Girls of the Limberlost

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny, warm, autumn day, so we girls went on an adventure. We drove down about an hour south to Geneva, the setting of the Limberlost, and the inspiration for the book, Freckles,  that I just finished reading. This was an adventure, because it was one of my spontaneous romantic ideas that had no real guarentee of being exciting or interesting. Fortunately, the other girls - the two Hannahs and a Kelsey - didn't mind taking the risk. And fortunately, it turned out to be a marvelous adventure!

First stop was the historic home of the author, Gene Stratton-Porter. It was gorgeous and elegant, and full of natural specimens of butterflys and stuffed birds, and photos and paintings made by the author.

I got tons of ideas for my own "House of Dreams," one of them being this garden gazebo attached to the side of the house, accessed by a private door from the daughter's bedroom.

The trees were perfect... I love this golden one in the front lawn.

 Second stop was the bird sanctuary, which was basically a wooded and marshy trail...

... that got more wooded and more marshy and more buggy...

...until we were forced to turn back, because going further would mean certain peril by either mud bog or mosquito. This was the moment we realized what sissy city girls we really are.

Last stop was the Loblolly Marsh, which was a huge open field/marsh of lovely wild flowers.

There were butterflies everywhere! And the grasshoppers on the path that sprang out of the way as we moved looked a lot like fairies... so magical!

In conclusion, we all decided it is the perfect place for pictures, and we can't wait to read more books from the Limberlost...