Eagle Cruise - What a Great Day!

Wayne and I enjoyed our annual Eagle Cruise on Kentucky Lake yesterday. While the temperatures were in the 30's, it didn't feel as cold on the deck taking photos as I though it would be - I tried to stay in some protected spots so I wasn't standing in the wind. With clothing four layers deep and a nice scarf to wrap over my head and neck, I spent quite a bit of time on the front and back decks taking photos of the 27 eagles we saw this year. Many others aboard, including Wayne, enjoyed watching from inside with their binoculars.

Previously we had seen most of the eagles sitting in trees. This year most of the eagles were flying. There were some immature ones sitting in trees in the coves - like they were trying to stay out of sight - I did get some photos of them though with my dandy 300 mm lens. There were lots of gulls flying along the boat, and we saw lots of coots - a favorite meal of the eagles (more on that later).

After the cruise we had dinner at the Ken Lake Lodge, which was followed by a great program by the Louisville Raptor Rehab group. They brought several raptors which have been injured and can't be returned to the wild, plus one beautiful barn owl they have raised and use for the educational program.

Before we even left the dock, we spotted an adult eagle sitting in the trees across the lake from the landing. Can you spot the adult eagle sitting in the trees? Hint: Look for the while head on a black body. The white birds you see flying are some gulls that seemed to follow us throughout the cruise.






Just after leaving the dock we spotted a peregrine falcon that has taken up residence in this big osprey nest on top of the bridge over Kentucky Lake. It's head is peaking out above the nest.







Here's the bridge... so that nest is way up there. The falcon has a bird's eye view.









After a while, you can spot the eagles pretty easy. This adult eagle was tucked into the trees.

It's fun to see them flying with their full-wing span. The wing span can reach seven feet.










There are two immature eagles sitting on the branch of this tree. They are a little fuzzy because this tree was back in a cove and it was quite a distance from the boat. Just look for two brown lumps sitting on the same branch.

We saw quite a few eagles flying along the tree line like this one.

This one looks like a missile flying into the trees.

They were soaring in groups - often they would fly away from us and then fly right back over the boat. They could have been performing their own symphony up there with the ease and grace that they were soaring.

Some of the coots who were swimming along the way became meals for the eagles. We saw this eagle swoop down alongside the boat to catch a coot - the coot was fast and went underwater. The eagle went up and swooped down to make another pass for the coot - again the coot went underwater. This time the eagle hovered like in this photo to wait for the coot to come up - when the coot came up, the eagle snatched it from the water and few off to a tree for a meal. The hovering was like watching someone tread water; it was amazing to watch.

Here is an American Coot - it's a water-dwelling bird that resembles a duck.

After watching the demise of the coot, we enjoyed the cruise back to dock, checking to see if some of the eagles were still sitting in the same spots... and some were.


After docking it was off to dinner at the Lodge. Then we saw some raptors in a program presented by the Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky, Inc. from Louisville. I'll share some of the photos I took of the raptors.

First we saw one of the smallest owls - the Saw-whet Owl that only weighed 3.3 oz.

Eileen Wicker talks about the Common Barn Owl.



The Turkey Vulture wanted to flap its wings - can't fly though because one wing was damaged at the joint.



After his performance, the Turkey Vulture sat down for a rest



This Golden Eagle had been caged for 18 years; they are nursing it back to health.
This was its first time to be taken out for their educational program.

The Golden Eagle gets its name from the gold feathers around its neck.

Check out the talons on the Golden Eagle.

Debbie handles the American Bald Eagle - it has a damaged wing.

Look at the beautiful coloring in the Bald Eagle's feathers.



What a beautiful day to go eagle watching. The other raptors were a bonus!
Thank you to the staff at Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky for
sharing their knowledge about the raptors with us.

 This morning (Feb. 6) was the final eagle cruise for this year. If you are interested in going on one of these cruises in 2012, contact http://www.kentuckylake.com/lbl/eagletours.htm or call 270-924-2020.

And here is another place for you to watch eagles online. It is the Nest Cam at Decorah, Iowa, near the fish hatchery. What smart birds to build their nest by a fish hatchery!

Here is the link: http://www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/index.html

They have a live camera that runs 24/7. Then you can also look at the hourly shots posted. Right now the Decorah eagles are getting their nest ready - shredding corncobs for nesting material. Last year we watched from the time their eggs were laid in February until the three young eagles left the nest in August. It's a great educational tool for your children and grandchildren to watch. 

