Gigi's Room

While yesterday was beautiful, today is gloomy and rainy and dark. But my enthusiasm is not dampened. Below are three shots of the tree outside our window. This is showing 3 days in a row this week. First there were leaf buds , yesterday they started to open and today when I look out the window the spring green leaves are larger and catch my eye. I can hardly wait to see them tomorrow.




Since yesterday was such a beautiful spring day and we decided to take a ride to see the Blue Herons nesting. I was not able to take pictures but this is a good link to see what we were looking at although even with binoculars we couldn't see this close up. http://www.shltrip.com/Heron_Rookery_in_Ohio.html
This time of year before the leaves are out you can see all the nests and the comings and goings and nest building of the herons. It is always impressive when we come around the  corner onto Bath Road and see 100 (more or less) nests with birds standing on the branches.

It is always a pleasant drive through the Metroparks roads that we can follow from  Willoughby from one reservation to the next all the way to the west side of Cleveland or to Akron.

Cleveland Metroparks is an extensive system of nature preserves in Greater Cleveland, Ohio. The various reservations, which largely encircle the city of Cleveland, tend to follow the rivers and creeks that flow through the region. Referred to unofficially as the 'Emerald Necklace',^[1] the network of parks spans over 21,000 acres (8,500 ha) and includes hundreds of miles of walking, bicycle, and horse trails as well as numerous picnic areas, nature education centers, golf courses, and countless fishing spots. In addition, the district includes the zoo in Cleveland. Several of the reservations are adjacent to Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

One of the perks of going to see the herons is that we always make a little detour to go to The Polka Dot Pincushion quilt shop. There is a shop hop going on right now and the shop was busy but not really crowded and Jack told me to take my time and find what I was looking for.

 I came away with this, it is not what I was looking for. There was something about the large motifs in the wide ( 5 inch) stripes that gave me an idea. How do you explain why one would buy something that was not the colors I am currently drawn to and want to work with, why I would fail to notice that there are only 2 large motifs and not 6 as I thought,  and why now that I have it home I can't envision what I wanted to do with this? I am not unhappy with it but I am puzzled as to why I bought it when I  made a promise to myself that I will only buy what I need to finish something or what I am so charged up about that I am going right home to start it. I was looking for fabrics to go with my scrappy trips. purple, yellow, blue green, green and orange. I think only the green might work the rest are too tonal to go with the mostly clear bright fabrics I have already used. Go figure!!