Tag: Planetarium

The Bell Museum

When our boys were young, we went several times to the James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History on the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis campus. It was a fun outing, and it was free back then.

The name has been shortened to Bell Museum.

In 2018 they built a new, beautiful building and moved from the Minneapolis campus to the St. Paul campus. And, they added a planetarium. 

A much larger and modern building houses the Bell Museum and planetarium.

I was excited to see the planetarium. I remember going to the planetarium in the downtown Minneapolis library when I was in elementary school. I really enjoyed it. 

A scene in the planetarium.

I looked up the Minneapolis Public Library‘s history and discovered it opened in 1889 along 10th street and Hennepin Avenue. But that’s not where I remembered it. 

That library became overcrowded and out of date. In 1961 a new Minneapolis Public Library opened at 4thstreet and Nicollet Ave. That’s where I remembered it. It too, has since been rebuilt (replacing the old stone castle-like building with a four-story glass and steel building , but no planetarium.) The one I went to as a child included a planetarium, and a small museum of Egyptian mummies, in its basement (which I had forgotten about until my memory was triggered when reading about it.)

Our massive, wonderful galaxy of stars shown in the planetarium.

All that to say, we went to visit the new Bell Museum last week. We paid extra to see the planetarium show…which was titled Minnesota Skies. This was a narrated program by a staff member interacting with the audience. I was disappointed because I was expecting to see more dark sky and starry, starry night scenes.

There were a few other choices for planetarium shows…so I suspect there are ones similar to the ones I remembered seeing as a child. I’ll have to try again.

Many of the dioramas in the natural history part of the building were the same ones in the old Bell Museum space.

Birds and waterfowl dioramas.

When they moved to the new building, they didn’t take the scenes apart…they moved the entire displays. They were well-done when they were created, so it made sense to keep them intact.

A beautiful fawn in one of the dioramas.
A Wooly Mammoth, in tact.

The new Bell Museum has so much more to offer, with a hands-on area and many more displays about outer space and other natural history.

Apparently there are gardens to explore in the summer.

The Bell Museum is a great resource for the Twin Cities…although now they charge a fee to get in. And you have to pay for parking. That’s disappointing, because that can be restrictive for young families. However, I’m sure it’s a great destination for school field trips so many children can experience this great place.

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February: I Love To Read Month

It’s February and it’s I Love To Read” month.

 

Reading is a wonderful thing to celebrate. I’m so grateful I can read.

I don’t have childhood memories of reading every chance I could get, or under the tree, or in a secret place like a lot of adults talk about, but at some point in time I started to read more and became aware of how much I love to read. It’s a wonderful thing.Image result for reading quotes

I do have lots of memories from reading to my boys in their childhood. Reading was a very precious time. I loved reading to them, and we read to them a lot. Our reading times are some of my fondest memories. I can picture me sitting on the sofa with a boy at each side, cuddling up, by the light and reading and reading…many books, many times, including every night before bed. I cherish those remembrances.

I have always liked books but I believe my love of books began when I started reading to my children. I started learning about, and buying, books to read to our boys. I’ve acquired a small collection of children’s books, which I continue to enjoy to this day (and still add to my collection).

 

Image result for free clip art for book clubs

I am in a book club, which I enjoy very much. I have read so many books over the years that I would probably never have picked out to read on my own. It has been, and continues to be, a wonderful experience. I borrow most of the books I read for our book club from our local library. However, there are certain other books I buy so I can highlight or underline ideas or thoughts as I read. My husband loves to read too, so we do have our own collection of books on bookshelves at home.

The book I wrote for my granddaughter.

I wrote a children’s book. The story line is about skyping and I used clip art for the illustrations because it is about using computers so I thought clip art was appropriate. I had a print center in town print, laminate, and bind the book for my granddaughter whom I skype with – in Africa – and now, with her brother too. I’ve sent it to publishers but so far no one is interested. It was a fun project.

There’s so many more thoughts to share on reading. I love to read…here’s to “I love to read” month!