Don and I--and Lily!--returned home from Maine yesterday afternoon after an arduous drive along America's interstate highway system. Lily will be spending about 6 weeks with us before she flies home for the beginning of school, and we love having her back with us.
All I can say is construction season is in full swing! We spent quite a bit of time sitting in traffic jams, including one in Ohio where the turnpike was closed in both directions due to a massive accident involving a truck filled with liquid hydrogen. That was a real mess! Unfortunately, one person was killed in the accident. My sympathy for his family.
The visit to Maine was really, really good! I love being out there with my middle child/oldest daughter and having her show me the sights. Before we did any of the touristy things, I gave the king sized quilt to Kristina who gave it as a gift to her husband, Matt. He was absolutely flabbergasted! I had finished hand stitching the binding while we were in the hotels on our way out East and before we left home, I'd also managed to sew two pillowcases to give them as well. Kristina took one look at the quilt and was all smiles, and Matt was literally speechless that his wife would give him such a gift. I felt pretty good that they liked and appreciated my work.
After that, it was time to boil up some lobster and begin the feasting!
On our last day in Maine, we took a drive to Boothbay Harbor, seen below from a hilltop. Quite a touristy little town but it had lots of boat traffic in the harbor. We took a cruise in the late afternoon where we got to see some seals lounging on the rocks, like giant elongated pillows! Toward the end of the harbor cruise, a crew member demonstrated hauling up a lobster trap and we learned a lot about the life of this rather ugly--but tasty!--crustacean! It was a perfect day to be on the water, and the perfect way to end our stay in Maine.
On our drive to Boothbay Harbor, we stopped at a LQS where I picked up some fat quarters of neutrals with nautical designs that I'll use in my next scrappy quilt. Cute little mermaids on one of them.
Making our way west to Wisconsin, we decided to stop at the National Women's History Museum in Seneca Falls, NY. This is a national park devoted to commemorating the women who began the fight for women's rights on that location back in 1848. Lily, who's 12 years old, was quite interested in learning how women had no rights back then and how far we've come today. We had several interesting conversations about how it was when I was a girl in the 50's and 60's compared to how life is for her now. Quite a difference--but still a ways to go.
In the museum, there are bronze statues of the women who assembled there to begin the movement. Above is Lily with the statue of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who chose "Sunflower" as her pen name,
and here she is with the statue of Lucretia Mott, the other most important leader at that time. Behind them is the statue of William Frederick Douglas, also very important to the movement.
After we left the National Park, we drove through wine country to Corning, NY to take in the Corning Museum of Glass which was absolutely amazing! We only had time to take in 2 of the galleries and here are some pics I took of things that impressed me in Contemporary Art Glass.
This is a dress made of black glass which looks as though it's draped around a woman's figure, but not really. The folds of the dress and the translucency of the glass was breathtaking!
This is a collection of 3 tiers of drinking glasses stacked on glass shelves with clear glasses on the outside, brown glasses to make up the trunk, and green ones for the leaves. Some of the green glasses had leaf and bird designs on them making the tree canopies a little more interesting.
This one is a glass replica of a lynx, patterned after a drawing in the framed piece behind on the wall. The lynx is made of glass spikes, giving it that prickly look. I was reminded of the day our friends took us to see a lynx in Northern Minnesota that had been trapped and tranquilized for their biology study. Such a beautiful animal!
And so, I am now back home and glad of it. Lots of things that have to get done this week, preparing for the big July Fourth party we're having on Saturday. So, that's it for now.
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