Why is it “an” before historic? “H” isn’t a vowel. I wouldn’t say: “I had an happy birthday yesterday,” or “I wish I had an hundred dollars.” I don’t get it.
Anyway, yesterday I celebrated my birthday by going to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. I’ve been wanting to go there for a while. I’ve been to the Museum of Air and Space many times. I went to the Museum of Natural History a couple of years ago. It was high time for the Museum of American History.
It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. For some reason, I thought it would be lots of founding fathers stuff. There was a little bit there, but it was stuff from all kinds of time periods.
I was most fascinated by the artifacts. Here are my favorites from the things I saw:
A casting of Abraham Lincoln’s hands. His right hand was sore from shaking a lot of hands on the campaign trail, so he held a broom handle during the casting.
Very lifelike.
The lap desk Thomas Jefferson used when drafting the Declaration of Independence. He built it himself. That guy was an overachiever.
I was only inches away from it.
I was very excited to see a plaque that talked about a hair collection. I gathered hairs from friends and acquaintances when I was in college. I still have it somewhere. Anyway, this hair collection had the hairs of all the presidents from Washington to Pierce. Cool!
The low lighting made pictures difficult.
My eyes trailed up the wall to see the collection:
D’oh!
It says “Object Temporarily Removed”. Oh well. Maybe some day I’ll go back.
I finished the day by hanging out on the couch with Gus. It was a great birthday.
Ha! What excellent commentary – you could give tours!
The casting of Lincoln’s hands reminds me of Bob….. Dole (it took me a minute to remember him) and how he always held a pen since he had some hand deformity.
As for the overachiever, did you know he planted 19 different varieties of peas at Monticello? How do I know? Because we missed that one at Trivia Night.
Happy Birthday, Dear Godson!!! May The Lord Bless You With Many, Many More Happy Birthdays!!!! <3 Aunt Bev P.S. Have a Blessed Week…..My January "Escape From The Cold" Trip Memories Follow……(which Brian told me not to tell very many about before I left)….
…….2/9/14 I’m Home!!!!
For Those Of You, Who Didn’t Know I Was Gone……..I Was!!! I left January 8th and flew to Florida To Visit Several People & Places….
First, I went to my dear friend and classmate, Mary Ann Hilgenkamp Dole’s home. I spent several AWESOME days with she, her neat husband John, her sweet daughter, Sarah; and her amazing mother, Marj Hilgenkamp. While there, we went to visit their other daughter, Rebecca and her husband, Robert in their beautiful new home. We went to the ocean one day and had a delicious lunch at a Restaurant on New Smyrna Beach called “Breakers”.
Second, my next stop was spending the weekend with Lyle’s brother, Dean & his wife, Janette. They live about 15 minutes from Mary Ann in Luther Haven (a retirement village for Lutheran Pastors & Teachers) I worshipped at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church on Sunday, had a delicious Sunday dinner and then Mary Ann came and got me and we drove ½ way to Ocala, Florida and I was “handed off” to my mother’s cousin, Muriel aka Debbie.
Third, I spent the next couple weeks with Debbie & Norman Thompson….We did sooooo many wonderful things and ate at sooooo many great restaurants. While there, I was able to worship at their church, Trinity. A HUGE congregation!! Very, very, very few children since the congregation is amongst many Retirement Communities. I also had my first taste of Flounder (It was delicious!!) at a place called “Sumpknockers” on the Withlacoochee River.
When we were at home, we played a lot of card games and watched some interesting, informational, & intriguing videos. I came home Wednesday (Feb 5th) with connecting flights in Chicago where there was very questionable weather with snow postponing and/or canceling many flights. I was at Midway Airport and there was hardly an empty seat anywhere.
My last stay was cancelled at Dear Friends, Mike & Nancy Abraham’s. They usually come to Ocala to escape the cold weather in Michigan. This year they were not able to come because of the illness of some members of their family. L
I was in Florida nearly a month and enjoyed soooo many places & people, I think I’ll go back!!!
(Don't know if I want to stay this long again???)
I got home on Wednesday the 5th and on Friday, the 7th, I repacked my bags and drove to Mahoney State Park near Ashland, Nebraska for our annual Family weekend stay there. Marcia and Dakota & Wyatt & their girl friends (Maddie & Kelsi) met me there for a very relaxing weekend. The young ‘uns went sledding & ice skating (I watched!! & took a “couple” pictures, of course… (^_^). We watched the opening ceremonies for the Olympics in Russia and we even squeezed in a few hands of “Black Jack”. My sister, Linda, her husband, Paul and their daughter, Andrea came out for a “pizza” supper on Saturday evening. Jerry & Marisue Campbell and two of their sons stopped by for an evening visit & played cards with us. Jerry used to work at rodeos with Dalton & Marcia. Brian, Jennifer & Elizabeth couldn’t be with us this year, because they had other plans since I had to change from our usual weekend because of my Florida trip. We had a delicious brunch at the lodge on Sunday morning and then we headed home.
That sounds wonderful!
Wow! Add a few pictures, and that would be an amazing blog post! 🙂
And it sounds like a LOT of fun!
Pictures??? Blog???? Do you think I REALLY know how to do those things…..just logging on is a real adventure sometimes….Password…Memory???? there is a direct correlation between those two things and my “old” brain!! Not always a good relationship, I should add!!!
Have a Blessed Day!! <3 Aunt Bev 🙂