Sights from the Southern Hemisphere

If you just glanced at the photos in this post you might think I had made another excursion to parts well south of Austin.  In fact, I went north.

As I noted in my last post, we took a little trip to Boston.  While there we stopped in at the New England Aquarium, where we were greeted with two new-to-us species of penguins, little blues and Africans, along with one previously seen species, rockhoppers. It is always fun to watch penguin antics and these guys did not disappoint.

Little blue penguin

African penguins

Of course, the aquarium had many other things to see besides penguins.  I particularly liked the giant ocean tank and coral reef which forms the centerpiece of the main exhibit area.  A circular ramp takes you all the way around from bottom to top and is the next best thing to donning SCUBA gear and diving in.  Myrtle the green sea turtle, weighing in at an impressive 540 pounds, is the largest inhabitant.

Myrtle, the green sea turtle

The seals and sea lions, which are in a separate exhibit area outside, were great fun to watch too.  It took me a minute to realize that the little turtle this one had is a plastic toy!

I'll finish this post with a final scene from the southern hemisphere, my just completed quilted wall hanging inspired by a scene along the Antarctic Peninsula.  I began this piece during a class taught by Valori Wells at the Modern Quilt Guild's first QuiltCon here in Austin in February, 2013. It was a terrific class and I hope Valori will return for next year's show.

"Mysterious Antarctica," (cotton, machine pieced, hand quilted, 36" x 24")

I used the etched glass design on a ceiling light in Tulsa's Pythian Building for one section of the quilting.  You can see a photo of the ceiling light on my April 8, 2013, post.

Detail of back

I plan to hang the quilt along with a print of the original photograph.

Sunset along the Antarctic Peninsula