Today is the official anniversary but Dennis and I celebrated yesterday. We started with the Springfield Art Museum. They have an exhibit of all 41 etchings of The Inferno of Dante by Michael Mazur. Each etching was paired with the corresponding verses that inspired the etch. Very dark. Fortunately these etchings were balanced by a Kewpie exhibit, with 15 hand colored pages of Rose O’Neill’s comics. The comics were for magazines in the 1930’s and showed the Kewpie s intervening to help out children in unfortunate situations. O’Neill used clever rhyming commentary with the drawings. I was impressed.
Afterwards we grabbed a burger and fries at Red’s Giant Hamburg. It’s supposed to have been the first drive through and was located on Route 66. the original building and sign are gone but the family and friends have recreated it with much of the original kitchen and claim they also have the original recipes. The food is great and it’s still a popular spot.
We spent the afternoon walking around the botanical gardens. It’s not the best time of year but the roses were still blooming and the hosta area is still nice. Many of the other flower beds have already been cut back and mulched.
Meanwhile Khloe celebrated her 9th birthday on Thursday. She continues to act like a puppy
A Different Route 
Happy day!