From Cairo to Lancaster

Winter is hanging on and not letting go of its grip here in Lancaster, so it was wonderful to see the visual treat that was Quilt Week last week, with multiple quilt shows scattered throughout Lancaster County. I'm not a quilter but appreciate the workmanship and artistry, and especially this time of year, the vibrant colors and patterns.

At the Lancaster Spring Quilt Show: A Show in Amish Country, at the Host Resort:

Among the highlights for me was the lovely collection of signature quilts, some dating from the 1800's, exhibited by quilt curator Sue Reich.  These historic quilts feature names that are stitched or written onto quilts, representing farewells, welcomes, charitable endeavors, or sentiments of love.

Also at this particular show were joyful quilts based on the artwork of children.  Images can be seen on www.onceinarabbitmoon.com.

At the larger AQS Quilt Show downtown at the Convention Center, there were three floors of traditional quilts and art quilts.  My friends and I are always so inspired that we always leave the show determined to learn how to quilt.  Maybe this will be the year!

I was especially awe-struck this year by the TentMakers of Cairo.  Tent making is an ancient tradition in Egypt whereby large tents are constructed of heavy canvas, then lined on the inside with needle-turned, hand-appliqued, elaborate designs.  When the sun would shine over the tents, the inside gave off the effect of stained glass.  Today, the tent makers in Cairo (there is a street, Charah El Khiamiah, of about 40 shops of tent maker artists) are having to compete with machine-made and printed wall hangings.  Two of these artists, Hosam Hanofy and Tarek Abdelhay, were on hand last week at the AQS Quilt Show to demonstrate their technique, which they learned from their grandfathers and are now teaching to their young children.  More often than not, the panels are now used as wall hangings instead of tents.

To establish a pattern, a square piece of fabric is folded multiple times, then after drawing the design onto the folded paper, the tentmaker pokes holes through the paper with a needle.  The paper is unfolded, placed over the background cloth, and dusted with talc.  The dots are then connected and the design is the basis for the appliqué.  Pieces of colorful cloth are cut and applied, then needle stitched onto the background, creating a beautiful, ornate symmetric designs.  For more free-flowing designs, the tentmakers just improvise as they go.  It could take up to three or four months to complete a wall hanging, in spite of the amazing speed with which they sew.

Hopefully, teaming up with organizations such as AQS will help to revive interest in the tent makers' wall hangings and permit them to continue their rich cultural tradition while supporting their families.
Anyone interested in purchasing Tarek and/or Hosam's wall hangings can go to www.americanquilter.com/books.

Thank you to Bonnie Browning, AQS, for granting permission to publish my images from the show.

A Very Fun Evening, Eh!

A couple of years ago, my husband Isaac and I stumbled on a wonderful little restaurant on Prince Street, Lancaster, called Ma(i)son, and have enjoyed many great meals there.  Leeann and Taylor Mason have created a very gracious neighborhood place where you can enjoy a warm welcome and the best food in town!    The small space is filled with oatmeal-colored barn boards, mounted ceramic animal heads, orange corners, and lovely place settings on rustic tables, creating a very comfortable and warm experience.  Our favorite spot is the two-person bar overlooking the kitchen where Sarah and Matt turn out the likes of comforting Slow-Braised Beef Cheeks and Squid and Barlotti Beans.  Our young server, Christian, is always very knowledgeable and never steers us wrong.  Best of all, he cheerfully endures my husband's advice about his love life!

Lancaster has some of the most fertile farmland in the country and so we enjoy abundant sources of produce, meats and cheeses.  The Masons have forged relationships with local farmers and food artisans in order to create a short, focused menu of simple, fresh, but by no means ordinary, plates.

This week we were lucky enough to snag a reservation at one of their occasional, special-theme dinners.  The Masons and their staff recently ate their way through Montreal, Canada, and created a "Grand Service" Montreal-inspired meal.  Instead of the usual individual tables, they placed everyone at two long tables, where they'd inscribed our names on long paper runners.  It didn't take long for everyone to get comfortable and soon we were all making new friends and enjoying a relaxing evening, lingering for over three hours over multiple courses and being taken care of.

