Spring at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

For the last twenty years my family has been enjoying visits to the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. In fact, visits have become somewhat of a tradition. So, it was difficult for us to accept the fact that the IMA is now charging pretty exorbitant entrance fees. When Andrew's school organized a field trip in April I jumped on an inexpensive way to pay a visit!

April and May are the best months for this lovely garden.

It's always fun to run around and pretend this is "our" house:

It's so easy for the imagination to work in these surroundings:

View of Oldfields from the back:

Down the path -- this was April 16 and not much was blooming yet.

But there were beautiful tulips in the planters:

The kids really do not enjoy posing for pictures at all.

Laura will cooperate a bit:

Our big five year old:

This is one of my favorite bushes -- I think there is only one in the garden and the timing of its blooms is very hard to catch. Such a treat to catch it this year!

And the magnolia was incredible:

More picture opportunities:

Picnic in the grass:

Had to bring along the hot water so we could have tea to keep us warm!!!

Another beautiful vista:

And I love this -- sort of Pride and Prejudice like:

James had a little game with a squirrel:

"Chase me around the tree":

"There you are":

Another view of the magnolia:

The one saving grace about the new entrance fees is that there is one afternoon/evening a month that is free of charge (first Thursday of each month from 4-9pm). I put the dates on my calendar and we managed to all make it to the grounds for a picnic dinner on May 7. It seemed we had the whole place to ourselves! (I was sure it would be packed.)

There is always a picture on the stone:

The rhododendrons were beautiful:

The kids wanted to tour Oldfields first so in we went. I always love the silver tea service in the dining room.

And I was so excited that we could view the new silver exhibit upstairs!

What a change in three short weeks in the garden down the walk:

Look at those azaleas!

They were shockingly beautiful!

A view back up to Oldfields:

And around the path to the fountain garden:

Some really tall tulips:

The kids still had energy so into the museum we went:

Rachel and I walked around the dress exhibit while the boys devoted their time to the new cars exhibit.

One of my favorites, of course!

Rachel and I loved this display of American clothing through the centuries. It would be so fun to make dolls for each era.

And we had to run through the car exhibit too, just so we didn't miss anything. This is the new 7-seater vehicle I need to drive our family around!

It was a very memorable evening, a rare occurrence around here with everyone's schedules going somewhere different. Now I'm looking forward to another visit some Thursday later on in the summer!

Mondays are for Grace

"No man ever sank under the burden of the day. 

It is when tomorrow's burden is added to the burden of today 

that the weight is more than a man can bear."

-- George MacDonald

Words and Wool

It's been two months since I've written a Words and Wool post! I have a lot to catch up on so will break things down into two posts.

To begin with, the most exciting wool news is that I've finished my Ballyshannon Cardigan!!!! I am very, very pleased with how it turned out, mostly because it fits me!!! I'm wondering if the alpaca blend will "grow" over time though.....

I just love how the cables came out on the back and under the arms!!!! It was worth the tedious keeping track of many lists of numbers at once. However, it's probably not the right time in my life to do lots of this kind of knitting -- it doesn't work well for school, etc. 

I also love the color and tweediness of the wool! And I ordered the buttons from Etsy which worked out to be probably cheaper than going to Joann's and I got exactly what I wanted, even if they did have to come all the way from England!

I can't remember if I posted about my spring tea cozy I made for Easter. I love how cheerful it is!

This is the most recent tea cozy finished -- a custom order for a customer's mother. Somewhere in Canada it is keeping a teapot nice and cozy!

I have another finished project to show you but am saving it for next time since, like the sweater, it has been a very long journey to finish. In the mean time, I've pulled out another long-time work-in-progress to get back to -- this vintage tea cozy. And I did find its missing pattern! Grannie's Traditional Tea Cosy

 One thing that has distracted me a bit from blogging this month has been my participation in an Everyday in May Sketching group on Facebook. I have really enjoyed trying this challenge (I haven't managed everyday) and it is giving me the chance to try something quick, practice regularly, and share my work with others no matter what I think of it.

One day's sketch called for "your most recent purchase" which happened to be books for me! Our library had a $1/bag sale and I lighted upon an Elizabeth Goudge book! What a treasure!!!! So I added a few more books to the bag since they would be free anyway. Perhaps the other most interesting book was a book on Glasgow Architecture which I want to peruse some before re-selling.

Touching the Hem: A Biblical Response to Physical Suffering by Elizabeth Johnson was an excellent book, so much so that I bought it for my own library. Johnson gives a comprehensive, yet simple, overview of what the Bible says regarding physical suffering, boiling down the biblical doctrines into something you can apply to your own journey of suffering. Since Johnson herself suffers from a rare, debilitating disease, she writes from experience and with compassion. I highly recommend this book.


Cotillion (Regency Romances) by Georgette Heyer was recommended to me by my library clerk. I had not heard of Heyer before but apparently she is, perhaps, the mother of Regency Romance. The story was good, and extremely clean. No doubt I will read more of Heyer in the future.


The Singing Tree (Newbery Library, Puffin) by Kate Seredy is the sequel to The Good Master (Puffin Newbery Library) which we read, and loved, several months ago. This book takes places in the Hungarian countryside leading up to and during World War 1. We enjoyed this book just as much as the first.


The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets: An Enola Holmes Mystery by Nancy Springer was another entertaining and engaging story of Sherlock Holmes "sister" Enola and a mystery in London. We all love these!

An Irish Doctor in Peace and at War: An Irish Country Novel (Irish Country Books) by Patrick Taylor is the latest in the Irish Country Doctor fiction series set in Ireland in the 60's, I believe. This book flashed back to World War 2. I was especially glad to notice that Taylor's use of bad language has gone way done, making this a much more pleasant read.


Caught Up in a Story: Fostering a Storyformed Life of Great Books & Imagination with Your Children by Sarah Clarkson examined the different stages of growing up alongside the different parts of a story (Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, etc.) and a child's need for  good stories during each of those stages. Of course this book is a little bit like preaching to the choir if you already love to read to your children but I think all of us need encouragement now and then and a reminder to keep reading. This book certainly gives it! And Sarah does give booklists for each age group.

  The Housekeeper's Tale: The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House by Tessa Boase told the stories of different specific housekeepers in Britain: how they got their job, what it was like, what happened to them afterward. It was a bit heavy on the research and not as much on the story, but certainly informative.

First We Have Coffee by Margaret Jensen was a little memoir someone in blogland recommended. It tells how Jensen's mother immigrated from Norway, married, and lived as a pastor's wife her in the USA in the early part of the 20th century. It was interesting to me from several aspects -- thinking about my own great-grandparents who immigrated from the UK about the same time, reading about one congregation Jensen's parents served at that happened to be just two blocks from the place I used to live in Chicago, and, of course, looking inside another pastor's family.

That's it for now! When I get some more time I will update you on the rest of my "wool and words".

For more ideas, check out Ginny's Yarn Along.

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