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When I started my retirement travels in 2009, I wanted a way to share it with family and friends as it was happening. Hence, "My Travel Journal". However I realized I wouldn't always be on a trip and wondered what to do with the blog in between times. My daughter pointed out, wisely, that travels can also include trips to the kitchen to try a new recipe, trips to visit family, trips to my neighborhood Starbucks, or a fun day trip with a friend. You're welcome to join me on any of these journeys! I've set up individual pages for each of my major trips (see tabs above).

Also, I have an Etsy shop where my current needlework resides. The last pieces I posted here were in 2013! So if you'd like to see what I have accomplished recently, go to (and I apologize for having to copy and paste):

www.etsy.com/shop/thedollhouseneedle

I recently added an "Italian Word a Day" thingie which shows up at the bottom of every page. You see the word and can click to hear it pronounced. I've been enjoying it and I think my accent is improving as time goes by.

September 19, 2017

A bit of Kansas City

Okay - I jspent several hours last night typing up a report to go with all these pictures, hit "preview" to take a look, got a message saying they couldn't open the page, try again, saved the entire page before trying again (being somewhat used to Blogger problems), couldn't preview again, so saved it again and closed it.  Opened it back up and it was blank.  Gave up and went to bed and now Monday, will try again

The entire trip was somewhat fraught with issues, not least of which was Siri and I trying to navigate Kansas City!!  But by today, I can't remember most of them, fortunately for me and for you too since I can't whine on about them. (tee hee)

First, I'll start with the library's parking garage facade.  

This is looking up the block-long facade to the cross street. The bright white area is the entrance... 

The entranceway also uses books as a place to sit and watch the world go by.and then the right side is more books going to the next cross street.  

This is a close-up of the first two books on the left side (dealing with Missouri's history) and I went close up to try and show what I thought at first was a surface that had been textured to look like a leather-type binding but is actually a very good paint job. simulating that type of binding.

The bright yellow book is "Plato" and I didn't notice the author's name.  I'm pointing it out for my philosophical daughter. :)  And next is "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".

Here are "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Charlotte's Web" among others

"Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Brandbury and...

"Catch 22" by Joseph Heller with a collection of popular children's books beside it including the very short but delightful "Goodnight Moon" which I never heard of when Chris and Heather were little but discovered it with January and it was read almost every night.

This lovely gold book is "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson.  And next to it is "Oh, Pioneers" by Willa Cather.

And lastly, (next to "Romeo and Juliet") at the far right end of the row of books which were not nearly as visible as those on the left side) is "Truman" by David McCullough.  Kind of neat that the full row starts and ends with Missouri-related books.

And here is the actual library - it's housed in a lovely old bank building and the whole time I was around taking pictures, people were going in and out so it has good patronage apparently.




This and the one below are and the side of the garage.  They're painted "fabric" panels like I've seen on various and sundry buildings that are being renovated but I think maybe these are just there for decoration.

And now on to the Miniature Masterworks event held at the National Toy and Dollhouse Museum which if you're ever in Kansas City and love miniatures, I suggest you visit!  My pictures were all taken with my phone in rather hurried, cramped conditions, so not all that great.
Art glass vases, bowls, etc., all unimaginably tiny.  The candlesticks with candles probably didn't measure any more than 1-1/2" at most.

I thought this would be an adorable nursery rug in a rich baby's room. :)  The parts of the surrounding objects that you can see are all handmade wicker pieces.  She had chairs, settees, rockers, tables, hanging lights, and a number of pieces that I had never seen in miniature wicker.
This marvelous sewing cabinet is entirely hand-made by Elga who I had the pleasure of meeting when I met up with a few of our Yahoo Petitpointers group in Amsterdam.  When she first joined the group, she had made two Chippendale chairs (her first woodworking project I think) because she had stitched two petitpoint chair covers.  And, as they say, the rest is history.  She is now an IGMA Artisan 6 short years later!  Everything you see here was handmade by Elga, not just the wood cabinet.  And the petitpoint panel on the "lid" is also her work.  I marvel at her ability - woodworker, metalworker, needleworker, and all exquisite.
I took a picture of this crazy quilt because making a miniature one such as this is on my bucket list but I am very intimidated by it because, like this one, I would want my pieces to be quite small and am not sure how I would go about constructing it.  Maybe someday...

The show was a once in a lifetime experience, I'd say.  The museum itself has an outstanding collection of miniatures and had put all the "toys" away so that all the display cases, rooms, etc., were  showing miniatures.  And to top it off, there were two or three small sales rooms and every vendor there was an International Guild of Miniature Artisans (IGMA) artisan.  So, for an ardent miniature fan, it was basically heaven even though a lot of it was very much beyond my reach.  But even lingering over some fabulous, beaucoup $'s items was pleasant - you look from all angles, marvel at it's beauty/inventiveness/whatever it is that makes it so very special, give a little sigh, and move on happy that you've been able to encounter such workmanship.

Went back to my motel and had a later than usual lunch which left me not too hungry for the dinner that a group of us petitpointers had together.
But that was okay because I ordered what turned out to be a delicious "Santa Fe chicken salad" and a baked potato with the works!  I never eat baked potatoes that way anymore and it was so good.  I asked if I could have the "works" on the side so I wasn't too bad.  It started thundering and lightning right after I got back to the motel so I fiddled with my pictures for a bit and then snuggled down in bed and slept like the dead for about 5 hours.

Oh, oh, oh - I almost forgot!  Driving through Missouri they had those moveable light-bulb type signs every now and then.  The first one I saw said "Camp in the Ozarks, Not in the Left Lane" and I had to laugh out loud at that one.  I think they should have those every 25 miles or so on every interstate highway.  The other one said "Leave tailgating at the stadium" which is also a good one.  Anyway, just a little tee-hee on a really long trip.



A picture showing a small portion of the building I mention in my response to Chris in the comments below.





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