Lions and tigers and sweat, oh my!

A couple weeks ago was my birthday and we decided to make a family day of it. The twins were back home already but Daddy had taken them to the zoo the previous week. It had sounded like fun, so I chose to spend my birthday there. The temperature was probably close to 93 degrees that day and the heat index was 100. There was NO line to get in the zoo; as a matter of fact, they weren't even collecting guest passes. We have a membership and my sister was along as our guest. The zoo workers at the gate were just waving anyone in....we quickly figured out why.....the place was deserted because it was so darn hot!! The animals were suprisingly active and this little critter was quite entertaining, forcing his keeper to sweat even more as she shoveled dirt back in the holes he was so fond of creating.


We didn't ride the carousel but I snapped a pic of the ferocious animals stuck in an eternal dizzy spin.


Did you know that there were dinosaurs at the zoo? This was a surprise to me but Brookfield Zoo now has a "Dinosaurs Alive" exhibit. My DH took the kids to see it last trip, but we passed on the fun. The closest we came to a dinosaur ourselves was this animatronic Ruyang Yellow River replica which not only roared, but also spit at passers-by. Here's my sister trying to make a quick get-away.



Beautiful flower beds, too. I think I enjoyed them as much as the birds and bees. If you look closely at my favorite cone flowers, right in the center of the picture, you will see a lovely little bird. Bird-watcher I'm not, so I can't help you with the name of this feathered friend.





And now for a stitchy bit of news....a while back I posted pics of my Knotted Tree piece, "Summer Floral Sampler". Here it is framed. I love this design as it is so vibrant and colorful. It hangs in the shop where I can look at it every day.


And before I close, I thought I'd share Angie's first stitches. The piece on the bottom is a heart and her first attempt at stitching on her own. (Hey, where did that Fluffy come from? Sneaky kitty!) I drew a heart shape on the fabric and she was able to backstitch it. I think I will frame it and place it in her room. She was able to stitch that the first part of the summer. On the orange fabric is a pumpkin I drew. Angie added the jack-o-lantern face (you will have to look closely at the pencil markings) but did the backstitching on her own. I hope to share with her my love of the needle. I do hope she keeps up with it as she likes to stitch, likes to help me stitch and for her age, I feel she does well sitting for extended periods of time, concentrating on perfecting her stitches.



Thanks for checking in to see what's new! Now that the summer is winding down, I hope to be a bit more regular in posting!

Cathy