Friday, May 1, 2015

The Slacker Returns

Thought for the day:  Time's fun when you're having flies.  [Kermit the frog]

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: some kinda dastardly plot must be afoot that makes time go faster than it used to. Have you noticed? If not, I bet you will some day, because it's a phenomenon most recognizable to old farts and fartessas. I swear, the hands on the clock in my office spin around so fast some days, it does double duty as a fan. So I reckon it only stands to reason my month-long blogging break would zip by faster than a Corvette on nitrous, right? (And if you didn't notice my absence, um, no need to mention it... ya know, no need to hurt my tender widdle feelings.)

Let's see, so what have I been doing with myself, other than not blogging? Geez, I dunno. Let's see... Smarticus and I went to the movies one day and saw Furious 7. We really enjoyed it, too. Verrry entertaining, with lots of action. I caught up on some magazine reading, and read quite a few good books. Most noteworthy: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. I highly recommend it, especially for those of  you who are history buffs. I wrote and edited four short stories, and have them just about ready for submission to a magazine. ( I wasn't a total slacker!) Also wrote about five thousand words for a novel, but the jury's still out as to whether I'll continue with it or not. And then there was a bunch of the usual stuff. You know, house and yard work. (I planted a wider variety of herbs than usual, including something called chocolate mint. Honest to goodness, it smells just like Thin Mint cookies!) Scraping and scrubbing pollen off of my poor little red car. What...? Not a usual something you ever have to do? I kid you not; the stuff was crusted in every nook and cranny. (And shhhhhh! Still IS... Every time I go out, I notice yet another place I missed.) We tried out a couple new restaurants. Fixed steamed crabs... three times! (For those of you who don't know, a meal of steamed crabs isn't just a meal; it's a delicious event.) Went to flea markets, and festivals and... (zippedy-doo-dah!)  museums!

Because, boyohboy, from April 25th until May 1 was Georgia's first ever Museum Week! A number of museums in the area offered buy one, get one free entrance fees... and some had no entrance fee at all! Talk about hog heaven for a museum slut like me. What...? Did I shock you? You didn't know? Cool. That gives me a good excuse reason to share an old post with you about just that. It'll help eeeease me back into blogging, and will also serve as a segue to next week's post, when I'll tell you about a couple of the museums we visited. I'm soooo lazy  considerate...

Oh, and it really  is good to be back. I missed you guys.

The following post originally ran in October, 2011, and was called (ahem) Museum Slut. (Go figure!)

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Thought for the day: There are three kinds of men. The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence.  Will Rogers
                                                                             
                                                                             
courtesy of dribbleglass.com



Michael C. Carlos Museum



Well, perhaps the word slut is a bit harsh, but I'll admit to being a pushover for a good museum. Absolutely love 'em. All kinds. How about you? Are you a museum kinda person? Over the years, we've been to countless fine art museums, wax museums, Ripley's Believe it or Not museums, the Smithsonian, and museums for baseball, railroads, the U.S. Infantry, ordinance, aviation, the Civil War, P.O.W.s, the Civil War Navy, Jimmy Carter, Martin Luther King, Jr., medicine, electronics, radio and TV, and on and on. And we've been to most of them multiple times. Like I said, I love museums.

So,  natch, I was pretty excited to see an article in last week's newspaper about the opening of a brand new exhibit in town. And even more excited when my sweet hubby offered to take me there last Thursday.

The new exhibit is at the Carlos Museum, located on the Emory University campus in Atlanta. The picture doesn't do the place justice at all. Its architecture is exquisite, but what really makes the building outstanding is the unique coloration and quality of its stone. Looks like marble, and has delicate pink veins throughout. Just gorgeous.

Anyway, this museum holds the largest collection of ancient artifacts in the Southeast, and the new exhibit we went to see is designed around a mummy. Now, I've seen lots of mummies before, and have always found them to be fascinating, but what's unique about THIS mummy is his position. He isn't lying on his back, like we usually see. He isn't stretched out all stiff (no pun intended) and formal-like, either.

No, he's positioned on his side, half-curled up, in a sleeping position. With his head on a headrest. As though he were taking a nap.
This is what the head rest looks like.

