Ladyhawker - On Sabbatical

I am a Woman Falconer! Falconry is a part of my life and personality. In no way however should anyone construe my life and writings to be the example of all falconers. This blog is about my experiences, and it includes my personal life as well. For now, I am in school and cannot practice this sport, so there is not much falconry related stuff to write about. I will fly a bird again . . . Some Day!

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Spring Break ~ And Now, a DEEEEEP Breath!!

It is now about three weeks after Spring Break. I took these pictures while on Spring Break, but I've been so busy and overwhelmed since that time that I could not post them. The last three weeks have been the final class-time of my study program. We'll still have a few odd Fridays, but for the most part, the classroom portion is OVER! We finished this all off with a final in Neonatal and Pediatric Respiratory Care, and more importantly, a mock board, which we HAD to pass to graduate. The heat was on all of us, but yesterday we all passed it. YES, that big collective sigh you may have heard from Wisconsin . . . that was us!! Our last 5 weeks of clinicals gets going on Monday. Of those 5, one week is set aside for the State Convention, so that is essentially 'play-time'. Sure, we'll be in meetings a lot, but it will be at the Kalahari in the Dells. Real tough duty!!

Over Spring Break I got busy and took care of a pesky detail that has been troubling me . . . what to do with that HUGE birdcage in my storage shed. It's not that I don't want to keep it, as it is a very nice,large cage, but it is HUGE, and HEAVY!! I really don't see myself moving it when I do finally relocate to wherever it is that I'm going. At some future date I may collect it again . . . but for now it has gone on long-term loan to my bird buddy, Darla. My very good friend Rich came along on the adventure . . . and more importantly, brought his nice big Dodge diesel truck. The 8-foot cage, broken into parts, fit nice and handy in the back. We got that down and out into Darla's garage . . . and while there, had her show us around downtown Chicago for a couple days. It's one of those things I hadn't done, so it needed to be done!

We visited the Lincoln Park Zoo, and the arboretum there. I didn't take and won't post any pictures from the zoo. Nothing really spectacular there. I did take some pictures of orchids which are posted at the end of this entry for my friend Dan. We did a lot of walking around, and went to an old-time malt shop for lunch. I won't be posting those pictures either!! At the end of our first day we went to the top of the John Hancock building, took pictures and watched the sun set. There is an "open porch" at the top . . . really it's all screened in, but you are open to the wind. It's a good opportunity to see WHY Chicago is called the "Windy City". Yep, at that height, very windy! There was an audio tour, and you can look out over and hear all about the history of the city.

The next day we returned to downtown Chicago to go to the Field Museum, and catch some authentic Chicago deep-dish pizza. On our journey we drove around and around Millenium park where "the Bean" is. I don't know what hole I've been living in, but I had never heard of this art icon. Anyways, we didn't pay to park (which can get to be very expensive in downtown Chicago) in order to get our own pictures of the Bean, other than out the window as we drove around it. However, I did find and post a link below. So if you want to see a clear picture of it, click the link. It's stainless steel, and very reflective. Kindof neat!



There are lots of things to do in downtown Chicago. We only had time to do a few of them. There is Navy Pier, if you want to go shopping. You have the Field Museum (which we did) and then the art museum, which I wish I had more time to go to. Then there is the Shedd Aquarium, also which we did not go to, but that's OK . . . fish are OK, but I'm not that enthusiastic. There is a big baseball park (*yawn*). The Field Museum was cool, and had a really nice collection of stuffed birds (and other animals too). Mostly, I was trying to avoid being in Darla's camera. Here I missed and was caught by Rich's camera.

The Field Museum has a really nice collection of Egyptian art. I took lots of pictures, of which only a small portion came out clear and sharp. They do have one of the MANY statues of Sekhmet, the Lioness-Headed Goddess, but a rather poor example. An exhibit a few years ago of art of Rameses the Great had a fabulously preserved statue. She has a sun disk on her head with ureas (cobras). The statue in the Field Museum has not passed through history as well preserved. If you click on her name I've linked to a good example of a well-preserved statue. Still, much of what was there was interesting to see.

The best part of the Field Museum is there are lots and lots of dinosaurs!! Well, dinosaur fossels. Here is a Velociraptor chasing down something else!

This is a close-up of one of their signature pieces they are highlighting right now. They call her "Sue" and she is a Tyranosaurus Rex. Previously they had the Brontosaurus, or is it Brachyosaur they call it now?? That has been moved outside. I can only imagine what it would be like to actually see one of these creatures for real, in flesh and blood. I was fascinated with dinosaurs when I was a kid. They are still interesting now!

This is overlooking the inner "courtyard" of the Field Museum. You can easily spend all day here! It was a good setup to bring the world to people, prior to all the fabulous documentaries we have on television now. The stuffed collection of animals is all well and good, but now you can see live footage, which I think is so much more educational . . . other than getting a perspective of the size of some of these creatures. I enjoyed some of the history exhibits, but there just was not enough time to see all of it.

Outside the museum I couldn't resist getting pictures with my friends. Perspective!! See how huge these beasts are!!

Smile Darla!

Strike a pose Rich!

Strike another pose!

Here Rich and I are getting even with Darla for all her picture taking . . . so we are taking a picture of her taking a picture of us!

Here are the promised orchids! So Dan . . . What Are They?





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