Wednesday, March 19, 2014

field trip!

Caroline and I got up at the crack of dawn yesterday to go on a field trip in Bowling Green, KY - about one hour north of here.
We had the most lovely day!

We went to the Kentucky Museum on the grounds of Western Kentucky University to see an exhibit called "Instruments of American Excellence."

The exhibit featured "tools" used by many Americans to achieve success. They were all connected to Kentucky in some way.

We saw an original manuscript by Judy Blume with her handwritten notes!

My favorite, Helen Keller's braile Bible!!

This freaky piranha went with someone's discovery. I couldn't read the plaque, I was too skeered by those teeth!!

We had a great time and really enjoying seeing the beautiful museum.

We also visited a log cabin that had been relocated there and learned about school in pioneer days.



We had a yummy lunch at Chuy's with my Tiff-Tiff and then we snagged some bargains around town.
There's this great store called Half Price Books. I got 4 CD's for a quarter each and 4 movies for $1 each!
I also found this....a book I've been looking for, for 30 years. I'm not kidding.

This is the only book I remember from my childhood and after years of looking online and trying to find clues to the title, I finally found the name of it a few months ago.
I was so happy when I found it today for $1 in perfect condition!! I cried!
It's called "Charlie the Tramp" by Russell Hoban. Ever since I've had an internet connection, I've searched for this book.
Before that, I asked librarians and book sellers everywhere I went.
I was incorrectly searching for a book about a "hobo." I never thought to search "tramp."
I knew the character looked very much like Frances from the Russell Hoban Frances series.
Several times I tried to convince myself that it was a Frances book now out of print or I remembered the storyline incorrectly.
All I remembered was that a little animal got mad, ran away from home with his bundle on a stick and in the bundle, he had "Good 'n Plenty's" and some other kind of cookies.
Finally one night, I stumbled across a website that talked about Russell Hoban and how he had authored other books.
I had an a-ha moment and realized the book was by him but Frances wasn't the character! I quickly found his books online and recognized the title.
I was so giddy at 2 am when I found it that I smiled until I fell asleep. So today when I saw it, the angels sang!

Sure enough...in the story, he takes Fig Newtons and Good 'n Plenty candy with him.
So happy I can cross "find this book" off my list!

Hope your day was as lovely as mine!!!

2 comments:

Tiffany Lowder said...

Great pics! So glad I was able to meet you for lunch yesterday. It was a nice treat!

KatieH said...

OMG. I have almost the same story and it was with a Russel Hoban book as well. Mine as called Harvey's Hideout. I couldn't remember the title, but could remember the cover was this lovely blue color. I also remembered that they looked very much like the Frances characters. That is too funny! I found mine awhile ago and was able to purchase it. Books can bring such joy, can't they? I just saw you holding that and it nearly knocked my socks off.
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