                                                                               
This is what one of the rooms of mummies looks like.

And THIS is how our star is positioned.

Pretty cool huh?

Smarticus says I'd go to any kind of museum, and judging by some of the ones I've dragged him to, maybe he's right. But to tell ya the truth, I'm not sure about some of these:

National Mustard Museum. Yeah, mustard, as in that yellow stuff  you put on a hot dog. This museum is located in Middleton, Wisconsin. Don't believe me? Here 'tis:

 Maybe the founder graduated from Poupon U?


Mutter Museum. Located in Philadelphia, this museum contains weird, gruesome, and unusual medical specimens. (So sue me. I think I'd like this place ...)


Cockroach Hall of Fame.  Located in Plano, Texas, this place got started by an exterminating company as a publicity stunt to advertise its business, but their collection multiplied like ... well, like a bunch of dirty roaches, and it ended up being a permanent display. Now they boast such "attractions" as Libe-roachi, a flamboyantly dressed creepy crawly. (I wonder if he has his own piano?) Good thing this place has free admission. I don't believe you could pay me to go. (For fear of causing you nightmares, I'll skip showing you a picture of one of their gargantuan specimens.)

Museum of Salt and Pepper Shakers. The name says it all. Located in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.




Museum of Bad Art. No kidding! And there must be a LOT of bad art, too, because this museum actually has three different locations in the Boston, Massachusetts area. 

I mean, B-A-D art!

New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum. Kinda self-explanatory. I'd probably have to drink a lot of Irish coffees before I'd be game to venture here.




Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum. If I'm ever in Farmington Hills, Michigan, I definitely want to visit this cool place. It looks like a boardwalk penny arcade gone wild. Busy, busy, busy. Lots of stuff to see, especially old coin-operated machinery and gadgets.  


So, what's the weirdest or neatest museum you've ever visited? And which ones listed here would you like to see? I might even enjoy that bad art one. (Might make me feel better about my own paintings ...)

                                        Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

                                                        ***************************

There. This first post back wasn't too painful. I might not respond to your comments right away, because... (Weren't you paying attention?)... it's Museum Week! Today (Friday) is the last day of it, so we're out exposing ourselves to some more culture.



                                                     Y'all have a super weekend.
















                                                                                

68 comments:

  1. Cockroach Hall of Fame
    No. No way in hell. More power to anyone who would find that interesting but I won't darken its halls. On a mean note, there is a Texas politician whose previous career before elected office involved killing those creatures would be the perfect manager for such a place. That or as one of the exhibits.

    To be fair, South Carolina has a museum dedicated to transportation. I pass by it occasionally and curiously the parking lot is always empty.

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    1. HA! Yeah, I wouldn't be a fan of that cockroach place, either, although I think it may have closed down since I originally wrote that post. Gee, I wonder which politician you're talking about... I can think of more than one that would qualify.

      Maybe everyone WALKS to that transportation museum...? Actually, you might be surprised by what you'd find in there. One of the museums we visited has a portion devoted to transportation, and there's some reeeeeally neat stuff in there.

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  2. Welcome back. You got a lot done. I enjoy museum hopping, although we don't have too many museums where I am.

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    1. Thanks! Maybe I got a lot done by MY standards, but not by YOURS. You seem to do that much on a daily basis. :)

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  3. Museum week? How classy! Unfortunately, I haven't lived in a classy place since Taft was president. I always seem to wind up in the places that have corn husking festivals and cow chip throwing contests.

    I've done a lot of weird things in my time, but I've never scraped pollen from a car. Not while I was sober, anyway.
    I love Thin Mint cookies with an unwholesome passion, so I'm sure I would devour the herb.

    Glad that you're back and delighted that you've been writing new stuff.

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    1. HA! Well, tell ya what... I'd probably get a kick out of the corn husking and cow chip throwing stuff, too. (Not to mention hog calling...)

      Oh, if you lived here and had a nook-and-cranny kinda car like mine, you'd end up scraping pollen, too.

      Thanks. It's good to be back.

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  4. Nice to see you back and you certainly have been busy, busy.
    I didn't realise there was such a variety of museums some of which sound quite extraordinary.

