A Night at the Museum (81/365)

One of my childhood classmates/neighbours/friends, the talented Ms. Helen Gregory, launched her art exhibit, Unrequited Death, at the Canadian Museum of Science and Nature in Ottawa today. I was honoured to receive an invitation to the opening and planned for Petite and I to attend. Although I knew that we wouldn't stay long, given Petite's lack of patience for all things adult (and knowing the museum would be closed during the exhibition), I was eager to attend.

Helen was always so very gifted with her art. I admired her work even as a child and I knew she would do something great with it. Voilà, the proof.

I found her work absolutely stunning and so very romantically beautiful. I'd read on Facebook all summer about "The Squid" and how it was giving her grief. We all rejoiced when she announced that it was finally complete! I was happy to be able to see it firsthand.

Of course, Petite just wanted to play.



Another of our childhood classmates, Fiona, was there, and her friend in turn is married to a gentleman who works at the Museum. He sets up exhibits. Seeing how restless Petite was, his wife leaned down and whispered to Petite, "Do you like dinosaurs?" Petite nodded eagerly. "Then let's see if we can go find some dinosaurs!"

Mind you, the Museum was closed to the public, but of course, there was no trouble getting the key. After saying our goodbyes, Petite and I were ushered down to the first floor where the door was unlocked and we were given a private tour of the dinosaur area. She had never seen them before, so she was a bit intimidated by their size... and the belief that they were real. When we showed her that it was okay, they weren't real and they wouldn't bite her, she relaxed somewhat.

Here, she was taken by the "baby" dinosaur on the right, near its mother.



"Oooh" she repeated, over and over in awe.


Her most wonderful moment? "Mommy, I touched dino poop!" accompanied by a giggle!



What a wonderful opportunity! I plan to take her back to see the rest of the Museum when the opportunity arises. And congratulations to Helen on a marvelous exhibition!

*Apologies for the tardiness; my family was visiting and things were rather busy. I took these photos during their visit here, however, I'm only finding time to upload them now... a week late.