Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Morganfield, Kentucky....the Union County Library

You all know that I love to look at quilt squares on barns and buildings all over the USA.  Well, on Monday a good friend who grew up in Kentucky and another good friend, who acted as driver for the day, took me on a driving tour of the quilt squares in Union County Kentucky.  They are really crazy about the idea down there and squares abounded on barns, buildings, schools, hospitals.....you name it!  We saw a total of 23, not counting the ones below.  We didn't get to all of the ones in the area, but I hope to go back and get more since this isn't very far from Evansville.  
The library in Morganfield, KY has covered the back wall of their building with these quilt squares!  It was pretty amazing!  Difficult to get a shot of the whole building and on a busy day, there were lots of cars.  I believe I counted 33 squares on the back of the building.  They are all done in memory of someone.
I'll sort of "stitch" together a panorama of close-up shots.  It made me want to rush out and make all these quilts!  I have always wanted a Drunkard's Path quilt....the red and white square in the top left corner.
 There was such an interesting variety to choose from!
 I like the large scrappy bowtie.
 I don't know the name of that colorful swirling one....but I like it!
 The large Carpenter's Wheel is nice!
Dogwood blossoms, Lone Star and lots of nice small ones

This end of the building was hardest to photograph.
 Of course this bird block was one of my favorites!
 And the butterflies!
 Grandmother's Flower Garden
 I liked the paisley "fabric" on this one!  Someone did a great job of painting these!

 At the edge of the parking lot there was this neat tree sculpture for the Union County Bicentennial.
Each root had a word carved on it.....here we have Industry, Education, and Agriculture.  Others were Faith, Diversity, Community, Coal, River.....that's all I remember.
I had to show the "library cat" hanging on the wall inside.
It was a very nice library inside.  I was amazed that one thing they do is allow people to check out jigsaw puzzles.  I wish my library did that!  I wonder how they keep them from losing the pieces?  
Margaret....my navigator, and Cheryl....the driver, walking down the ramp in the library.
And Margaret walked us around the courthouse next door to show us the "bull monument".
"Union County Kentucky.....the first county in the United States to have only Pure Bred Bulls".
***********
I have more quilt squares from  Morganfield and Sturgis to post tomorrow!  Very few that we saw are on barns, but it was interesting to see how many there were and how much the people here are backing this idea.  They are in the process of getting a new map made with all the newest ones on it.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Looking for hawks in Posey County and the last of the butterflies......

At this time of year you can find dozens of hawks sitting on wire or poles along the highways.  We drove north of Vincennces, IN on Sunday and I counted 10 along the highway, but didn't have my camera with me.  So Wednesday we decided to take a drive and look for some of the local ones.
This one took off as soon as we stopped......or maybe he just read the sign and was feeling guilty about trespassing on private property :-) 
 Got one shot of this one before he flew.  
Not a good shot of this Kestrel, but at least he hadn't taken off yet.
 We drove on out to Hovey Lake to see if there were any migrating water fowl.  Didn't see much, but there were about 7 egrets on the far side of the lake.  Way too far to get any good photos, but here are 3-4 sitting in the trees.

One Heron out on a log with a turtle.  It had just grabbed something...fish?  More turtle logs beyond.  Again...too far away for good photos with my camera and I have a pretty big lens.
 We were walking along a gravel road and it was lined with the little white asters, so there were still some butterflies hanging around.  I'm sure these will be among the last that I see.  Several Buckeyes.
 Saw lots of grasshoppers!  Big ones....
 ......little ones
 Even mating ones!  Saw two pair that were like this and still hopping around.
 A very nice Painted Lady.  Wonder if it was freshly hatched.  It was in great shape.

 A Clouded Sulphur.  I always seem to find sulphurs with the edge facing me.  There were smaller sulphurs flying around, but they refused to land.
A Checkered White blending in with the flowers.  The wind was blowing making photos difficult.
Our temperatures dropped last night, so I image I won't see many more butterflies.  The flowers are mostly gone now.  Fall is here for sure!  Maybe my bird traffic will pick up more.....I hope so!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Fall at the wetlands....

The rest of my last trip to the wetlands.
There was a flock of about 25 Canada Geese on the back part of the creek.
 They were busy eating and preening
 Still quite a bit of duckweed on the water back here.





Usually I show "turtle logs".....this day they were "geese logs".
 Well.....of course there were some turtles, too.  It was a great day for clear reflections of them.  I call this guy "The Swimmer".
Painted turtle...I think 
 Red- eared Slider
This guy is already for Halloween!  He has on his "Freddy Krueger" glove.....oh, wait...those are REAL claws! 
  
"Wheeeeee!"
In the meadow everything is turning to seeds and there were very few butterflies left.
I like all the different kinds of "fuzzies". 

An Eastern-tailed Blue.....one of the few butterflies I saw that day. 
Beautiful flowers.....don't know what they are. 
 I like the fuzzy moths, too.

A different type of moth on the white asters
And a few Mallards on the creek.