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    1. Thanks. It's nice to be back.

      I dunno, but I think there must be a museum for just about ANY interest.

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  5. You return! Delighted. I suppose the neatest museum to me is at the foot of Taylor St., San Francisco's Musée Mécanique --on pier 45.

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    1. I return!

      I think I would like ANY museum in San Francisco. Or any attraction there, for that matter. Smarticus went there for many business trips, but I haven't had the pleasure. Yet.

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  6. LOVE your new header picture! Your garden?
    Welcome back.
    I'm not a museum person, out here in Aus we just don't have the variety of museums you do.
    I would love to see the Mutter and Voodoo museums. As for the mustard one, well, now I want a hotdog!

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    1. Thanks. Yes, our azaleas were especially pretty this year, but they're already about done for the year. (Except for the one encore azalea, which will bloom again later.)

      I think that Mutter museum would be really cool, too. And a hot dog doesn't sound bad, either...

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  7. I wondered what had happened to you, Susan. Been checking your blog every couple of days. Glad you're having a good time. The salt and pepper museum looks fun. The bad art doesn't look so bad to me. (But what do I know?)

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    1. Wonder no more. I'm still kicking... but not too high.

      Bad art? Looks like some of the stuff our grandkids produce, and of course, we think they're all brilliant. :)

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  8. The salt and pepper museum for sure...Mom used to collect them. We missed you. Sounds like you've been having a productive and fun time off.

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    1. I think I'd like the S&P museum, too. I don't exactly "collect" them, but I have a hard time resisting a whimsical set of antique ones.

      Yeah, I did have fun, but it's good to be back.

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  9. It was so nice to see your blog back on my dashboard. It sounds like you got many things accomplished during the past month. Writing four short stories is quite an accomplishment.

    I am a museum junkie myself so if I lived in Georgia, I would have definitely taken advantage of that Bogo offer.

    Chocolate mint is always a part of my garden. I never use it for anything. I just like to pick it and smell it. I like the chocolate high.

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    1. It was a good month. Fast, but good.

      This was a fabulous week at the museums. We just got back from the natural history museum a little while ago. Saw two (Count 'em... TWO!) IMAX movies there, too.

      Oh, cool. This was the first time I ever saw chocolate mint at the nursery. In fact, I never even heard of it before, so I'm pretty excited about it. I may try to come up with some recipes to use it... if not, I bet it'll taste even better in a cuppa tea than the regular mint does.

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  10. Sounds like you had a very enjoyable and busy month. I love museums too and went to a really fun one while on my vaca: The Ringley museum in Sarasota. Wow. What a place! Can't wait to share:)

    Glad to see you back!

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    1. Oooh, the Ringley museum sounds like fun, too! I'll look forward to reading about it. Oops. I was gonna ask if you tried swinging on the trapeze, but I guess that woulda been the Ringling museum, wouldn't it? Never mind. I'll just have to wait and see what your museum was all about.

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  11. Enjoyed Fast 7 too at my zoo. You sure have been a busy bee and time sure does fly. Hey, I never peed on an electric fence before but I touched one, just to see what it felt like. I as 6 lol

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    1. That movie's really a fast-moving bit of entertainment, isn't it?

      HA! Betcha only had to touch it once.

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  12. Enjoy your museum visits. What fun! Sounds like you got a lot accomplished on your break. I took a breather too and yes, it flew by. Didn't get as much accomplished as you, but plugged long. A couple thousand words on my struggling novel project, a poem and I took a writing workshop. I read a few books, too. Happy May Day!

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    1. We did, and it was a lot of fun. (Now we're in recovery mode.)

      Very cool on taking a writing workshop. Oh, and Happy May Day to you, too! (Did you used to dance around the May Pole in elementary school?)

      Have a super weekend.

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  13. Welcome back! I’m still officially away, so don’t tell anyone you've seen me.

    Ahhh, museums! Love them. I do put my foot down when it comes to cockroaches, however—literally and figuratively. My weirdest experience was a medieval crime and torture museum in Rothenburg, Germany. Fascinating but disturbing, made even more surreal by it’s location. Rothenburg is the epitome of a quaint German village.

    I read Unbroken—a fine, if grueling—book.

