This weekend my husband and I went to Springfield to get in a bit of last minute Christmas shopping and to try and track down some doll repair supplies. It’s always an ordeal finding the things I need. I’ve never even seen a store just for doll repair supplies, so I end up visiting all sorts of strange businesses, hardware stores, antique and craft shops, even body shop supplies.
And as customary, while we were in Springfield we visited the Dana Thomas House. I’ll admit, I’m obsessed with the house…in my humble opinion, it’s simply the most beautiful home ever built. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1904 and is a shining example of his “Prairie style” home. I plan to keep visiting the Dana Thomas house until I’m old and gray, then hopefully I’ll drop dead during one of the tours and I can stay on and haunt the place…
While I always enjoy the tours, this time they had something new and special in the gift shop…Teco! Well, not the old Teco, which is pretty much untouchable price wise, but new Teco, made from the old designs! And it’s gorgeous! I nearly swooned over the Dana Sumac vase…I had to keep telling myself that it would be Christmas in three days and I was supposed to be buying gifts for other people, not myself. But then my husband reminded me that our 28th anniversary is coming right up…
Soooo, long story short, here is my new anniversary vase! The best anniversary gift ever!
My husband and I decided to get into the spirit of Halloween and go a haunted Alton ghost tour. We chose Antoinette’s because this year they got permission to go down into the Mcpike Mansion wine cellar, which has never before been available to the public. The Mcpike Mansion was built in 1869 for Henry Guest McPike. It was constructed in the ornate Italianate-Victorian style and has sixteen rooms, plus the aforementioned extremely cool and spooky vaulted stone wine cellar–if I was a ghost the Mcpike mansion is where I would choose to haunt. We also visited the federal cemetery and the old Milton school. The school is supposedly haunted by a little girl who stayed late to finish a school project and never made it home. As the story goes, her body was found later in the girl’s restroom, she had been viciously raped and murdered. Weeks later the school janitor’s body was found hanged, with the message “I did it”.
Mcpike mansion during the day.
Mcpike Mansion Wine cellar
Stairway at Milton school…see the orbs?
Girl’s restroom
Janitor room
You don’t have to believe in ghosts to have a great time on these tours, I love getting to snoop around in the old historic buildings and watching the reactions of the other people. I never saw what I would say was definite evidence of the paranormal, but some of the others did see one really scary thing…
Me! And my rendition of the Phantom of the Opera…” That fate which condemns me to wallow in blood has also denied me the joys of the flesh. This face; the infection which poisons our love. This face which earned a mother’s fear and loathing, a mask: my first unfeeling scrap of clothing. Pity comes too late, turn around and face your fate, an eternity of this before your eyes! ”
No I wasn’t in France the past three days, I was in Bloomington, Illinois. Hubby had a conference and I went along to make sure he didn’t have any fun. Overall, we had a pretty nice stay. The Chateau is huge, the picture I took only shows an itty-bitty part of it. The hotel has 180 guests rooms, plus conference rooms, restaurants and lots of areas I didn’t get to see. The hotel is designed to look like a swiss chateau on the outside and the inside is full of big, heavy European antiques, tapestries, statuary and the like. I would have liked to have brought some of it home with me, but apparently they frown on that sort of thing. Our room was really nice, clean and cozy and everything worked, and most importantly, we and the two dogs were the only living things in the room, so I was more than thrilled. I also got to eat out for three days! Woo-Hoo!
I shaved both of the pommies down to the skin before we left. The weather report was calling for 100 plus temperatures and we were worried what might happen if we had any car trouble. Brownie, our little three pound pom, was particularly P.O’d about her new “Brazilian cut”. She was mad at me all the way to Bloomington and kept giving me dirty looks and turning away.
When we got home today our other five dogs (who were being taken care of by my sister while we were at the convention) acted like we’d been gone for a month! It was complete and utter canine chaos, with yelping and licking and leaping and doggie cartwheels for a half hour or more. Of course, they do that when I come back from the grocery store too.
“Yeah, Ur Still On My Sh**tlist, mom!”
