Forest giants!

Monday
After quite a chilly start, the day promised to be beautiful, reaching a high of 64 F (18C), the best of the week, so we decided to make the most of it and drive down to Bernheim forest and Arboretum in Kentucky, near Louisville, about a 2 hour drive. I have been wanting to go for a while, particularly to see the Forest Giants, but there is also plenty of hiking there too. We were on the road just after 9 am. The “Giants” are a trio of 3 giant wooden trolls, placed in different locations, designed and built by Danish artist Thomas Dambo to celebrate the Arboretum’s 90th birthday in 2019. There is Mama Loumari, top left, who is pregnant with her third child, and her two children, Little Nis, staring at his reflection (bottom left and top right) and his sister Little Elina, lower centre and right. Dambo has designed and built many of these trolls - there is another group in Morton Arboretum in Chicago, one in Colorado, a group in Belgium, and of course a number of ones in Denmark. There was an employee working on the Mama Loumari sculpture when we passed, and he chatted with us for a while, about the artist and the story of the trolls. Having seen the trolls, we continued the trail around Lake Nevis, then made our way back to the car, and had a snack, then continued further into the forest, and did part of one of the forest trails. We would have gone further, but I needed be back home by 7pm for our Zoom Book Club. This last month we had been reading The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by British writer, Phaedra Patrick, which traces the story of 69 year old Arthur Pepper, who is mourning his dead wife and leading a very mundane and isolated existence. When he starts sorting out his late wife’s belongings, on the first anniversary of her death, he comes across a charm bracelet, that he doesn’t recall seeing before, and which will take him on a journey across the globe, discovering things about his wife’s life before she met him, that he never knew, ultimately leading him to healing and a new outlook on life. It was an easy and enjoyable read,, yet at the same time causing you to think about loss and mourning, friendship, memories and change.
I have added a second collage in extras of other sights from the Arboretum.
Step count: 15,710