This photo is from the daily stills at Decorah.

Happy Eagle Watching!

Scissors & Pincushions & Tools, Oh My

When we had our new windows put in, I had to do some serious cleaning in my sewing room. I went through tote bags of stuff, and sewing kits of stuff, and found that I have a lot of pincushions and scissors too. So today I shot some photos of them in groups so you could see them. Most of these pincushions were given to me by guilds and conferences, and a few I bought at some guild bazaars - I don't have patterns for any of them.

So here goes... A Quilter and Her Tools

Customize your own free picture slideshow

Winter, Cold, Brrr



click on photo to enlarge


It is only about 25 degrees here in Paducah today and I thought this photo that I took in Iowa during our Christmas holiday portrayed that same degree of coldness. We don't have any snow in Paducah though - it's just COLD!






So it's a good day to stay inside and sew and do some computer work.

Hope you are staying warm where you are...

Merry Snowy Christmas!

Bonnie & Wayne Browning wish you all a Verry Happy New Year. Here are some photos from our Christmas with our families in Iowa.

A free scrapbook design by Smilebox

Merry Christmas from Bonnie and Wayne

This photo slideshow created with Smilebox

The Holidays are Here

On Thanksgiving Wayne and I enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner at Patti's Restaurant in Grand Rivers, KY. As we left home the rain started and it rained and rained and rained all afternoon. When we arrived at Patti's it was raining so hard that we had to sit in the car for a while to keep from getting drenched - luckily we had left home a bit early and we were able to find a parking place fairly close to the restaurant.

(Note: You can make any of the photos larger by clicking on them.)

If you have been to Patti's, then you know that they have a creek that runs next to the restaurant. It was overflowing because of the sudden heavy rain.

We weren't able to walk around the grounds to look at the Christmas decorations except for these poor drowned reindeer - don't they look like they are saying - please stop the rain!

But once inside it was dry and toasty warm. Patti's serves an "all you can eat" dinner for Thanksgiving. To start you can choose soup or a gelatin cranberry salad, then they serve you a sampler plate of beef, pork, white and dark turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potato casserole, creamed corn, green beans, and dressing. You can re-order anything that you want more of. We also had Patti's famous bread served in the flower pot with strawberry and regular butter.


And they finish it off with a small piece of pie (like a half piece) which was just the right size. Many families go to Patti's every year. We certainly enjoyed the meal and would do this again - no cooking and no dishes either.

Wayne posed with the resident Pilgrim!

We always enjoy the decoration both inside and out (we'll have to go again to see these though). Here are a few photos I took inside the restaurant.

The restaurant has lots of different rooms and they are all decorated differently. We were in a room that had stars hanging from the ceiling and angels along the walls.




 There were angels in wreaths...

And Santa wreaths too.

And decorated trees everywhere. If you are in the Paducah area, be sure to plan a meal at Patti's Restaurant in Grand Rivers. It's about 30 miles toward Kentucky Lake from Paducah and well worth the trip.

We hope you had a good Thanksgiving Day, we certainly did.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Brownings!







We are thankful for so many things - family, friends, and fair weather. Hope the storms moving around the country don't keep you from enjoying the day.

Busy week in AL and TN

This week was my last teaching job of the year and it was such fun to be with the Birmingham Quilters Guild in Alabama. I saw some old friends and met many new ones too. We started off with my Getting It Straight lecture on Monday morning, and then had a 3-hour class in Bindings - What's Old and What's New. The Windmill - Twisted Log Cabin workshops on Tuesday and Wednesday were a big hit. They had so many who wanted that class that we scheduled a second day of it. It's always such fun to see how these blocks turn out depending on the color choices...and they all work. It even works with one fabric instead of using the gradations. Thanks for having me in Birmingham!

In the photo above, taken during Show and Tell, you'll notice the Stardust quilts some of the guild members made for one of their charity projects. This is such a great pattern to use for beginning or intermediate quiltmakers, and looks great using one light, one medium, and one dark fabric. It's a free pattern that I did for the AQS Teach America 2 Quilt program; just send me an e-mail (bbquilter@gmail.com) and I'll e-mail the pattern to you, and I always love to receive photos of the quilts you make with this pattern.

