First was a gorgeous Cathedral Window quilt made by a woman in her 80's, I believe. She used over 30 yards of muslin in it! The stitching was exquisite.
This is a typical Amish-style diamond on point quilt with beautiful traditional quilting. There was a bright light pointing to it which made it difficult to get a picture of, but at least it highlighted the stitching.
I was stunned by the beauty of this flower basket quilt, just lovely...
And this one is an award-winning star quilt made by Fons and Porter, who had a special exhibit at the museum. The workmanship was out of this world.
Once we were in Florida we spent a day recovering from the journey, then went to visit Silver Springs in Ocala. The live oaks drip with Spanish moss and the cypress trees raise their knobby knees in every puddle...
The marshes are rich with greenery, cypress and flowers.
The trees were in blossom with small red flowers:
We took a ride in a glass-bottomed boat just like this one.
In the bottom of the deep crystal clear water we saw many catfish, turtles, caves, and long nosed fish like this one.
We even saw a giant alligator covered with mud! The boat was moving right along, so it was hard to get a good picture of him. Can you see him?
Oh! And who is that looking into the river? Gary, me (holding camera) and Mom!
There was a wildlife area with a lot of animals, including giant Kodiak bears, llamas, ostriches, self-shearing sheep (I had never heard of such a thing!), and giraffes, both topiary,
and real! We nicknamed this guy "Stinky" for a very good reason. He looked very old and wrinkled.
These white birds were everywhere, especially outside any restaurant, looking for handouts. We always save them a little something.
And there were birds in captivity too. This crazy looking one fascinated me,
these two had a sign saying "We bite".
And there were lots of Florida's favorite pink long-legged birds, the flamingos. We got to see a flamingo fight, too! I think that was the highlight of our day. I attempted to take a video of the fight, be sure to press play if you have never heard the sound of a flamingo's voice. Just unforgettable!Here is a nice picture from later, when they had kissed and made up.
Lastly, of course there were loads of alligators, the most tourist pleasing animals in the park!
Including Silver Spring's famous white alligators. They are so very strange looking!
We enjoyed our day at Silver Springs very much. We were entertained all day by a country singer performing in the stage area, but we never did find out who he was! I think it was Colin Raye though. Good music.
This shop is one of the first ones you see after entering the park. I loved the truck!
We went on the Star Wars ride, which felt like you were being hurtled through space at light speed, narrowly missing asteroids and planets, visible through the big windshield.
Here is Gary inside the building, in line for the ride. R2D2 is behind him.
I didn't go on the "thrill rides" at the park, mostly because I don't like to go on them alone. I almost had Gary talked into going on the Aerosmith Rock 'N Roller Coaster, but we had to run to make it across the park in time for a show!
The other great ride is the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, I am still kicking myself for not going on. I get worried about aggravating an old whiplash injury I had from a roller coaster in the 80's. I have to be very careful of my neck. But darn it all if one of my kids had been with me I would have gone on with them! 
We saw the Muppet Show in 3D. You had to wear 3D glasses and got to see the little flying guy flit right into your face! He said "Everyone here thinks I am looking at them, but I am only looking at YOU!" and pointed his finger in my face and made me jump. I enjoyed that a lot. It was a very funny show. Here is the water fountain in front of the building. I love it.
When the rain started really coming down, we ducked into the covered arena to catch a show. I was soaked to the skin and shaking all over. I was as cold as I was back home! Why couldn't we have had a sunny day? I guess if we had, there would have been longer lines everywhere. Anyway, we saw the wonderful show "Beauty and the Beast". Really, no one can put on a show quite like Disney. The costumes, the lights, the colors, the singers, the dancers, all were fanastic. I enjoyed this one as much as I enjoyed the Finding Nemo show last year at Animal Kingdom. Here is a picture of the dance finale. 
The car stunt show was supposed to be great, but we only got to see half of it because the rain got too heavy for the drivers. We did see Herbie the Love Bug and a lot of backward driving tricks.
The American Idol TV show was holding auditions that day, and I saw a girl with a "contestant" sign around her neck in the ladies room. Gary said I should try out, and I said "What would I do, knit for them?" And we had a long laugh... This is the building. 
All in all, with the cancelled shows and parades I did not feel that this park was worth the $75 admission fee. I'll go back to the Magic Kingdom again and again from here on in... it is my favorite!
I had quite a bit of free knitting time while Gary drove us home from Florida. I finished my pair of 
The yarn is my own hand-dyed, I call it Raspberry Truffle. The pattern worked up pretty quickly, but the Baroque pattern is proving to be more challenging. I shall have it finished soon though! That's all for now!
