New activity: TOILET SEAT MUSEUM

There are museums for just about everything but it’s doubtful whether you would think there would be one about toilets! So when we heard there was a Toilet Seat Art Museum nearby, we naturally had to check it out. (There was also once a museum in Madison, Wisconsin about toilet paper, but it’s now defunct. Shucks!) The Toilet Seat Art Museum showcases more than 1,300 toilet seats – all of which are the life’s work of Barney Smith.

Mr. Smith was a retired master plumber and an artist who loved finding discarded objects and mounting them on toilet seats. He started displaying his work in his garage in 1992 and the public loved him and his work. Some of the seats pay tribute to historical or news events, celebrities, geographical locations – whatever caught his interest. We were amazed at the variety of toilet seat art and so impressed by this man who was still doing what he loved at the age of 98. Barney was quoted as saying that he wanted to be remembered “for how a person could save a lot of stuff that is being destroyed and for showing them it needs to be saved – maybe not on a toilet seat, but they can save what has come their way instead of destroying it. Showing that it’s worth something.” What also was worth something was visiting this museum. Definitely something different and not likely to be forgotten.

New Restaurant: T-SWIRL CREPE

Continuing the week with something different, we went to a Japanese crepe restaurant that features both sweet and savory crepes. There are 44 locations across the United States but this was our first visit. Our friend Kathy joined us and we decided we would each have a savory crepe and then follow with a sweet one. We didn’t realize how filling the crepes would be so a sweet one will just have to wait for another visit. What makes this place special is that the crepes are made with 100% gluten-free rice flour batter and the ingredients are creatively arranged into the crispy crepe like an ice cream cone – typifying the gobble on the go trend. We can vouch for the tastiness of the Chicken Teriyaki, the Okinawa Hot Dog and the Thai Chicken crepe. Overall the food was quite good, but the new experience of eating a crepe this way with these flavors made it a delightful outing.