The last few days included a lot of my favorite things wrapped up in one great weekend. We visited family in the Chicago suburbs and got to have a lazy weekend full of boggle, thrift store shopping, lots of delicious meals and treats thanks to Chad’s mom, lounging and watching movies, and a fun trip to see some pretty cool collections belonging to British authors at the Marion E. Wade Center Museum.
The kids were most excited to see the wardrobe, of course. Okay, so was I! It was handmade by C.S. Lewis’s grandfather sometime in the 1800’s and stood in Lewis’s adult home for many years. It’s beautiful and simple and really did seem a little magical, even if we couldn’t climb inside. The kids were a little disappointed that we weren’t actually going to Narnia (Lars even reminded me that time moves more slowly in Narnia so there is plenty of time) but I think they were happy to peek inside and get a glimpse.
The museum was definitely worth the trip! Besides the wardrobe, we also got to see a desk that belonged to C.S. Lewis and a desk that belonged to J.R.R. Tolkien where he wrote most of The Hobbit. There were also lots of letters and notes written by Tolkien and some of the other featured authors. Chad and I agreed that Tolkien’s handwriting is totally dreamy. I really wish that I could have touched the pages, but they were under glass.
Here’s a shot of Tolkien’s desk.
There were so many other interesting things to see – collections of the authors own books, items used on the movie sets from the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings, and lots of other goodies. Plus it’s free to visit! Yeah!
So now it is back to reality after my long, lazy weekend. The Oscars are over and I caught enough to see that my favorite movie of last year, The Muppets, won at least one Oscar. Yay! Now I will package etsy orders, catch up on a mountain of laundry, and fall asleep to the Twilight Zone.
Have a great week!
our bookish life. 