My 19-year-old son and I spent time in Midland, Michigan, beginning at the Alden B. Dow Home and Studio. We toured the indoors as well, but no photos are allowed there.

Here’s a better view of how the conference room juts out into the water. The floor is 18 inches below water level. A spillway keeps the room from flooding, even in 1986, the “100-year” flood.

Visitors can walk the pond pathway.

My son surrounded by unit blocks, one of Dow’s pet projects. The construction is very cool, but unfortunately was not cost-effective enough to do more than 13 buildings, eight of which are in Midland.

This is the underside of the conference room roof. I doubt there’s an unattractive angle anywhere public on the property.

We started at Dow Gardens, where we saw outdoor sculpture and this injured butterfly. We also went later to Whiting Forest, a very cool refuge within the city.

We moved on to the Midland Center for the Arts because I wanted to see the Greater Michigan Art Exhibition. This wooden bowl by Lon Baker looks like a basket but is perfectly smooth.

Another perfectly smooth wooden bowl.

I don’t like most clowns, but I was drawn to this one. There’s an eyeball in the glass.

This was one of my son’s favorites. This quilt is like those pictures made of lots of tiny pictures … but pieced and quilted. Here it is from far back …

… and close up, the hairs at the nape of the neck.

This was one of my favorites, not the subject matter so much as the technique. From the front …

… and from the side.