HAVNFUN

It figures that on a hot, hot day my comp copies of Cast On, Bind Off should arrive. Hooray!

I did the illustrations for this book with beginnings and endings for all kinds of knitted projects way back when people really were wearing knitted things. I also found reference from a long ago photo of Tessa McGow, a talented MECA student with busy hands who posed during a drawing session.

Shortly thereafter, my family traveled to Minneapolis for a wedding. Even with 102 degree weather, this says it all.

The wedding of Kirsten and David took place at the American Swedish Institute, a unique castle/mansion built by a Swedish immigrant family in 1908.

With gargoyles and carvings everywhere, it was a fantasy setting.

We also visited the sculpture garden at the Walker Art Center, a nice taste of the city.

From there we headed to St. Paul, where I was reminded it was the  birthplace of Charles Schulz.

The Science Museum of Minnesota had a surprisingly substantial exhibit called Real Pirates, featuring the history of the Whydah. We scoped out our share of ship sightings.

The paintings by Greg Manchess were also impressive.

The Future Earth exhibit proved quite educational. I did not know our atmosphere was only 62 miles, a rather short vertical trip into “outer space.” No wonder so much can happen in the first seven.

It was a welcome relief to move from the sobering enormity of climate change to a whimsical display of moving sculptures like this, a tiger typing furiously, his head opening up to a fish circling his singular thought.

We found humor of a different scale in this epic sculpture at Lego Land, in the Mall of America.

And who knew there was an entire enterprise devoted to Peeps?

We came back to Maine very full of all things big, Minnesota style.

Today we’re off to SPACE, to reunite with our sketchbooks shipped off in January for the 2012 tour.