Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Out and About, June 2019

One day last week we visited Ohio's state capital in Columbus.  We anticipated doing a tour but time on the parking meter and the tour schedule didn't correlate so we walked around, stopping to admire the architecture and view the displays and exhibits.  These are poor phone photos but you can get an idea of the Statehouse's beauty and size.






















I think the rotunda is truly beautiful with its circular space, high arches, and domed ceiling. The walls are painted a coral/pink and robin's egg blue, with white trim.


As my daughter and I stepped off an elevator we heard singing and wondered where it could be coming from.  As we walked down a hall and through a doorway we realized that a group was singing in the rotunda.  We thought we were hearing a choir of angels.  Their voices ascended to the top of the dome then descended back down, filling the space with exquisite music.


We learned that the singers were The Cardinal Chorale, a group of high school students, sophomores through college freshman.  They meet in the summer for a week-long workshop, take their music home and practice, then meet again in late spring to present several concerts.  This was not a public concert.  They were singing for the joy of it and, no doubt, enjoying the acoustical effects of their voices in this setting.  There was no audience except those who happened to be walking through the space, on their way to some other place, or people like us who stopped to listen.  It was a happy surprise to hear them. 

Another happy surprise came earlier in the month when a package arrived from Lizzy of Gone to the Beach.  She sent a package of beautiful, mostly reproduction, fabric scraps.  I think this was my first in-person view of chrome yellow fabric, having seen only photos in Dating Fabrics: A Color Guide 1800-1960 by Eileen Jahnke Trestain.  All the fabrics are wonderful.  Thank you, Lizzy!


This past Friday we went to a Half Price Books book sale at the state fairgrounds.  I'm always on the lookout for quilting books and these were a deal.  I bought the seven below, five of which were brand new.


I am sleep-deprived:  we have critters, probably raccoons, in our attic directly over our bed.  When I go to bed, sometime after midnight, all is quiet.  Just as I'm drifting off to sleep I hear scratching, scrabbling, thumping, tumbling.  Sometimes I think they are holding a wrestling match, other times I imagine they've set up a playground.  The only thing we've found (so far) that sends them on their way is the smoke alarm!  What an inconvenience and disruption of sleep in the middle of the night.  We have a company coming in a few days that I hope will remove the raccoons and prevent them from returning.  (Though I wonder if that's possible since we had them two years ago and made repairs to the spaces where they were entering.  Have they marked our house?)  I need some good sleep!

Back to block making and quilting this week.

I hope all is well in your part of the world.

--Nancy.



2 comments:

  1. What a special treat to be in the right place at the right time to hear the choir. Sorry about the raccoon invasion. They are such cute creatures but I know they can be a nuisance. Your found some great books. I've admired the Prairie Flower book for a long time so I looked it up on Amazon and was able to find one for a decent price. Maybe we could do a SAL in the future, who knows?

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    Replies
    1. Hi, Robin,
      Yes, it was a happy circumstance to hear the choir. We also learned that they were performing again that evening in a nearby city so we saw them again. Hearing them sing in the rotunda was the best but they were also great that evening.

      I do love raccoons, think they are adorable, just not in our house. For one thing, they are just too noisy! We had a company come last Saturday who showed us photos of what they'd done in our attic and how they got in. They will come back and install a temporary one-way door and fix the places where they come in. Two years ago we have a mama and her kits in another area of the attic and had the openings repaired. One of the kits ended up in a closet. We put it out where we thought the mom would take it but she abandoned it. It was already too wild for us to try to help it.

      I was looking at the Prairie Flower blocks the night before you left a comment here wondering if I would make them and if so, which I would do first. Maybe a sew-along would be good.

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