Be considered the first person I have written to! Paris is weird, especially with my family! Have to write you a really long letter (maybe tomorrow). Remember I’ll try to write as often as I can. My sister said “so you think Paris is weird” (she is sitting across from me at dinner. The last week of school is a complete blur. I can’t wait to get home. What a thrill! How was Vienna, etc? On Thurs. I’m going to London – Jeremy, Betsy and Jane! Ha! Saw Steve H under the Eiffel Tower!
Back from AR and meeting our daughter Sandy. While there between and in showers I was instructed to solo a sail plane. Really an exciting thing to do. It is so quiet up there even in drop turns, lazy 8’s etc. I loved it!
We are at the Sheraton Airport Hotel and have just checked out for our flight to Nairobi with direct connection (we hope) to Lilongue (Malawi). Our flight out of Minneapolis was cancelled on Tuesday so we just got here this am. We are rested and all is well.
The Bells from Ford F. have been here this week. Mary and I spent one day looking in needlepoint shops – had a great time. Alicia and I will take them to airport this am (since Bill left last nite for Nairobi for the weekend). Then he leaves the 12th for 10 days in the Philippines. I will go to Amer. Women’s Club luncheon next wk. and see what it’s about. Still cold and cloudy here.
Here is a friendly creature that would like to play with you! We have seen a few elk and a bald eagle but not bears. Probably just as well!
Love, Tim
Grizzly Bear. The grizzly is a threatened species within the contiguous 48 states. Omnivorous, they feed on plants, small mammals (mostly rodents), large mammals and carrion. Standing 3 to 3 1/2 feet at the shoulders, the adult male (boar) will weigh 500-1000 pounds while the adult female (sow) will weight 225-550 pounds. The grizzly varies in color from black-brown to straw-yellow and may have light tipped guard hairs that give a frizzled appearance. Breeding occurs from mid-May to mid_July and young cubs, weighing 12-16 ounces, are born in January and February. They emerge from the den with their mother in April and May. Grizzly bears are the most fierce and dangerous of all bears.
I am with Jean in the waiting room doing crossword puzzles, reading the paper, and getting hungry! Bill got off in the rain and fog yesterday – called last night to say he’s in Washington ok. We saw Steve at the airport. He came up for the homecoming weekend in Madison.
Love, Dede
State Street Mall – Civic Center, Madison, Wisconsin. Looking toward the State Capitol
The Capital building in Madison, Wisconsin, was completed in 1917. The architect was George Post of New York and it cost $7.25 million to build. It is 284 ft, 5 in. to the top of the dome, three feet shorter than the capital building in Washington, DC.
The white granite on the outside is from Vermont and makes the dome the only granite dome in the United States. It is the also the largest dome by volume in the United States and one of the largest in the world. Inside the rotunda there is marble from Greece, Algeria, Italy and France; limestone from Minnesota; red granite from Wisconsin.
It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2001
The statue on top of the dome is a sculpture by Daniel Chester French. He also did Abraham Lincoln of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. It is called “Wisconsin” and is a woman dressed in Greek fashion with an arm reaching out to symbolize the state motto – Forward. There is a badger on top of her helmet and she holds a globe with an eagle on top in her left hand. The eagle has a “W” on its chest.
The square surrounding the capital holds the farmer’s market every weekend, weather permitting, as well as three museums, a gourmet cheese shop and several restaurants. The Children’s Museum, the Wisconsin Veterans Museum and the Wisconsin Historical Museum are all on the square. The Veterans Museum is especially interesting. It takes you through the wars Wisconsin citizens have participated in over the past 150 years and includes many personal artifacts and souvenirs.
We had a great nite last nite listening to music in a cafe and tonight at the Opry. A real experience – lots of good music. All interesting. It has been quite chilly – glad to have some wool sweaters.
Wish you were here – to John’s for the weekend.
Love, Va
Grand Ole Opry. The excitement of the Opry’s performance combined with the beauty and elegance of the Grand Ole Opry House at Opryland is always a memorable experience for both the audience and the entertainers.
This door is a gorgeous small part of a beautiful carillon tower set in lovely gardens near here. We herd a concert done by the bells as we sat in the garden – peace and quiet. It was great – after crowded EPCOT yesterday. Today we also had a delicious luncheon in a “Chalet Suzanne” where we had had a similar feast 40 years ago!
Love, Va
Bok Tower brass entrance door. Tells the story of Genesis with repoussee panels. Designed and executed by master metal worker Samuel Yellin in 1929.
we got back ok without problems. Kees met us with 2 boquets of flowers – in his big snowboots! It is col, snowy and foggy… sot of whitish everywhere. They are skating on our canal beneath our bedroom window and have plans for the 400 km race on the canals of Friesland this eek if ti stays cold. It is not as low templ as Minn. but seems chillier beacuse of the dampness, I guess.
Love, Va
Postcard: Yoruba Coronation Cloth (detail)– Nigeria. To benefit UNICEF.
Postcard Buzz 