Some of the many highlights:  The "Bloody Caesar",  the freshest, from-scratch (no mix here) Bloody Mary topped off with a fresh oyster, a jumbo shrimp, a cornichon, fresh celery leaf and a thin slice of salami!  Also:

                     Tortiere Quebecoise, a venison and pork meat pie that's ubiquitous in Canada

                     Poutine: Nova Scotia lobster!  Cheese curds!  Tarragon!  Gravy!  Frites!

I was so enamored and in a state while enjoying one of the deserts that I forgot to take a picture.  Cool, creamy, maple and brandy milkshakes!

I can't wait for Leann's and Taylor's next trip!

Right Place at the Right Time?

Late February and early March is an exciting time here for birders.  This is when waterfowl descend upon southeastern Pennsylvania during their Spring migrations.  Swans, snow geese and ducks, literally by the thousands, drop in, especially in an area called Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, located in Kleinfeltersville, right on the very northern edge of Lancaster County.

I'm not a birder, but the images (on the Middle Creek website, www.pgc.state.pa.us.) of thousands upon thousands of snow geese filling the sky made me want to view this spectacle up close.  I'm not what you would call, by any stretch of the imagination, an outdoors girl.  I'm most comfortable in museums looking at images of wildlife nicely contained in a frame where big bears can't eat me.  My son spends much time in Minnesota's Boundary Waters on canoe trips where he can enjoy the silence of being unplugged from his phones, yes plural, that he uses in his job in the political world.  There are many bears in the Boundary Waters.  He didn't get his camping genes from me.

But, I was excited to see this migration of snow geese and so my husband and I headed up to Middle Creek last weekend, armed with my little digital point and shoot camera and binoculars.  When we got there we noticed many groups of birders and photographers, with huge, two-foot-long lenses.  We followed the crowd for a short hike to Willow Point Trail, where the public can observe the geese flying in and out over the 360-acre lake.  There were hundreds of snow geese there that day, but not the 55,000 that the website had estimated on their almost-daily updates.  However, the snow geese did fly over in small formations, and it was a treat to see the sun reflecting off their white wings as they glided into perfect landings.  We also saw many ducks and tundra swans on the lake.  It was hard to get good pictures with my camera, as you're not allowed to get too close.  We decided this wasn't really the peak time yet (first week in March), so we'd come back.

Yesterday morning I called the Visitor's Center at Middle Creek to find out the best time to see the snow geese.  Al, who answered the phone, was very helpful.  He told me the best time to see lots of snow geese (and the estimate yesterday was holding at 55,000), was around 5:30 pm at Willow Point.  Apparently the snow geese leave the lake in the morning to go find feeding grounds, sometimes as far as 20 miles away, and return in the evening to roost on the lake.

So off we went yesterday, excitedly anticipating a sky full of thousands and thousands of snow geese returning to the lake.  This is what we saw when we got there:

That's ok, I told my husband, it's only 5:15.  It was pretty cold, but we persevered.  We did get to see a lot of tundra swans, and even spotted a short-eared owl gliding close to the ground after we'd noticed him perched on a tall, dead tree.

Got to play with Max, the 100-lb Old English Sheepdog that we'd met there last weekend.  Anyone who knows me will know what a treat THAT would be...we've had two Old Englishes and nothing makes me happier than seeing these floppy, playful clowns!

Got to talk to another couple who'd driven a long distance to see the geese, and who finally announced they were giving up and heading to happy hour somewhere.  One woman came with her IPad and was showing people exactly what we were waiting for.  They'd been elsewhere in the 6,254-acre facility at the right time apparently.

We waited a while longer, and when the sun went down, headed home, determined to come back before they make their way back north.

I had been curious about how they actually count the numbers of birds on any given day.  Al from the Visitor's Center told me this.  Just how we can tell what one sheet of paper looks like, and what 50 sheets of paper looks like, their game warden, who lives at Middle Creek, knows what 1,000 geese looks like, and can estimate what 50,000 geese looks like.  Apparently he hears them during the night, and if there's a big change in the noise level, he will go out in the ten-minute window of opportunity at dawn to count them before they fly off.  That's how we get the updates on the website.

I'll be heading up there several times this week, hoping to be at the right place at the right time, but mother nature has her own agenda!  Where did those darn kids go last night, anyway?!