Trees and Flowers and Books, Oh My!

At long last - here are the photos of the tree that got struck by lightening. It was difficult to photograph, but I did the best I could. So far I have only found two places where the lightening hit, but both are on the lower half of the tree, so I wonder if there might be a place higher up that is hidden by the leaves.
Above is the most visible gash. The bottom of it is about 10 feet off the ground, but it is about eye level to where I was sitting - and was maybe only 20 feet away from me/the house. It blew the strip of bark onto a smaller nearby tree and under the bay window I was sitting in.

The gash in this photo (above) is smaller but deeper. It is possibly where the lightening hit. It is about 5-10 feet above the other gash and to the left, right near a large branch that grew nearly vertically alongside the trunk of the tree. The leaves on that branch are starting to die now. The ends are drying out and a few clusters have fallen. I have no doubt this limb will need to be removed. The jury is still out on the rest of the tree. So far it looks like the damage may be limited to this branch.

Another round robin has found its way home, so I can reveal it to you now. For this one, the theme was "flowers - any color". The squares above and to the left were completed, but there was next to nothing visible in the 1/2" margins that connected to my square, so I didn't have much to go on. Still ... I think my square fit the bill. The bottlecap in the center says "blossom" (or maybe it says "bloom" - I honestly can't remember!). The group leader has set up a blog where we can post pics of the finished pieces and our thoughts about the process. You can check it out - and the finished piece that this square is a part of - at the Exquisite Corpse Textiles Blog. I hope to be adding my things there soon.

Finally, I've finished another book. Several years ago, our quilt guild issued a reader's challenge - interpret a child's book into a quilt, including title and author on the front - but all original artwork. The quilts were hung at our guild show and then donated to the local library system. I made a quilt based on Charlotte's Web by EB White. It was before the days of digital so I will have to try to dig up a photo to scan and show you - another day. My friend Jeanne of All Things Quilty also made a quilt based on the book The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell. I had never read this book, but I never forgot that quilt either. Recently I happened upon a copy of the book and so I decided to read it (August's read???).
I really loved this book and I realize now why the story stayed with Jeanne. It is a wonderful book. It is about a 5th grade level book, so very easy to read and a great story for young people. I was surprised (hope it doesn't ruin it for you) to read in the afterward that the book is based on the life of a real person - although there are very few details of her life that are known, so most of the story is the author's fiction - and that this Island really exsists off the coast of California. It's fate (as of the printing of the edition I was reading, and I did not check when that was!) is unknown because it is being used by the US government as a (Navy?) testing range. Maybe I should do some research and see just what has become of this little island. If you need a quick read, pick this one up.