The kid with the camera is always popular.

Springfield, Illinois, June 1972. Most found the museum shop more interesting than than Lincoln home.

I recall most girls wore "culottes" on this field trip.

"Hippo Den"

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Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin, July 9, 2014. That's a tight fit.

Miniature Reunion

Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin, July 9, 2014. There's a lot to unpack here.

Pals

Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin, July 9, 2014. They share a cool spot.

Post-Soviet-Era Tourism

"Lithuania is one of the few places where Soviet history could be explored with all the modern amenities and freedoms. A rich array of Soviet-related locations includes the ordinary and extra-ordinary: apartment blocks, nuclear launch site, propaganda art, locations of the freedom struggle and memorials for those who perished."

Charming, Captivating, Bewitching

Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin, July 9, 2014. She's a bird on a wire.

Ignore the lurking clowns.

Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin, July 9, 2014. Focus on the distraction instead.

"Poodles"

Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin, July 9, 2014. They're not those kinds of "poodles."

Assumption of Risk

Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin, July 9, 2014. Read this before you ride a pony.

"[E]ven within this small cluster of islands, there are knitting traditions specific to each island."

Knitting in the Shetland Islands.

"No Home to Go To"

"No Home to Go To" is a preview of the upcoming "Baltic Displaced Persons Exhibit" organized by the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture:

Great Tapestry of Scotland

Lovely.

"Arsenic Ball Gown"

A garment featured in the exhibit, "Fashion Victims: The Pleasures and Perils of Dress in the 19th Century."

Seventy Years

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Normandy, June, 2010. Thanks to my friend Susan for making these photos available to us.

"The Colorful World of Kaffe Fassett"

An exhibit at the American Museum in Britain.

Kaffe Fassett's work is what got me started in color knitting. Glorious Knits was the entry drug; I later evolved to prefer muted palettes.

ADDED: Tom of Holland visits the exhibit.

He's weak in the ankles.

Michelangelo's "David" statue "risks collapsing under its own weight because of strain on the sculpture's 'weak ankles'."

The "David" has stood in Florence's Accademia Gallery since 1873. The statue in the Piazzia della Signoria is a replica:

Florence, Italy, May 1984. Some tourists assume the "David" guarding the Palazzo Vecchio's entry is the original statue.

I visit the Uffizi

Florence, Italy, May 1984. This morning's Uffizi post reminded me of my visit to Florence. I didn't find the city charming. There were more tourists than in Venice. The historical sites stood in a tight area that made the city center seem like an amusement park. The place was claustrophobic. I also had some trouble understanding the Florentine dialect, which softens the "c" sounds: "Casa" becomes "hasa," for example.

Florence is the city in which I encountered my first "ugly American." As I sat sipping a macchiato, a woman exclaimed to her husband, "Why can't these Italians make a decent cup of coffee?!"

At the Office

Florence, Italy, 1951. My Best Friend's Dad, Dolfo, visits the Uffizi.

Thanks to my Best Friend for making this photo available to us.

Blooming Knits

Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed visits the knits at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.

 

(The exhibit is over, but the photos and observations are new.)

About those straw ornaments ...

Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, December 2013. The ornaments crafted from drinking straws are still in use. This tree is the Lithuanian contribution to the Christmas Around the World and Holiday of Lights exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry.

Thanks to our friends who made this photo available to us.