monal.  The feathers are really a grey color but are highly reflective giving all these variations in color - beautiful!

As before, there were peacocks everywhere but thought I would publish this closeup of the face of the  more colorful male.  They weren't strutting like they were in June, showing all their feathers.

Of course I took lots of other pictures but many were repeats of what I took in June although polar bear and the tigers weren't as much fun this visit as my last.

The Bronx Zoo is one of the nicest zoos I have seen -- right up there with the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park.

Old Forge - Oh My!

Looking out over the Middle Branch of the Moose River in Old Forge.

While hanging our show, we had the wonderful opportunity to not only do a little sightseeing in the area, but also to see the Northeast Quilt Show which was opening yesterday and goes through the first week in November. I was very impressed with the quality of the quilts. In addition to our own RAFA show and this NE show, there was also a show of New York Studio Art Quilters Association quilts (Priscilla and Marcia were represented here) and an embroiderers guild show so there was lots to see!

More fall scenery by the Moose River

This is a view looking down onto the show as was the picture.



This was a quilt by Mary Knapp which was inspired by Escher drawings. It is called Visual Perception and contains her hand dyed and overdyed fabrics. Fabulous!

This quilt was designed by Diane J. Evans by using a technique learned in a Ricky Tims class. It is called Color My World and is just stunning in person.

There are tons more quilts in the show and I highly recommend you visit if you can. Also make sure you visit the nice little Black Bear quilt shop in Inlet NY which is just ten miles north of the show!

From the embroidery show.

This is Marcia Decamp's SAQA piece.

I will put up a Picasa album after the show is over for those of you who missed it. It will contain some of my favorites.

In Search of the Venus Flytrap!

Well, Betsey and Sue left on Sunday and Mari and I decided it was time to visit Carolina Beach State Park. We are about five minutes away from this at our beach house. We were truly amazed by the size of the visitor center and the many paths throughout the park. We, however, were on a mission to find the Venus Flytrap.

What I hadn't known before this trip, was that the Venus Flytrap is only found within 75 miles of Wilmington NC. In fact, there are many carnivorous plants within this same geographical area! They like the very acid sandy soil. We were told the Venus Flytraps could be found growing in spagnum moss areas.

Well, we saw lots of mushrooms (which seemed really weird in a very sunny, sandy soil) and cactus but no Venus Flytraps. We even called back to the visitor center to make sure we were on the right path (the Venus Flytrap path) and they told us they were very had to spot as they are so small. We tried the path 2 1/2 times and then gave up! We did spot the yellow pitcher plant in the above photo which is also a carnivorous plant.
We will have to come back in the spring when the Venus Flytrap actually has a flower. I am going to try to coerce Lisa and Warren into walking one of the longer trails in the park also.

This I believe is Orange Milwort which I thought was very pretty. It was hiding behind the pitcher plant.

I don't know what this flower is but suspect from its shape that it is another carnivorous plant.

This I think is a Virginia Meadow Beauty.

One of the many pines in the park with the bright blue sky behind.

Charleston, Charleston......

This is Mari, Sue and Betsey in front of the Visitor's Center.


After a fun day of hanging out and catching up on life in general, we got up at 5:30 and headed for Charleston SC which entailed a 6:15 ferry ride and four hours of driving! Priscilla had left on Wednesday, we sewed on Thursday so Friday was chosen as the Charleston day. Sue, Betsey, Mari and I (as well as Barbara still in California because she is under the weather) have been internet pals for close to 15 years! We have gotten together in California and NY in the past (but only once had all five of us together).


We didn't have a lot of time to spend in Charleston so we decided that a bus tour would be the best way to see the most of the city in the shortest time so we signed up for the 2 hour bus tour and house tour. We then doubled back and walked through the market and then a very late lunch at a spot recommended by the tour guide (note: don't trust the tour guide for a recommendation!). Charleston is as beautiful as I remember. Mari managed to get a phone book and called a local quilt shop for directions. Then the search was on!! We only had twenty minutes before they closed!! Needless to say, it took getting lost and another phone call before we found the shop. They nicely stayed open for us and of course we just had to buy something! We were all pretty tired by then so headed on home which was longer than going as we both couldn't take the ferry as we were too late and the navigators fell down on the job (giggling I might add by this time).

This was inside the roof of a very old Unitarian Church in Charleston. Freedom of religion was rigorously enforced in early Charleston which prided itself on its tolerance.

This was an example of the fine ironwork throughout the city. The last time I was here was probably close to 20 years ago and there was still a lot of reconstruction going on. There is so much more that has been restored now -- really amazing considering the age of many of these homes.

My family has mocked me for years as the first time I was in Charleston I was totally fascinated with the earthquake bolts and would point them out on every building. Here is an example of one! These were used to shore up buildings damaged badly in a 7.0 earthquake in the late 1880's. They literally screwed them back together and held them in place with these bolts. Many times they were covered with something decorative and they are a clear indicator that a building is more than 100 years old.

