Returns

It's hard to believe tomorrow is the equinox and first the first day of autumn. Days with temps in the mid 80's don't feel much like sweater weather but that's okay, there are plenty of those days ahead! 

Spooky, on the other hand, is all year-round and it's easy to overlook the heat and humidity when the Halloween stuff hits the stores. Unfortunately, since some things have to be purchased online, mistakes happen. We all agreed, this door mat was not a keeper.

What was on the website did not match what I received.

Honestly, this was a nice design, just badly executed and the letters were barely there. Yes, it's a door mat but it shouldn't look dirty when it's brand new. Plus, I wasn't actually going to encourage His Madness wipe his feet on it! Fortunately, thanks to covid, we are now experienced at returns and have learned to incorporate this once annoying task into a fun afternoon exploring the local area. I wish I had realized how much easier it is to return bulky mistakes to a store rather than sending them back via UPS. Duh! So, since I bought it from Kohl's all we had to do was find the one that was close to a good restaurant and nearby something interesting we wanted to explore.  

When HM and I realized there was a Kohl's close to a botanical garden we hadn't visited in at least a decade, we decided to see what had become of it. As it turns out, the Scheig Center Gardens hadn't changed much although now it's surrounded by suburbs and urban sprawl with a Starbucks nearby.    

 Still, it seems miles away from the city. I wasn't expecting there to be much going on at this time of the year. Their website described the gardens as mostly native wildflowers and roses (and they mainly blossom in the spring) but it was covered in late summer plants in full bloom! The goldenrod and the cattails don't show up too well here but there was a lot of autumnal color out there.    

There's a large contemporary building in the center and the garden fans out from it. The plantings closest to it are fairly formal becoming more natural as they drift into the surrounding meadows. It all looked like it just happened that way but it definitely took some careful planning. 

Although it is part of the City Parks and Recreation Dept. most of the grunt work is done by local volunteers and gardening organizations. I have a love/hate relationship with garden clubs. That said, in this case, I think it would be way more fun to have your efforts contribute to a whole garden, as opposed to just tending a bed sporting a sign with your club's name.   

 

The trees were still green or just beginning to turn color but a lot of the shrubs were in their full autumnal glory. I now have a long list of things I want to plant in the spring.

It's was a beautiful place to take a walk and get ideas for next year.

 We shouldn't wait ten years before we visit again.

After walking around the gardens we drove four miles to the east to the village of Little Chute. They have an authentic windmill that can actually grind wheat into flour. It was built in the Netherlands and reassembled in the town park in 2015. In addition to producing some very expensive flour it also houses genealogical information and historical archives of the Dutch settlers in the area. It wasn't in working order on the day we visited but we did get a tour, took a look at their museum and had a great time picking out cookies (made in Holland) from the gift shop. 

Kibitz thinks all museums should sell cookies in their gift shop.  

Burt and Ivy agreed but wish he had left a few more of the chocolate ones. There's still plenty left and that should give them the energy they need to find another spooky door mat!       

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!