For the last several months I have been working on a picture book about Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. It's required lots and lots of reading and research and now I'm a babbling fountain of disjointed trivia on the two great inventors.
An interesting thing happened. I remembered 7 years ago when we went to The Henry Ford Museum in Michigan. I was mesmerized by Thomas' Menlo Park Laboratory. Not just 'gee I liked that', but obsessively not leaving and sending my family on their way without me. I was transfixed by the chaotic order of everything. The patinaed wood and steel juxtaposed against Victorian scrolled ironwork.
Brass and iron and fluorescent concoctions.
Blown glass test tubes and things under domes.
Crazy curly wires coming down from the ceiling... it was staggering.
Look at those amazing apothecary jars, lined up like characters, all different shapes and colors!
And so I've gotten to revisit these pictures, and the memories of that wonderful day. A long time ago, yet tied to my present.
Funny how inspiration finds us, follows us, and stays with us?
What a fascinating space......no wonder it stayed with you, funny how it only takes the tiniest spark or a long forgotten memory to inspire. xxxx
ReplyDelete