My Favorite Toy

I was always a lover of Lego when the kids were little.

I confess: Every Christmas I haven't purchased Legos for under the tree has been a bit of a disappointment to me.

So imagine my surprise and delight when The Girls discovered the Lego play-area at the State Fair on Friday afternoon.

The truck is amazing:
There are fun facts everywhere:
Boy-child always loved the little guys:
Which made this factoid all the more delightful:
The Girls had fun:
And then, to my surprise and delight, even though it meant the grass wasn't mowed today, I found Boy-child back with the Legos this afternoon when I returned from errands:


~sigh~

Fair Footwear

Went to the State Fair this afternoon with Girl-child and Adopted-Girl-child. We didn't spend too much time there; looked at knitting and fine art and played with Legos.

I decided to take unconventional fair pictures.

Day Trippers

Off we went to Chicago this morning - as soon as the thunderstorms were over. We wanted to check out the new wing of the Art Institute.

A couple of locals came to have lunch with us.
We discovered a post covered with knit tags - they were obviously put up at different times since some pieces were more faded than others. (Actually, Girl-child saw this last March and it has been added to since then).
The girls played chess a bit inside the Institute.
This is Girl Dancing by Paul Klee. I like Klee and I have a girl who dances.
I like this Miro. It reminds me of Boy-child's drawings of earlier days. This particular one is called The Two Philosophers. For some reason that seems particularly appropriate.
One of my personal favorites, The Venus de Milo With Drawers by Dali.
The views from the inside of the new wing are quite nice.

Weekend Happenings

There was tagging over the weekend.
New splashes of color around town.
The question remains: Will there be answer tags?
Girl-child and Adopted-Girl-Child made some really yummy bars. I managed to snap a photo minutes before they were gone forever:
Girl-child is taking inventory of things to take with when she moves into her house:
And we went to a wedding down by the river. The bride and groom are both 19 years old.
'Nuff said.

Knitterly Stuff

I came upon the most delightful sight this morning - a knittag to keep my previously posted rail sock company (the photo is very poor quality due to bad weather, but you get the idea):
A truly wonderful surprise on a very gloomy morning. I emailed the most likely suspects and they both profess to be innocent of the tagging so the author remains a mystery.

I have been knitting even tho I haven't been writing about it and there were purchases on the recent trip. Portland is home to several yarn shops - I managed to make it to KnitPurl where they don't use bags for purchases:
And I found some sock yarns that I don't normally see/get at my usual hangouts here in the Twin Cities.

Girl-child chose this one:
And I plan to make a Cookie A pattern with this for myself:
This was discovered at Gossamer near the Velveteria museum:
In the meantime I am knitting a few things. One is a project that is not exactly secret but can not be revealed yet.

Another is a pair of replacement Fetching mitts for Girl-child:
A scarf being done on commission:
The pattern is more visible above, the color more realistic below.
And I started a pair of socks for Nicole because we love Nicole:

Portland Odds and Ends

We're home - got the last four seats on the flight as a matter of fact.

It was a fun trip.

So here are the odds and ends of the photos - this first one is from the sidewalk:
For once I saw a pair of shoes in the street instead of just one:
With all of the rain, there are many beautiful flowers (not just roses):



We went to the Velveteria - a Velvet Painting Museum. No photos can be taken inside, but these are a few of the items available for viewing in the lobby.

Sublime tackiness.



We stumbled upon Portland Museum's exhibit on tattoos including the man who claims to be the most tattooed person in Portland - Matt Gone. A dubious claim to fame, imho, but there he was. There was also a great Escher exhibit as well as some very good early photography on display.

This is Portlandia, second only to the Statue of Liberty as far as copper repoussé statues go.

It's helping keep Portland weird, I think:
Did I mention there are a lot of homeless people? And people begging on the streets?
And, finally, more artwork from the Ace Hotel. It was a fab hotel - If you ever find yourself in Portland see if you can get a room there. These are from the stairwell, including some details:




Even tho the elevator doesn't work too well.
Btw, we went to Portland at Girl-child's suggestion. She got the idea to go to Portland and specifically to stay at the Ace from this woman's blog.

And since you can never get to everything in a weekend, I believe in making a list for "next time" Here's our list:

The Gorge
Brunch at Salty's
Evergreen Aviation Museum
Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden

It's good to have something to look forward to.