We stopped by the Muskatatauk Wildlife Reserve in Seymour, Indiana for a quick birding break on our drive back to Atlanta last weekend.  It has a few trails you can walk, but we mostly bird by car at it. We had to keep our trip short because a storm was rolling in, but we got to see a few interesting birds before we left – Grebes, Wood Ducks, Mallards, Gold Finches, Swallows, Starlings, Martins, Geese, Great Blue Herons, possibly an Eagle, and we saw wild turkeys on the way there.

The full set is posted on Flickr:

• Muskatatauk Wildlife Reserve (22 photos)

I was in need of some good friend time tonight, so Jane came over, and as we chatted, I worked on cutting up my vintage sheets that I’ve been collecting.  These are just the ones from the Vintage Sheet Swap.  It’s160 squares – 4.5 inches each. I’m hoping to eventually have 460 squares, but I have a ways to go.

I think I’m going to do something really simple – just plain squares. I have some different shades of solid yellow sheets or white that I might mix in, but first I want to get the patterned squares cut out.

Just so I can keep record, these are some of the quilts I’m using as inspiration.

• By Crazy Mom Quilts
• By Sparkling Lotus Land
• By Allison Gryski
• By Wee Wonderfuls
• By Sparkle Power

This past spring, we watched as three baby squirrels explored the trees and our yard. They were so cute as they would romp and play with each other. They’re now big enough that I can no longer tell them from the other squirrels, but I was reminded by Lisa’s post about squirrels that I had never posted my photos. These little squirrels had so much personality, can you help me with captions for any of them?

The whole set is on Flickr:

• If Squirrels Could Talk (21 photos)

I picked out a few photos that I felt were representative of our trip last week. It was a wonderful trip, despite forgetting our suitcase. We took a few wrong turns and drove backroads and countryside the whole way up.  The town we stopped in for lunch was so little that we had to try three places until we found one that would accept credit cards. Normally, I fall asleep as soon as we hit the highway (when Thomas is driving), but this time, I was awake the whole time, as we listened to podcasts and reminisced about living in Bloomington. I loved the greens and yellows and purples along the road.

The first night in town, we met up with one of my old classmates, Meow Kiat. She greeted us with open arms and we headed to Shanti for dinner. It’sthe only place I’ve been able to find Indian Butter Chicken – yum, it is so delicious. Afterward, we made a quick trip to the mall for some new clothes, and then headed back to Meow Kiat’s place where we sat around and caught up on each other’s lives.

The next day, we visited Thomas’ old coworkers and wandered Kirkwood Street – Indiana University’s main drag. I visited the county library where my only geocache is hidden. It still seems to be going strong and it was great to read the messages in the log book.  The code is GCM140 for those geocachers out there that want to give it a try.

It was pouring cats and dogs, but Thomas’ coworkers joined us at Kilroys, for pizza sticks, which Thomas has been craving for two years. They’re like breadsticks but with sauce and pepperoni wrapped inside, and you dip them in melted cheese.  We then ran a few errands and the stopped by Chow Bar for bubble tea. Trips to Bloomington just seem to become food tours of the things we miss.  I haven’t been able to find this juice style down in Atlanta.

Friday evening and most of Saturday was taken up by Dave and Marcia’s Rehearsal Dinner and Wedding.  Those nights, we stayed with Mel, and got a few hours to catch up. Saturday morning, we went out to breakfast together at the Scholar’s Inn Bakehouse and Saturday evening, we made a late night walk to McDonalds for a snack before settleing down to watch Saturday Night Live. I miss doing things like that with Mel – just hanging out, going out impromptu, and walking places.

Sunday morning we got up early to stop at Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge to do some birding on the way home. We still have to go through those photos.  We spent a couple of hours there, until Ike headed in and trees started falling over. We had a rough ride home through the storm, but we made it. It was a great trip, and I agree with Thomas’ old boss – we’ll be back there someday. I’m sure it won’t be until much later in life, but we we still love that little town.

Thomas and I have a problem and can’t figure out a solution.  Before either of us gives up blogging or photography, I’m turning to you, wise readers, with hopes for some new ideas to consider.

Our problem:  Two photographers got married and now take photos together at the same events.  We want to combine our photos so we’re not publishing two seperate versions at different sites for each event.  However, we cannot agree on how to combine our photos into a joint web gallery. We’re each big fans of competing online photo sites.  Thomas posts his photos on Picasa Web and I post mine on Flickr.

Here’s the main factors:

• We both want to combine our photos of things we do together. 
• We both keep seperate blogs. 
• We will each often skip taking photos at places where the other is taking photos. For example, if we go to a party and Thomas takes his camera, I will skip bringing mine. 
• Thomas likes the following features on Picasa – face recognition, large thumbnails, full-sized image previews, simple viewing interface.
• Dallas likes the following features on Flickr – groups, comprehensive search, Picnic editing, easy comment viewing, photos show up in Google search.
• Thomas does not want to lose his Picasa friends or comments and would be shamed by his coworkers if he used Flickr. 
• Dallas does not want to lose her Flickr contacts or comments. 
• Thomas uses Picasa to post photos to his blog, share with friends/family, keep an archive. 
• Dallas uses Flickr to post photos to her blog, share with friends and family, meet other photographers/bloggers, get photo/craft inspiration, keep an archive. 
• Thomas does not like Flickr because it shows tiny images and requires lots of clicks to navigate.
• Dallas does not like that Picasa shows photos only by album, does not allow photos in new tabs.
• We often share each other’s cameras and occassionally edit each other’s photos.

Last Wednesday, we headed up to Indiana to visit our friends in Bloomington, and attend one of Thomas’ old coworker’s weddings. It was a great trip, although way too rushed. We left after work on Wednesday, so we stopped halfway at our friends’ Kelly Jo and Steve’s house in Nashville and spent the night. Kelly Jo was in the same fraternity as me.  The animals below are one of their cats and Frankie, their dog.

When we started to unpack the car, we came across our big oops for the trip. Oops, our suitcase was not in the car trunk…or in the backseat… Thomas thought I put it in the car, and I thought he did, but it was still sitting in our garage at home. Oops.

It all worked out though. We were able to run by a Walmart and pick up some necessities, and then when we got to Bloomington the next night, we ran by the mall and got some new clothes. Luckily, Thomas was renting a tux for the wedding, but I had to buy a new dress and shoes.

Thomas is working on the wedding photos, and I’m working on the rest from our adventure.  We stayed with three different friends and visited a few of our old favorite places, including a great birding park. Unfortunately, we drove through Ike on the way back, right as we were crossing the Louisville bridge – yikes!  I’ll post more later this week.

This is just a quick note to link to a swap I’m participating in, incase anyone else wants to join in. It’s open for signups through this week, I think. It’s a swap of 20 buttons, which is good, because I’m already back-logged in projects and can only handle swapping supplies at this time.

Here’s the link: Sew Spun’s Button Swap