I had lunch at The Barbie Cafe in Chicago. It was fun…and overwhelmingly pink.
EVERYTHING BARBIE
WNDR MUSEUM
I went to the WNDR Museum in Chicago with my friends, Gina and Ellen. The museum website describes it as the “intersection of art and technology.” The exhibits were super fun and creative. I posted videos on two of the exhibits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhl04G_VgEU and https://www.youtube.com/shorts/grL9n1Y1r8Q
Below is my friends and I in one of the exhibits. Under that photo is a portrait of artist, Yayoi Kusama. Next to her is a photo of part of her exhibit.
THE MONSTER MUSEUM
When I was a kid I watched a movie at the theater called “The Legend of Boggy Creek” which scared me half to death. Years later, I showed it to my kids on Halloween, but it didn’t frighten them. The movie is about the “Fouke Monster” which is a Big Foot or Sasquatch that has been sighted multiple times since the 1950s around Fouke, Arkansas. My husband and I drove to Fouke to see “The Monster Museum” which is located in a convenience store called The Monster Mart. Below are some highlights. I bought a coffee cup with a silhouette of a Sasquatch, a Big Foot air freshener to hang from the rearview mirror in my car, and 2 books with stories from Fouke about monster sightings. I plan to re-watch the movie on Amazon. I hope it scares me.
Highway Rider
I was going down I-40 in Arkansas when a mechanical bull passed me.
Fungus Schmungus #6
I found three very colorful mushrooms. The violet ones are Reishi mushrooms (Ganoderma lucicum) and are also known as Lingzhi, Divine Mushroom, and “Mushroom of Immortality.” Reishi mushrooms are used in medicinal teas. I could not correctly indentify the green mushrooms or the odd bright yellow mushroom. The yellow mushroom was growing out of a woodpile and may have a stalk.
Vintage Hotel Signs
At the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument in Kearney, Nebraska stands a reproduction of an old sign from The Hammer Motel in Kearney, Nebraska. This weekend I went to the Des Moines Art Festival In Iowa and was delighted by Ed Pribyl’s colorful visions of vintage hotel signs.
Fancy Cars
I saw two artistic vehicles recently. The truck went by while I was at a gas station and the car was parked in a grocery store parking lot.
Match Stick Museum
The Match Stick Museum in Gladbrook, Iowa is small but fun. The artist is Patrick Acton. His match stick art is in Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museums and is shown at the Iowa State Fair. This is a replica of the US Capitol which took 478,000 match sticks to make.
Tire Horse
This life-size horse made out of old tires was outside of a tire store. The dogs went crazy when we discovered a horse on our dog walk.
Chameleon Changing Colors
Last summer, my family visited the Butterfly Palace and Rainforest Aventure. This chameleon was green and blue when we arrived. He s-l-o-w-l-y followed my son from one side of his aquarium to the other. My son, Cole, wore a magenta shirt with a wild pattern. As the chameleon followed around the enclosure, he changed colors to match my son’s shirt.
Shelley Jones Clark