    VR Barkowski

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    1. Thanks! HA, okay, I won't tell a soul...

      I'm not surprised you're a museum-lover, too. That medieval crime and torture museum must have been quite an experience, especially if it was located in a dank creepy old castle. Oooh, better yet, it its dungeon.

      Yeah, that book was a little grueling, but a fascinating read.

      Thanks for dropping by, seeing's as you aren't really here and all... :)

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  14. Welcome back! You were missed, but I knew you were having fun. I am a museum slut too and colleges, et al often have great little museums. I'm a sucker for art, history, photos, you name it - well, you can tell from my blog since I generally post my findings. Congrats on all of your writing - sneak us a snippet and we'll judge if you should continue - bet we laugh. Happy azalea time, etc. Cheers!

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    1. Thanks! Good to know I'm not the only museum slut around here. Looks like I'm in real good company.

      Geez, I hope nobody would laugh, because it isn't supposed to be funny... (Kinda weird for me, huh?)

      Cheers back atcha! Happy weekend.

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  15. Hullo, sweet slacker. Now you have me craving Thin Mint cookies ...

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    1. Well, hullo, hullo, hullo, dear girl! It's good to hear from you. Thin Mints are yummy, but chocolate mint has fewer calories. :)

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  16. Welcome back! I can see you enjoyed an awesome break, you old slut, you :)
    p.s. I love museums, too. Good ones. I think you could fill a book with write ups on bad ones ... hint :)

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    1. Thanks! Yeah, it was an awesome break, but now I need a break to rest up from the break, if ya know what I mean. Some people would be offended by being called a slut, but I'm not one of them. (In the proper context, that is.) Don't mind being called a broad, either. Guess I'm just too "easy" going, huh...? HA!

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  17. Susan I MISSED you... I was just thinking about you yesterday... I was trying to figure out if it had been a month and here you are... YAY♡

    I went to museums when I was a kid and it was free (ahem... a long time ago.. lol) ...nothing odd though... we only have a few close by.

    Pretty sure I don't want to go to the cochroach one... not the voodoo one either. .... I guess I'm a bit boring... haha

    So glad to see you back... have a good weekend xox

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    1. Thanks, Launna! How sweet of you to say.

      I went to a lot of free museums as a kid, too, and never ever got tired of them. (I think it's impossible to ever see everything there is to see at the Smithsonian museums.)

      Nah, not boring. I can't imagine too many people would be excited about seeing a bunch of costumed cockroaches.

      You have a super weekend, too.

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  18. Welcome back. And another museum slut has missed you.

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  19. Oh I'm definitely a museum ho. Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum, is worthy going to see just because of the name alone. But I'll pass on the roaches. Just the thought gives me the heebies AND the jeebies. Weirdest and coolest museum that I've visited, was for an exhibit on Ray Harruhausen monsters from films such as Sinbad and the original Clash of the Titans.
    Good to see you back. :)

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    1. Ooooh, that sounds like an awesome exhibit! Weird AND cool.

      Good to be back. :) Congrats on making your way through the alphabet.

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  20. Glad you're back - I missed you! Museums are fun; my favorite ones were the Smithonian Museums in Washington.

    A friend of mine has a garden with chocolate mint. She also has stevia plants, so she put one leaf of each together and gave it to me. "Here, it tastes a bit like a peppermint pattie!" It was good, though the peppermint pattie comparison was a bit of a stretch.

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    1. Thanks! It's good to be back.

      The Smithsonian Museums in D.C. are the BEST. Lots of other great museums in D.C., too. When Smarticus and I were in high school (You know... back in the Dark Ages...) our class took a field trip to D.C. to visit the National Museum of Art. Loved it! One of the neatest things about that trip is he and I both visited the gift store... separately... and we both bought the same print! I think that is sooooo cool. (It was a Salvadore Dali.)

      Okay, now I think the chocolate mint smells like a peppermint pattie, but I don't think I want to chew on a leaf! I do plan to try putting some into my tea, though.

      Happy weekend!

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  21. I lost my most fabulous comment... To tired to rewrite but....
    Happy your back !

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. Oh, bummer. Isn't that annoying? Sorry about that.

