The Home of Betsy-Tacy
Sep. 9th, 2023 09:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerGreetings from Mankato! Yes, I am in the hometown of Maud Hart Lovelace, the original Deep Valley, which somewhat surprisingly is a flesh-and-blood town and not a Lois Lenski picture, but once I got used to that I had a marvelous time yesterday evening walking around, getting a feel for the place, finding Betsy & Tacy's houses near the end of Hill Street (actually Center Street). And at the end of that street is their bench!
This is the bench (well, probably not the actual physical bench; but in spirit) - the bench, as I was saying, where five-year-old Betsy & Tacy had their first picnics together. They brought out their dinner plates and sat side by side to eat while Betsy told stories, like how they catch hold of a giant pink feather out of the sunset sky, and it pulls them up in the air and they drift over the town.
Of course I had to reread Betsy-Tacy as I sat there. "If only I had a picnic," I thought, with a sigh, and then: "One can of course procure a picnic..."
So after I finished Betsy-Tacy I went to a sandwich shop, and returned, and read half of Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, and contemplated going over the Big Hill myself, but by this time my feet were pretty tired, as it's been a busy day! In the morning, I went to the Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis, and had a delightful time looking at the socialist realist paintings in the basement: three milkmaids laughing their heads off at a joke, a woman walking through a birch forest (she almost seems to meld with the trees), Khrushchev greeting Yuri Gagarin after his return from space. (This one takes up an entire wall, and the tour guide told us that when they want to use the space for other exhibits, they have to cover the painting because it can't be moved.)
I also attempted to visit Fort Snelling, as Maud Hart Lovelace wrote an adult book set there (and I'm hoping to buy it in the Betsy-Tacy gift shop), but the only way to get in was to take the tour and the timing didn't work out, and I couldn't even walk around it because part of the trail was closed! Well, sometimes life is like that. At least I tried!
Other things I did this week:
- toured North Branch and the surrounding area! Gathered much interesting local color for Sage, if I can just knuckle down and write it. (Traveling not enormously conducive to writing, as it turns out.) Revisited Scout & Morgan Bookstore & the massive library in St. Cloud.
- wandered Taylors Falls (there is no apostrophe, yes this is maddening), which I somehow never did when I actually lived here! Or rather, my dad and I went to a restaurant there, but I didn't explore the town - didn't even visit the state park to see the glacial potholes, some of which are sixty feet deep!
- rode a paddle wheel boat down the St. Croix River! Delightful. Love a boat ride.
And now it is time to head out for more Betsy-Tacy! I have read right up to the chapter where Betsy goes to the new Carnegie library, which is now an art center, and I'm going to walk up the steps that Betsy (Maud) walked up and read about Betsy's day at the library right where Maud (Betsy) read so long ago...
This is the bench (well, probably not the actual physical bench; but in spirit) - the bench, as I was saying, where five-year-old Betsy & Tacy had their first picnics together. They brought out their dinner plates and sat side by side to eat while Betsy told stories, like how they catch hold of a giant pink feather out of the sunset sky, and it pulls them up in the air and they drift over the town.
Of course I had to reread Betsy-Tacy as I sat there. "If only I had a picnic," I thought, with a sigh, and then: "One can of course procure a picnic..."
So after I finished Betsy-Tacy I went to a sandwich shop, and returned, and read half of Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, and contemplated going over the Big Hill myself, but by this time my feet were pretty tired, as it's been a busy day! In the morning, I went to the Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis, and had a delightful time looking at the socialist realist paintings in the basement: three milkmaids laughing their heads off at a joke, a woman walking through a birch forest (she almost seems to meld with the trees), Khrushchev greeting Yuri Gagarin after his return from space. (This one takes up an entire wall, and the tour guide told us that when they want to use the space for other exhibits, they have to cover the painting because it can't be moved.)
I also attempted to visit Fort Snelling, as Maud Hart Lovelace wrote an adult book set there (and I'm hoping to buy it in the Betsy-Tacy gift shop), but the only way to get in was to take the tour and the timing didn't work out, and I couldn't even walk around it because part of the trail was closed! Well, sometimes life is like that. At least I tried!
Other things I did this week:
- toured North Branch and the surrounding area! Gathered much interesting local color for Sage, if I can just knuckle down and write it. (Traveling not enormously conducive to writing, as it turns out.) Revisited Scout & Morgan Bookstore & the massive library in St. Cloud.
- wandered Taylors Falls (there is no apostrophe, yes this is maddening), which I somehow never did when I actually lived here! Or rather, my dad and I went to a restaurant there, but I didn't explore the town - didn't even visit the state park to see the glacial potholes, some of which are sixty feet deep!
- rode a paddle wheel boat down the St. Croix River! Delightful. Love a boat ride.
And now it is time to head out for more Betsy-Tacy! I have read right up to the chapter where Betsy goes to the new Carnegie library, which is now an art center, and I'm going to walk up the steps that Betsy (Maud) walked up and read about Betsy's day at the library right where Maud (Betsy) read so long ago...
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Date: 2023-09-09 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2023-09-10 02:58 pm (UTC)Did you get to see the glacial potholes at Taylors Falls this time round?
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Date: 2023-09-11 01:56 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2023-09-11 08:43 pm (UTC)