Close to the Twin Cities of St. Paul/Minneapolis is a much less busy and probably more “artsy” city called Stillwater. Downtown Stillwater sits along the St. Croix River where riverboats are lined while the city is amassed with antiques, crafts, restaurants and art galleries.

It was at one of the galleries that I saw some fabulous watercolors of birds painted by Kit Shoop who turned out to have a studio/gallery of her own. A quick phone call and directions led me just off a main highway to this darling old building that sat on her property. It was easy to see where she got some of her inspiration viewing several types of bird feeders surrounding her home. Kit’s “thing” centers on painting Miniatures of nature. I shared that I wished that I were able to paint and hinted if I could possibly get a lesson. It was a cardinal that she outlined for me.

You may as well keep arts and crafts in the family as I was introduced to her husband, Wally, owner of Shoop’s American Bronze Casting, whose forte is eagles and other wildlife. Wally showed me one of the eagles. I inquired about the bronze making and was offered a tour of the facilities just over the river in Osceola, Wisconsin.

A drawing turns into the creation of a core of a mold of clay, roughly in the shape of the subject to be sculpted. The core is covered with wax, which is sculpted to the finished form. When the wax hardens the subject is covered with clay, fired and hardened, the melted wax replaced with molten bronze. After the bronze cools and hardens the clay is removed from the inside and outside, the remaining bronze cleaned and polished. Did I get a lesson? Read up on future articles. In the meantime you can view both Wally’s and Kit’s creations on www.bronzes.com.

Back to downtown Stillwater where I had lunch at Savories European Bistro, a proud restaurant owned by Kristen and Jeff Klemetsrud located at 108 N. Main Street (www.savoriesbistro.com) The draw was hearing that everything is made from scratch (I would love to own shares in “scratch”) as well as the breads and pastries made on the premises.

I began with a specialty soda “Italienne” Cremosa, a blend of mineral water, syrup (I chose a combo of cherry and almond) and cream. Much lunch munch selections. It was a choice between the Sesame Tempura “Po Boy” of crispy tempura shrimp joining batter fried scallions and crunchy two cabbage slaw on their hoagie bun with ginger sesame mayonnaise OR the Ahi Tuna “Marseillaise” with Sundried Tomato Chevre Crouton. The salad of greens dressed in sundried tomato vinaigrette is topped with grilled tuna in tomato olive tapenade, Italian tomato and pinenut caponata and a large creamy chevre crouton. I chose the latter.

Off to Musicmakers, located at 14525 N. 61st Street Ct., where you can buy kits to make stringed instruments. The kits include precut wood parts, complete assembly instructions, hardware and strings. You provide your own woodworking glue, hand tools, sandpaper and finish. Yes, you too can create a harp, banjo, bass, guitar, dulcimer, kalimba, mandolin, ukulele, or even (my choice) a bowed psaltery, a 32-stringed instrument that is played using a violin bow. Each string is a different note, played separately, with all the natural notes on the right side and the sharps/flats along the left. You can purchase this, as with most of the instruments, totally unassembled, partially assembled or even finished. I will be working on a partially assembled one.

Here’s a great idea for family projects - cardboard instrument kits. Included is a cardboard “body” of either a rock guitar, folk guitar, dulcimer, mandolin or ukulele, which is what actually resonates the sound. With it comes a precut four-string fingerboard of wood indicating the frets. So what you’re doing is assembling and personalizing the body, knocking in the pins and stringing the fingerboard, then gluing it to the cardboard. The kit, which takes about three to four hours to assemble, includes a songbook and instructions for playing and selling for about $35. Ask for their free DVD presentation by calling 800-432-5487 or visit www.harpkit.com

History makes its bed at the Lowell Inn, a 22-room hotel, three blocks from the St. Croix River, with comfortably decorating rooms and even better choices of dining. There is the Swiss style Matterhorn Room featuring Swiss Fondue and Game Platters, the elegant and colonial George Washington Room of an American style menu (where I dined) and the Garden Room with its spring-fed trout pool that is basically set for private parties.

The Cream of mushroom soup is a house tradition. An “appetizer” portion of Beef Wellington, stuffed with wild mushrooms and served with asparagus can be a perfect sized entrée, giving you the opportunity to sample a salad and dessert allowing the beef to be stuffed and not you. Me? I had an entrée of Duck a la Orange.