A Home Run of a Museum!

Today is National Museum Day.  Betcha didn't know that!  ;-)

No, we didn't go to a museum today but we did a couple weeks ago while we were in Louisville.

Yes... we went to the Louisville Slugger Musuem!

The iconic "Big Bat" is 120 feet long and weighs 68,000 pounds.  It is hollow and could hold 30,000 gallons of water.  It was built locally by a tank company and is made of carbon steel.  Big Bat is a replica of Babe Ruth's bat.  The signiture is that of Bud Hillerich - who made the first Louisville Slugger bat in 1884.

Just in case you don't know where you are!

Loved it that there is a female batter on the building!

As soon as we bought our tickets, we zipped in to catch the next factory tour.

This room is a mock-up of a factory area.  You are not allowed to take photos inside the factory.

A few bat facts.

OK, as we left I noticed there were windows directly into the factory.

Not covered... there for anyone walking by to look through.  Including people who had not paid good money to go inside and be told not to take photos...

So I took photos!

This area is where they burn in the Louisville Slugger logos (the yellow framed area on the left).  The place next to it is a basket where the 'tabs' from the lathe held the bats for cutting are dropped when cut off.

This is an order of bats... loaded and waiting on fabulous wheeled carts.

After the factory tour we headed into the museum.

Look at all those bats!

The displays were very interesting.  This one held bats belonging to different major league players.

There were many informational displays.

Have you ever seen the movie "Field of Dreams"?  

If so, you know the name "Shoeless Joe".

And do you remember what the character of Shoeless Joe said about Ty Cobb in the movie?

~smile~

Then another nod to a baseball movie, "A League of Their Own".

"There's no crying in baseball!"

In this area, you can stand behind "the catcher" (and behind a fence) as a baseball is fired off at you at 90 MPH.  It gets to the catcher in the blink of an eye.

Have you ever wondered just how they get bats from the trees?

This is it!

Sure didn't know they did all that to a bat!

This was really interesting!

A braille signed bat!

There were several displays dedicated to my childhood hero Johnny Bench.

I would have been over the moon doing this as a child!

Here's one for the home team...the St. Louis Cardinals.

Big J... if you ever visit, you need to do this! 

Is this not the coolest bench!  It's carved from Kentucky limstone and at 12 feet long, 9 feet wide and 4 feet high, it weighs 34,000 pounds.

Not only can you buy your very own Louisville Slugger here... you can have it personalized too.

Going to cost you though...

There was another display at the museum that was oh-so baseball...

Topps baseball cards!

Ever wonder how they got started?

Ahhhh... a very good year!  For me and Willie!!

Not all the cards put out by Topps were about baseball.  They have a very popular line featuring TV and movie stars.

Isn't that old TV fabulous?

Were you a Lost in Space fan?

Or was Star Trek your cup of tea?

That really is one of the bull whips Harrison Ford used.

Even something for Little Bird!

And for her Auntie too!

However, I think THIS baseball card will be my all time favorite!

Improv Challenge: Cilantro Avocado Pasta Salad Recipe

At the intersection of "need to figure out a recipe for a challenge" and "what I am going to take to the potluck"... a new pasta salad was born!

My recipe challenge was to use cilantro and lime.

My potluck 'challenge' was what was I going to take this time?  (with the added stipulation that I was feeling really lazy...).

Sounds like pasta salad to me!  You too?

My trick of the trade it to use an interesting salad dressing when I'm in a hurry or lazy.  So a trip to 'Big Box' was in order.  There are so many specialty dressings available that it is fun just to look.  And in looking I spied "Cilantro Avocado" dressing in the produce section.

From there, it was just picking out what sounded good to go with it!

Cilantro Avocado Pasta Salad

1 - 12oz. box of Fusilli (spiral) pasta (I used the tri-color)

Avocado type salad dressing (I used Bolthouse Farms Cilantro Avocado dressing)

Approx 1 and a half cups chopped tomato

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh green bell pepper

1/4 to 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped finely (depending on your taste for cilantro)

1 lime

1/4 cup pine nuts

2 cups fresh mozzarella cut into cubes

Cook box of pasta according to package directions for 'al dente'.  Drain and rinse in cold water to stop cooking.  Spread on dish towel to dry.  Once dry, place in large mixing bowl and squeeze the juice of one lime into pasta.  Stir gently.

Add salad dressing to the pasta, however much you like for the consistency.  Some people like a very moist pasta salad, some less so.  Stir gently.

Add in the other ingredients and again stir gently.  (You don't want to break up your pasta).

Decide if you want more dressing, if so add it now.

Scoop the pasta salad into your serving bowl.  Zest the leftover lime rind onto the top of the salad.

Enjoy room temperature or cold.

http://www.abowlfulloflemons.net/2015/05/one-project-at-a-time-52615.html

An InLinkz Link-up

I Have The Hat...

... I just need to get to the Derby!

Besides all the hats to try on that I wrote about in yesterday's post, there was also a challenge for the day.  A challenge to decorate our own Derby hats.  

I found out late about the challenge so I didn't have time to pull out all of the stops and actually MAKE the hat to decorate.  

So I grabbed a rather plain hat I already owned.  I had always planned on blinging it up a bit, now was the perfect time.

I had this feather pick I wanted to use...

...and a trip to Goodwill gave me this beautiful tie that worked perfectly with the colors in the feathers.   And since it was a Derby hat, there had to be a horse and some roses!  (The horse is a silver pendant I bought in Mexico).

After some clipping, sewing, gluing and a few burns, I was satisfied with the results.

My very own Derby hat!

There's Something About a Hat...

There's something about a hat... especially a Kentucky Derby Hat!

At the Kentucky Derby seminar I attended in April, one of the guest speakers was a woman from near Louisville who designs hats for the Derby.

And she brought hats!  Very fun hats!

Each design shown and discussed.

After that... it was time to play!

And then the magic starting happening.

As she fitted a hat on each lady, a change happened.  

Eyes started lighting up and smiles appeared.

Then delight would break out all over the place!

Years slipped away.

There was soon a silly flirtatious mood in the room.

"Stuff" was strutted!

Why?

Because they felt young and beautiful again.

And they were.  They definitely were.

http://cornerstoneconfessions.com/2015/05/titus-2-tuesday-157.html