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.