Inspiration photos and such

We went to the zoo in San Antonio... got to go to a short talk about condors.  It was amazing!  They have two, and they have bred in the past, but no longer.  Apparently they got a condor divorce.  :)  They live in two different exhibits now; we got to meet Daisy.  She is being trained to follow a certain stick so they can move her into her cage when they need to.  She doesn't fear humans - she was raised by them, so she has a tendency to want to play instead of get in the cage.  Can't say I blame her!

One of the other things we noticed at the zoo was the number of statues that you can actually climb on!  They have little signs warning that the metal statues can get hot in the Texas sun, but other than that, have fun!  I thought that was amazing!

One of my favorites was this one:

 

Steampunk hippos!  They were adorable!  The live hippo had a new (to me) exhibit behind glass so you could watch it swimming around, but he was having his breakfast while we were there.  The old hippo enclosure is now for a capybara and a tapir. 

 

 



This is at the Japanese Tea Gardens - looking almost straight up into the top of the pavilion.  It was amazing.  I wish I had a better camera to grab better shots, but this one isn't too bad.  I'd love to recreate this in a quilt - the beautiful geometric pattern and the different shades of wood.  It's like looking up into a flower unfolding above. 

 

The pavilion from ground level - it's amazing.  Everything is limestone from the quarry the Tea Garden is located in, and it's chaotic and orderly both at the same time, organic and formal.  It's an amazing balance, and I adore it!

 

I did indeed work on Boston Molasses - got another complete row of quilting done - both parts of the "wave" of molasses, so I am reasonably pleased.  Got it rolled up a little more and started the next row of "wave" as well.  So far, so good.  Now for shower and working on pineapple.  (Not a real one, a stuffed one for a luau at work).