The Bingham Waggoner and the Surprise Trip

Look what I found in the music parlor at the Bingham-Waggoner mansion! 

Yes, it looks just like the one I found at Goodwill... but is a different brand. 

The really neat thing about the Bingham is that 90% of the furniture and furnishings in the house belonged to the Waggoner family, so were there when the house was sold to the city or brought back. 

Incredible. 

The dining room, looking into the butler's pantry... with the Louis Comfort Tiffany light. 

As at the Vaile, the kitchen at the Bingham-Waggoner house is also small and plain. 

This happens to be my favorite of the seven bedrooms... "The Grandmother's" bedroom on the second floor.  You see how modern they were, with a sink in almost every bedroom.  

There is a bathroom on this floor as well. 

The servants in this house had spacious bedrooms on the third floor, and a full bathroom there for their own use, plus a huge commons area.  

On Saturday, 

we went to Sealife Aquarium at Crown Center, in Kansas City, Missouri. 

We saw starfish small and....

LARGE...

There were sharks in the biggest tank, and a place where you could sit and watch all the fish. 

This was a shark with a ray swimming under him. 

This is a pregnant male seahorse... yes, the males carrie the babies. 

Smart seahorse fillies!

And ethereal jellyfish lit by changing lights. 

(That was a Christmas tree in the background). 

This aquarium is designed for families with small children, and there were several tanks where kids could crawl through, walk through, or stand in the middle of, to see the fish in all directions.  

We were scouting it out for some particular grandchildren!

It got Papa's approval! 

By the way, I still have not dealt with this: 

That, Friends, is the Pile o' Christmas. 

Some of the bins ARE in the house.  

Argggghhh. 

Chris had to go home today, so I spent the better part of the day taking him down.  

I am finishing this post right now and going out to do chores, so I can start bringing the bins in and going through them.  We are paying now for putting things away willy-nilly. 

Chris and I have started a new tradition... MARKING the bins and putting them away in a special order. 

He's holding me to it.  

Yes, it was foggy this morning, and I'll be working fast tomorrow morning as we expect rain this week. 

On the good side... I have almost all the Christmas shopping finished!