      Then again, if YOU are writing any comment at all, it's already gotta be fabulous by definition, right? :) It's good to be back.

      Cheers, and happy weekend!

      Delete
  22. Welcome back!
    I'd love to read that - "Unbroken" I promise to put it in my list, I still have few in the line.

    Mustard museum didn't surprise me much because that's the second "veggie/food" museum I've heard. In Korea they have "kimchi museum" I don't know if you know kimchi but anyway it is a spicy cabbage side dish which is burried under the ground fir fermentation.

    I like museums and I love historical relics in the field - archaeological sites & the likes.

    Those museums you went to are all interesting, if not fascinating, it makes you think what's new in people's mind, like the roaches & mustard.

    Good luck with the book and the garden :)

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    1. "Unbroken" is a very good book, but it's very heart-wrenching, too.

      I've heard of kimchi, but I've only eaten it once. Not my cuppa tea. (So to speak.)

      Thanks! It's good to hear from you again.

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  23. Welcome back! Good to see your pixels here again. :)

    Love that Kermit quote--it was an A-one groaner!

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  24. Hey, welcome back! I'm glad to hear your time off was productive. Four short stories AND 5k words on a novel? That's more progress than the both of us made together this month.

    Also, I love a good museum, too. Not sure if I'm a museum slut, but maybe a museum manwhore?

    And can I just say, Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum... Marvin liked alliteration just as much as he liked mechanics, didn't he?

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    1. Thanks! It's good to be back.

      Yeah, I'd probably like Marvin's museum just because of its nifty name, you manho you.

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  25. Welcome back! :-) I missed your witty posts. The photo of the "busts" cracked me up.

    Greetings from London.

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    1. Thanks! I'm always glad to tickle your funny bone.

      Greetings back atcha.

      Delete
  26. It sounds like you were VERY busy during our blog hiatus! *high five!*

    I have been to the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. Even dragged my family along. It was fascinating ... as long as you can stand it. My eldest daughter quit first, went to sit in the lobby. The second daughter was the second to say, "Enough!" My husband lasted a long time, but he too eventually came upon more than he could stand. I suddenly found myself the last survivor ... and even I didn't make it all the way through. I can't remember exactly what drove me out. I must have blocked it from my memory! Still, if you are in Philadelphia, it is worth a visit!

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    1. High five back atcha!

      Oh, if I were ever in Philly again, I'd definitely want to visit the Mutter Museum. I LIKE that kinda stuff. (It couldn't be too much worse than some of the weird medical specimens I saw at Hopkins.)

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  27. You've certainly been busy while you've been away. Good luck with the submissions.

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  28. All the best with the submissions. Great post.

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  29. Loved this post. Fingers crossed for your submission.

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  30. Welcome back. I don't believe in time. It is an artificial creation of man used to measure stress. Keep busy.

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    1. You don't believe in time, eh? I do appreciate your definition, but my awareness of its rhythms are ingrained in me. I don't stress about it, but I can't ignore it, either.

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  31. My son and husband saw Furious 7 and liked it.

    Cute quote by Kermit!

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    1. I'll bet YOU would have liked that movie, too!

      Kermit is very clever. He was green long before it became trendy.

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  32. Ahh! I love the header! Great post.

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  33. For Mother's Day my son took me to see the new Avengers movie and then dinner. On Mother's Day he cut the grass and I made his favorite potatoes. It was a lovely weekend.
    Time does travel fast but you have been very busy. I haven't been in a museum in forever!

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    1. Wow, it sounds like your son treated you verrrrry well. That's super. I'm glad you had such an enjoyable weekend.

      Hmmm, maybe it's time to go to one of your local museums, eh?

      Delete
  34. I love museums too. Mostly art but I think my favorite was the London Dungeon a torture museum in England. I love your blog! You are a very skillful writer & your entries are fun to read & enjoyable. It was nice finally meeting you today after hearing about you for so long!

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    1. Hey! You really DID visit my blog! Cool. It was great meeting you today, too. Um, a torture museum, huh? Kinky! Um, do your parents know...?

      I hope we keep in touch through the magic of the blogosphere. Welcome aboard! Now, it's my turn to visit your blog. :)

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