How Now Brown Cow -- A Day at the NY State Fair

The day was perfect for going to the Fair! Our first visit was to the Dairy Animal building which was populated mostly with the Holsteins that you see in the background of this shot. They are the big black and white cows you see everywhere here in NY State. Dairy farming is the biggest agricultural activity here in NY. This, however, is a Jersey cow. My good friend Jane came from a dairy farm near Oneonta and her parents raised Jerseys. Jerseys have very high fat content milk while Holsteins produce lots of milk. Here in NY, farmers are paid for volume not fat content. Her brother finally threw in the towel and gave up raising the dairy cows and got a job in a nearby town. I only saw this one Jersey in the show!

This was in the meat animal building and these two are Highland steers which were really quite beautiful. They had plaid banners over them so you can guess their origin! Evidently they are very good breeders and are pretty to look at as well. All the animals are soooooo clean and well groomed in these animal buildings.


This was Warren making friends with one of the lovely fuzzy bunnies that were displayed!

This was in the dairy products building. This lady does cheese sculpture all over the country and of course used NY cheddar. She passed out the cut off pieces and it was delicious!!

A real high point of the day was the building that housed the poultry!! So many beautiful roosters and some were just huge! They were mini-artworks in themselves.

This was the view looking down the main promenade. I have literally never seen so many vendors with different products. Inside the buildings there was every pitchman you have ever seen selling everything from $5000 sets of pans to the imitation chamois that you see advertised on tv (okay, I did succomb to that one). It was kind of fun. We can honestly say that we didn't eat one healthy thing all day!! I probably came closest having my very favorite soft serve ice cream (NOT frozen custard). Ummmmmmm good!

The Horticulture building housed mostly vendors (as did most of the non-animal buildings). There was a small dahlia and hosta competition as well as a flower arranging challenge. The dahlias were gorgeous and HUGE -- bigger than my hand.

These were more of the beautiful dahlias -- I do love dahlias!

This is the Horticulture Bldg. entrance. It was built in 1937 and was one of several buildings with interesting architecture and artistic features. I was surprised to find these older permanent fixtures at the fair. It had the feel of an old World's Fair site.

This is a closeup of the building in the previous picture. You can double click to see the detail. It isn't mosaic but is painted and raised work.

I had to take a photo of this ad for the healthy food available!




I truly wish I could have gotten closer to this show which was a Raptors show. This was a Marsh Hawk that was patiently sitting for his turn in the limelight.

These were the two barn owls. I wish I had seen one of these in the "wild". Beautiful creatures!! He also had a couple of Tiger Owls which looked like Horned Owls to me. They were just huge animals with a five foot wing span. The young female was much larger than the male. This was a fascinating show but I couldn't get in very close. It was almost worth going back for!! The narrator has made appearances on a lot of the late night talk shows and he was charming as well as very knowledgeable about these beautiful birds!!

I of course had to take a picture of one of the many quilts on display in the crafts area. This was a particularly nice wool quilt that greeted you as you entered!

After five hours of walking around the whole show, we headed home and a dinner of barbeque along the way. We slept well last night!

Back from Camping in the Wilds of the Finger Lakes Region of NY

Maybe not wilds exactly... We spent the past week at Keuka Lake State Park which is probably the nicest of the Finger Lakes state parks that we have visited! Each site had electricity and bushes on either side so you truly felt more isolated than usual. The sites were large and flat as well and Keuka Lake is a beautiful clear lake.
Here we are, all set up with our screen tent and sleeping tent -- both very easy to put up and fold away. These are what we used for our cross country trip two years ago.


Here are our friends who have a slightly more luxurious camping vehicle -- a 40 foot motor home with 4 tvs and 2 air conditioners!

This is the "fruit" of the Butternut trees. These trees and scrub pines were all over. There were more blue jays than I have seen in a long time in the pines. Evidently in the fall, the local deer feast on these butternuts which looked like crabapples to me.

This is wild chicory which is a very common flower around here this time of year. It evidently is not a native species but does thrive along the roadside and in areas next to grasses. The Queen Anne's Lace was everywhere as well as a small amount of scotch thistle which was my childhood favorite flower -- I love purple!

This is a Hickory Tussock moth caterpillar which landed on Warren's blue jeans. You can see the size from the weave of the blue jean material. It was a very pretty caterpillar but is not such a beautiful moth but pretty harmless to trees and such. It was tempting to pet it as it was so pretty and fuzzy but wisely we didn't. It does secrete a fluid that will sting and annoy you!

We didn't see a lot of wildlife (we did see three beautiful bucks crossing the road in front of us on one drive), but enough for my enjoyment. The husband of the other couple is an avid hunter and is very knowledgeable about the trees, wildlife and plants that we might spot. He spent his childhood hunting and fishing in this area of NY.

The weather was fairly cooperative although the last night was spent listening to the rumble of thunder (more than a rumble actually) and watching nature's light show which did inhibit sleep just a mite. Napping was definitely called for yesterday.