May | 2023 | Margaret Quilts

In April, there were neighborhood walks, wildflower hikes, knitting, and quilting – both before and after our trip to Pennsylvania and Connecticut, described in the previous post.

Neighborhood walks –

Spring blooming trees and flowers…

Crabapple

Cherry

Forget me not

Sidewalk cracks and shadows…

Birthdays…

A friend’s tea party

A stranger’s brass band in the park

Knitting –

I made progress on these two blankets – I keep one downstairs and one upstairs, as they are both getting big!

Slip Stitch Blanket

Sliding is Fun blanket

Quilting –

I finished piecing the top for the Modern Quilt Studio 2023 Mystery Quilt, and started piecing together the scraps plus other fabric from my stash into the backing.

Modern Mystery Quilt 2023 Top

Piecing the back with scraps.

Hiking –

We found lots of wildflowers in April, from the earliest trillium in the forests to the beginnings of spring balsamroot fields in the eastern Columbia River Gorge – all the wildflowers are late this year.

April 3 – Tryon Creek, Portland – A rainy day with intervals of hail. We hiked for a couple of miles, and found the earliest trillium blooming along the Cedar Trail:

Indian plum

Hailstones on the bridge

Salmonberry

Trillium

Moss

Trillium

April 20 – Memaloose Hills and Rowena Plateau, Oregon – Checking the wildflower bloom in the eastern gorge – we saw the beginnings of the balsamroot bloom, and some of the last of the early flowers.

Memaloose Hills:

Lower Trail – buttercups in the oak woodland

Blue eyed Mary

Glacier lilies and buttercups

Pacific waterleaf and buttercups

A few balsamroot blooming on Chatfield Hill

View to Tom McCall Point from the top of Chatfield Hill, with desert parsleys, balsam root and paintbrush

Rowena Crest:

Desert parsley on the plateau

Columbia desert parsley on the cliffs, view toward Lyle Chery Orchard trails

Vultures on the cliff

Vultures

One of the last grass widows of spring…

April 25 – Upper Cape Horn Trail, Washington – We walked over the top of Cape Horn to the Nancy Russell Overlook, and back. Lots of trillium in the forest, and snow on the mountains to the north…

View north across the Columbia River from Pioneer Point

Looking south toward Cape Horn

Silverstar Mountain

Trillium in the forest

April 27 – Crawford Oaks, Columbia Hills, Washington – We hiked the Lower Vista Loop, with friends. Balsamroot beginning to bloom out here at the lower elevations – beautiful!

Horsethief Butte and Mt Hood

Eightmile Creek Falls with balsam root and desert parsley

Fleabane and biscuit root

Balsamroot, Dalles Mountain Ranch

Reflections in the Columbia River

Large head clover

Lupine

Showy phlox

The panoramic view across the Columbia River

April 10 – 17, 2023 – One of our sons relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, last year. I had never been there before, so was curious to see his new home, and to see some of the locations of significance in the founding of the United States. We also visited family in rural Pennsylvania, and in Connecticut, while on this trip.

We flew to Newark, about 6 hours nonstop, with views of the still frozen midwest, and the skyline of New York City.

Snow in the Midwest, April 10, 2023

New York City skyline, as we descend to the Newark Airport

We rendezvoused with our daughter at the airport, as she was joining us for a day. We drove across the Delaware River from New Jersey into Pennsylvania at the Washington Crossing Bridge.

Washington famously crossed the Delaware River at this location.

View from the bridge

Our son is living in the Center City neighborhood.

Center City, Philadelphia, at dusk.

Center City nighttime lights

Our hotel was in nearby Old City. We walked through the historic district several times over the next few days, touring the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and other historical sites. We had beautiful, sunny, almost too hot, weather, with lots of trees and flowers in bloom.

Independence National Historical Park

Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell Center beyond the sign

Independence Hall

The clock tower

Independence Hall

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chamber

Assembly Room, where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed.

We walked through the Benjamin Franklin Court, where his home had been:

Entrance to Franklin Courtyard

Steel ghost structure of Benjamin Franklin’s home, with modern buildings beyond

Tulips in full bloom outside the museum

Historic buildings still exist on one side of the courtyard

Neon Franklin

We walked walked past the Betsy Ross House

where Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag,

on our way to Elfreth’s Alley Museum:

Random billboard of blue sky and clouds near the entrance to Elfreth’s Alley

Elfreth’s Alley – considered to be the oldest continuously occupied street in America.

View down the Elfreth’s Alley

Old brickwork in Elfreth’s Alley.

The Liberty Bell – We waited in line about twenty minutes to see the exhibits, and the bell, from inside the museum. We also got beautiful views from the exterior as we walked by in the evening.

One of many displays inside the museum

The Liberty Bell

The crack

Evening view, with reflections of Independence Hall

Evening view, with tulips

Honeysuckle on the portico

We went to several other popular sites while walking around :

Reading Terminal Market, where we had a delicious lunch one day.

We had gelato at the Italian Market, and passed this yarn shop, with creative window display:

Philadelphia Magic Gardens – I think this was my favorite place we visited – for sensory overload of creativity, color and beauty. The mosaic-transformed ruin of a building, started as a movement against neighborhood demolition for freeway building, has spilled out onto other local buildings. Contagious and delightful!

Signage

Open air courtyard

Courtyard roofline, with bottles and bicycle spokes

Down stairs

One of many lower passageways

Tiled walls

Back up more stairs

Face and china

Lace doilies

Swirls

More swirls

Radiating reflections

Floor tiles – reminded me of medieval floor tiles in Winchester Cathedral.

Delaware River Walk – On our balmy last evening, we walked a loop along the Delaware River, passing the Cherry Street Pier, then back up Market Street. It seemed a fitting end to a couple of lovely spring days in Philadelphia.

Benjamin Franklin Bridge to New Jersey, over the Delaware River

Weavers Knot sculpture

Cherry Street Pier

Market Street

Our son is enjoying life in the city center. It was not as crowded or loud as New York City, which was what I was expecting. The famous Art Museum was closed so we will put that on our list for our next visit.

April 13th – John Heinz Wildlife Refuge – We left the city the next morning, to visit relatives who live in a rural part of Pennsylvania. Along the way, we stopped at the John Heinz Wildlife Refuge, only a short way from the city, close to the airport and other industrial locations, yet a beautiful slice of reclaimed wildlife habitat. We stretched our legs on a short walk, and saw a few turtles and geese.

April 14, Mt Cuba Center, Delaware – The Mt Cuba Center is an estate that was developed from farmland to preserve native plants. It is not far from our cousin’s home. They are interested in adding more native plants to their landscape, so this was an instructive as well as beautiful walk on a hot day.

The manor house, with tulips

Some of the paths are more manicured,

and some are wilder.

Redbud in bloom

A pond and gazebo

We were delighted to find a whole section devoted to various species of trillium, and they were in bloom!

And before, we leave Pennsylvania, I present the cats:

April 15 – On to Connecticut. We said farewell to our Pennsylvania cousins, and drove north, back through Philadelphia, and eventually over the Tappan Zee Bridge to Connecticut.