From Birmingham, Wayne and I drove to Knoxville, TN, on Wednesday evening for a planning meeting for the 2011 AQS Quilt Show in Knoxville. We are starting to work on the registration materials for the Knoxville show. Wayne and I joined Mary Miltenberger and Kelli Gibson (from the Knoxville Tourism and Sports Commission) on the Star of Knoxville lunch cruise to check out the cruise, the boat, and the food. We're planning to have an Elvis Mystery Dinner Cruise during the show in July. Doesn't that sound like fun?

Note: You can click on any of the photos to make them larger.

We cruised to the area where the Tennessee River begins. There were still some pretty leaves to see along the way.

Here I am as the Guest Captain as he narrates during the cruise down river. And I didn't even run into any of the fisherman who were taking advantage of this beautiful November day to catch a few fish...and they were catching them too.

We passed by the Ijams Nature Center that has a really nice walking path along the river. There was a cave just past this walkway too.

We were on our best behavior and not one person had to walk the gang plank!

The Star of Knoxville has a nice indoor area where we ate our buffet lunch, but you could go upstairs and be outside to enjoy the nice sunny day we had for the cruise.

As we turned the curve headed back to port,

we had a great view of the downtown Knoxville sky line.

This was a fun cruise and the Elvis Mystery Dinner Cruise will be a blast in July.

Don't miss this event in Knoxville.

Happy Halloween!

Look at the colors of fall in this photo - from the browns of the cornstalks to the oranges of the pumpkins and the beautiful mums. Fall is here!

My Mom surprised me by taking a bus to Des Moines for the quilt show with members of the Mississippi Valley Quilt Guild. She didn't even tell Karen that she was coming on the bus because she was afraid Karen would tell. I was surprised when she tapped me on the shoulder in the hallway - and my reaction was, "what are you doing here?" Then I gave her a big hug. She loves it when she gets to put one over on me.

And here we are standing in front of the Best of Show quilt (black & pink one).
L to R: Karen, Mom, Bonnie, Bonnabelle Rayner


You can make any of the photos larger by clicking on them.


 After the AQS Quilt Show in Des Moines, Wayne and I spent a few extra days in Iowa to visit some of our family. It's always a whirlwind but fun to see everyone. We said we visited from meal to meal with our sisters, mothers, and friends.

We had barely arrived at Karen's home in Durant when some of the high school students were out doing a fundraiser for school. This one was very clever. They had a goat in a wagon and all of the kids were riding in the wagon around town. They stopped in front of Karen's driveway and unloaded Mike the goat (this wasn't Karen's son Mike - grin) and the kids made us an offer. Mike was going to live here until we paid up - $10 and he would go away, but for $15 you could buy insurance that he would never return again. What fun they were having.

And here's MIKE the GOAT just before we paid up and they trotted Mike on down the street to gather more funds.

One of Karen's farmer friends always decorates their hay bales for different holidays. For Halloween they had a black cat, a pumpkin, and a giant spider.

Karen, Wayne and I spent one day in Kalona, Iowa. The first stop is always the Cheese Factory - have to get some fresh cheese curds, and then it was off to the Willow Creek Quilt Shop - and I found some fabric I needed for a quilt I'm working on. Kalona is working on the downtown streets. Then they will be working on the sidewalks. They are going to insert some quilt blocks in the sidewalks when they do them. That will look really nice.

We had a nice lunch with Mom and Stanley, and stopped to see our friends Connie and John Bohling on the way back to Muscatine.

One evening we had dinner with my youngest sister Marcia and her husband Don. Here we are sitting on the hay bales outside The Machine Shed.







Marcia and Don's granddaughter, Brienna, was able to have dinner with us too. She is growning up too fast.






Marcia and Brienna had to jump up on the John Deere tractor outside the restaurant. We always have fun when we get together...



Next we had lunch with Wayne's Mom, Maxine and Buster, and his sister Kathi.

Now anyone could tell these two are brother and sister. Buster and Maxine at the Farmer's Restaurant.

Phew...that was a busy week. After two weeks of being away, it was back to Paducah and working on the Paducah show. Tuffy was really glad to see us after spending two weeks at Kitty Camp aka boarding with our vet.

Our next show is in Lancaster, PA, March 16 - 19, 2011, and then the Paducah show is April 27 - 30 (the week after Easter - it's really late in 2011). If you are looking for a summer quilt show, our show in Knoxville, TN, is July 13 - 16, 2011.

Mark your calendar for next year's Des Moines show - it is September 28 - October 1, 2011 at the Iowa Events Center. Don't miss it!