Wordless Wednesday

 

Lunch, a library and a dollhouse

Recently I had a lunch invitation that I have to share with you. It came from the son of a former patient. This lady was from Austria and was in a concentration camp at the end of WWII. Her whole family was killed. After the war she came to the United States and she often went to schools and spoke about what happened to her.

When she came to stay with us she had dementia. Her son put a US flag over her bed so when she woke up, she would remember that she was safe.  She was with us for years, so we got to know her son well and I still hear from him occasionally.  He was the director of the art department at the University here and traveled the world. In his travels he collected miniatures and has created the largest dollhouse I've ever seen. It's about to be moved from his house to be displayed in a museum in a nearby town, and after 6 months it will go to another museum.

So, another nurse and I went to his house, to see the dollhouse and to reminisce about his mom!

First, I have to show you the library.

Isn't a room full of books a beautiful thing?

And here is the dollhouse!  It fills the whole back section of the room.

Each section has its own theme, some are different rooms, others showcase different countries.

A ladder is on the other side so you can see into some of the top section.

It even has its own hot air balloon!

The church

A kitchen

Dining area, serving a feast

There is even an old hospital room!

This little section is kid friendly for his 2 granddaughters to play with

We had a lovely lunch and enjoyed the view of the city from the patio.  It was nice to catch up.

Chihuly at the Gardens

I've often shared our visits to the Meijer Sculpture and Botanical Gardens here in Grand Rapids. It's always a beautiful place to visit, but right now there is an added reason to visit. Dale Chihuly, a world famous glass artist has shared many of his pieces, which are displayed all through the over 150 acres of gardens. I love seeing this art outside in the flowers and the water. Here's a few photos of the beauty we saw as we wandered the gardens.

I hope you enjoyed this little taste of this outside Chihuly Glass Exhibit!

Last stop

Our last day we went to Dow Gardens in Midland Michigan. It's a beautiful Botanical Garden, but our reason to visit was the Canopy Walk.  It's a 1400 foot walk with some areas up to 40 feet in the air.

Walking through the gardens to get to the canopy walk.

Approaching the walk

We started on the walk, and came up this structure hanging from above, went inside and checked it out.

Here's another of those structures, but to get into this one, you had to walk this rope bridge.

A pretty view along the way.

This is what a lot of the walk looked like. You wouldn't know from looking at this that you were way up in the trees.

At the end is the glass viewing platform.

Looking at the viewing platform from another section.

Another beautiful scene as we made our way back out.

After this, it was time to head home. We had a wonderful time with our sweet girls!

Having fun in Saginaw

Another short but fun stop on our time away was "The Tridge".  It's a 3 way wooden footbridge that goes over 2 rivers, the Chippewa and the Tittabawassee.  It even has a spot in the middle where people can sit and relax.

The center of The Tridge.

Then we were on to another short but very cool stop.  This is called The Silos and is also in Saginaw.  These were old rusty grain silos on the river and were an eyesore.  Then Cbabi Bayoc, an artist from Spain transformed them into the 2nd largest mural in the country, with some help from local artists.  

We were all so impressed by the size, design, color and the beauty!  It was a very fun stop!

More vacation fun

On day two of our vacation, we started at the Castle Museum in Saginaw MI. It was built in 1898 and although it looks like a castle, it was built as a post office. It was a beautiful building.

This building was beautiful, inside and outside.

On the 3rd floor, was this little hall that had slits to look down to the floor below. The postmaster used these to make sure the workers were doing what they were expected to do.

Our next stop was a zoo in Saginaw.

We took a train ride...

made our way across a swinging bridge...

and enjoyed the animals.

I think that's enough for today. I'll continue the adventures tomorrow.

Vacation - day 1

We had a wonderful time away with Alaina and Ruby. They are growing up fast and I realize more all the time, that I need to enjoy this time with them. They knew we were going away, but didn't know what we were doing and it was fun to surprise them.

They are animal lovers, and on day one we went to a farm where we were able to reserve a time for them to spend one on one time with miniature highland cows. We also got to be toured around the farm and see other animals and then go on a motorized vehicle to see all the cows in the field. Here's a few pictures.

There were triplet goats, only 3 days old, that the girls got to hold. The flop eared bunny was so soft and snuggly!  There were chickens and baby pigs and kittens too!

And oh my - the alpaca's were so cute and friendly!

Then it was time to see the highland cows. We went into the maternity barn and the girls got to groom the babies.  They are so cute!

After spending time with the babies, we took a ride in the fields and saw all the adult cows.

Aren't they beautiful cows?

Then it was on to the hotel, and the joys of the pool!
I'll share more tomorrow!