Beside wanting to get back to my lonely husband, returning to Alabama was fueled by two big events for my boys. The first was our long scheduled field trip to Sloss Furnace in the heart of the "Magic City." What a great time we had, and how much we learned. How Birmingham "magically" grew up almost overnight around the iron industry. How the furnace provided suffering sharecroppers a livelihood that was drought-proof. How hobos would take shelter in the old beehive ovens that were originally used to refine the raw coal into hotter burning coke. What a treat to visit the only blast furnace from the 20th century that is being operated as a historic industrial site.
Of course, Birmingham has other more refined places too. While Bart took Luke to their first Cub-Scout camping trip, Anthony and I visited the Birmingham Museum of Art. Our Homeschool group has been discussing a trip before a traveling exhibit of Leonardo Da Vinci's sketches is over. Since it is a free venue, and I found out it was Family Day, we decided to preview the exhibit. We were impressed and in awe of seeing the works of the master. What especially struck me was how incredibly small they were, so often we see his sketches in a coffee-table book and they have been enlarged. I was really struck with the economy of material as several pieces are displayed for both sides to be seen. Leonardo didn't waste his creative genius on a new clean sheet of paper. His left-handedness is also a very fascinating aspect of his work. Truly, he was a man before his time. I look forward to visiting again on a slower day with our homeschool friends.
We had a great time in Virginia, I will post on that soon. Oh, and we hope to have some "closure on the house here in the next week too. Check back for the continuing saga.
No comments:
Post a Comment