Trip to the Museum ★

so apologies for the absence of posts over the past couple of days, 

Friday i was out all day (testing out my new Rockalily lipstick) in town searching for presents for my mum's Birthday + meeting my Godmother for lunch

yesterday i met my best friend Courtney for lunch since it was her Birthday on Thursday and i wanted to hand over her Birthday presents

amongst them was this lovely little chocolate Owl . . . (which Courtney ate straight away!)

of course when i say we met for lunch what i mean is, 'we met for cakes at the Alpine'

although the main plan for the day was for us to go up to the Manx Museum for a few hours since we both love it so much

we've both been going to the Museum for as long as we can remember, growing up on the Isle of Man you end up visiting it loads for school trips but we've been coming here at the weekends since we were thirteen! and we've been popping back every now and then whenever we can for the past 7 years . . .

the museum is chock full of all manner of wonderful exhibits (all with a Manx theme of course) and despite how many years we've been coming here, i think we both always manage to learn something new during each visit . . .

and even if we don't always stop to read every tiny detail about each exhibition we still have a great time, it's a brilliant Museum and whenever i visit it, it always makes me feel proud to be Manx

one of my favourite parts of the Museum is the little Manx Folklore collection

which includes the origins of the famous Manx myths and legends all about Fairies, Fynoderees and Bugganes. the collection also includes this old handmade doll of 'Nan Wade' 

to be honest, the doll creeps us both out! that's why Courtney demanded that i take a photo of it to share with you all . . .

i love this little cross stitch piece that hangs above one of the Museum video spots, trust me to be more bothered about the sewing that the story being told! though i've seen the video so many times by now!

i also really love the little old fashioned 'sweet shop' reconstruction on display, the shop would have apparently sold pretty much everything, i kind of wish it still existed! i'd shop there . . .

now we almost always spot something new during our visits and this trip was no different, downstairs we found this lifesize cut out of Arthur Caley 'the Manx Giant'

now i remember seeing the bronze casts of Arthur's hands and boots on display in the museum but i've never seen the cutout before. by the way, Arthur Caley was a Manx man born in 1824, by the time he grew up he was 7ft 11ins tall and was the tallest man in the world (in his lifetime)

while we were down there we also snapped these gorgeous old Regency period dresses which remind us both of 'Pride and Prejudice'

and this beautiful blue dress

back upstairs we stopped by our favourite exhibit, a video all about the popularity of the Isle of Man as a tourist destination during the 20's and 30's

you have to sit and watch the video on old fashioned striped deckchairs which are sooooo comfy!

we also snapped a few of the old postcards on display, well i had to snap the Pinup one for sure!

as well as some of the naughty ones from the 70's

and the motorbikes in the TT display area

we ended our trip in the big Natural History room which is full of al sorts of fun interactive games and projections as well as all the old taxidermied animals and the massive Whale skeleton that hangs from the ceiling

there are loads of little games dotted about the room as well 

so after a quick game of Manx Nature and Wildlife themed Pinball . . .

we settled down to draw some animals with the help of the projectors (no-one said the drawing tables were just for children!!!)

basically you pick an animal or plant and then move a sheet of paper under the projection to draw the outline, like "Millicent" the Stoat (drawn by Courtney) 

Courtney also drew this Brown Rat to begin with, later named "Constance" (not 'Contance' as the paper says . . .)

then it was my turn . . .

now despite the look of concentration (and despite the fact i'm supposed to be an illustrator!) my drawing really wasn't the teeny tiniest bit remotely good whatsoever!

but "Esther" the pipistrelle bat rounded off our little sketched menagerie for the afternoon

at last it was time to leave, so after a quick skeet around the Gift Shop we signed the visitors book and after a quick flick through found some interesting names listed . . .

you probably won't be able to make it out without zooming but this one, dated from August 2009 shows my signature + my friend Mike's from an afternoon when we popped up to the museum to visit our friend Molly who was working in the cafe at the time

a few pages later we found Courtney's signature dated from September 2008

it was crazy to flick back through the pages and find our own signatures, 2008 seems so long ago now . . .

anyway i have rambled on enough!

apologies for the (finely documented if not completely historically accurate in places) account of my day out!

if it bored you, i promise to try and cook up and more interesting post for next time!

if you've never visited the Isle of Man but have become strangely intrigued by the Manx Museum after this highly frolic filled post then i recommend you watch this little 6 minute 'Story of Mann

just follow this link - Story of Mann

* * *

nothing more to add really, i woke up vaguely on time this morning to watch the Malaysian Grand Prix and since then i've spent the day sewing together 5 little plushie lollipops for an American customer

tomorrow i have to sew up a little Fawn for a local customer then i should really REALLY work on this tattoo commission!

enjoy the rest of your Sunday wherever you are in the world

that's all folks . . .

◕‿◕ ★ xX