Monday was our 61st anniversary and it was a beautiful day, for NE Ohio winter. Though it was cold and a bit windy, the sun was out and the sky was blue. We didn't do any big celebrating but we decided to get out of the house and go to a couple of our favorite places to walk around before we headed out to dinner.

We usually visit the Holden Arboretum several times a week in the summer and walk around the pond and count the frogs. The first thing we saw as we got out of the car were little yellow flowers, Winter Aconite, poking up out of the ground, Wow, that and the clear blue sky can sure do a lot to create a cheerful outlook.

Everything looks different in the winter. In the summer this pond is surrounded by blooming plants and along the edges of the pond there are lily pads and frogs., Sometimes we see a snake or two in the water but no frogs or snakes on Monday, just ice and snow around the edge.

After we left the arboretum we stopped at Penitentiary Glen, one of the Lake Metroparks, and watched the birds and chipmunks for a while from inside the building. There is a nice viewing area where you can sit and watch. This used to be a regular stop on Tuesdays a few years ago when we watched 2 of our great grand kids all day. We don't come here very often now but it is close to the arboretum so we stopped. 

It probably doesn't seem like a very exciting time but we were not really looking for excitement. It was just a nice time putting aside our separate interests and together doing something simple that we enjoy. It is nice knowing that after 61 years we still love each other and we are still best friends and and YES, we would do it all over again.



A few blocks

Monday I layered up the sections for the T shirt quilt and I was going to layer up the Spiral Log cabin quilt but I have to piece the backing. I thought that since I had to piece the backing I would make it more interesting by putting a row of blocks between the 2 sections. So, I got out my strips and started to make 8 blocks, I ended up with 9 just in case I don't like one of them. Maybe I will but the extra block in the border backing. I am going to add the border after the body of the quilt and the borders are quilted. That will make it all more manageable for me.

This is as far as I got today (Tuesday) but there is always tomorrow or the  next day. Jack came home from his motorcycle ride and said that there were tree blooming everywhere since yesterday and we should go back to Holden today. It is amazing what happened since Sunday. I took lots more photos of flowers but these two photos are of a really interesting tree in the Conifer Collection. I got Jack to stop today so I could take some pictures. I don't know what it is because i couldn't find the little sing with the name. It is 6 or 7 feet tall and looks like a fountain or waterfall and the branches on the ground remind me of the water bubbling up at the base of a waterfall. There are 3 of these weeping conifers on the drive near the exit to the arboretum and I love to look at them. I love all the interesting shapes of the trees before the leaves come out too. There are a lot of magnificent weeping trees at Holden and I took a lot of photos today of the bare trees but I won't post them because they are probably not that interesting to most people.
For anyone who is interested in Holden Arboretum click here.

Springtime



Dwarf Iris March 11

I know spring does not arrive officially till tomorrow but the flowers around here have a head start. Yesterday after church we went to the Holden arboretum and the Daffodils and Forsythias  were blooming everywhere.

Last week we stopped and were surprised to see the little Dwarf Iris about 5-6 inches tall near the parking lot.

This next photo is the same spot yesterday with the miniature Daffodils and the little white flowers. you can see the remains of the dwarf Iris.

March 18 miniature Daffodils and remains of Dwarf Iris

The photo below is the pond where we go 2 or 3  times a week after dinner all summer. It is a riot of color and something new every time we go. I like  to take photos that show the progression through the year.

March 18 Pond at the Butterfly Garden

Lenten rose

In another area we came across a large planing of Lenten roses which are about 12 or so inches tall. the flower heads hang down so you don't see their faces unless you bend down to  the ground. I held my camera at just below knee level to shoot this pic.  A little beyond the Lenten Roses there was  a huge planting of Forsythia and of course the Daffodils  were everywhere and of every variety. 

There was no sewing here yesterday.

A finish and some Gnomes

I finished my table runner using my Turnstile demo blocks from our block of the month. I can't believe how long it took to quilt the straight lines. I have been working on it for 2 days. Well, on and off for 2 days. I have a new respect for people who can quilt straight lines over a whole large quilt and keep them even and straight.

This afternoon while I was quilting Jack went out for a while  on his motorcycle. the weather is iffy for next week and he wanted to make the most of a nice riding day. When he came back we went to Holden Arboretum to take some pictures of the Gnomes. They will be gone after tomorrow. I took some early in the summer when the 2 older great grand kids were here but the weather was so hot we didn't stay to finish seeing all of them. I thought we would go back another day but they did not come to visit me again all summer.



This is Gnome Improvement (the one on the left). I thought he was pretty impressive. I got Jack to stand next to him to show how tall  he is. Jack doesn't like this picture of him but at lest he doesn't look crabby like the other 2 I snapped.

This is SGT. Gnome Lennon and he is the size that all of the (unimproved)  gnomes are. I couldn't get Jack to stand next to him because he didn't want to fall  in the Lily pond on the right.



This last Gnome is Artemus Virbius. After we took his photo we went back to the car and drove to the visitor center and walked around the Butterfly pond. This week there are a lot of new flowers blooming and the foliage is changing everyday. I took lots of pictures (124) and I could have taken that many more. We visit the arboretum at least 3 times a week during the summer, less often once the weather is not so nice but even in the winter there is always something to see.                  

One last photo, this large hydrangea is near the entrance and though it is a little blurred but you can still see that it was pretty nice.