Wonderful Wheels

I'm coming up on a year with the Malibu and I must say I have enjoyed having this car. I tolerate so much which, in reality, I shouldn't. One of those things was the deterioration, all around me, of the Jeep. I adored my Jeep; I really did. There is something deeply fun about driving a Jeep Wrangler; going pretty much anywhere and knowing you're reasonably safe to progress through bad weather. They also wear like cast iron, although, as they age, you need money to keep them afloat.

There was one thing I never did with the Jeep.

I never took it through a car wash. This was because it had a soft top and, when I first got it, car washes had not adopted  "touchless" technology. Those bristle things which descended from the ceiling and popped out from the sides, were designed to remove the grime in minimal passes. But with a soft top, they would shred the canvas fabric.

Even when washes went to those heavy canvas octopus-like brushes which seemed to slap the dirt off, I wasn't persuaded they wouldn't harm the top. So, I never went, even when washes went touchless, with high-powered soap and water dispensers, and heat blowers which would remove the feathers from a turkey. I always washed the Jeep by hand.

Now, the benefits of having someone else clean the grime off the Malibu are abundant. I can do a good job hand washing my car, but, invariably, I miss a spot and it mocks me until I can wash it. Touchless washes don't miss anything. Plus, getting the areas down by the door involve a level of bending which is uncomfortable now, with my RA. Let someone else clean the wheel wells.

Another thing I'm enjoying about the Malibu is the temperature display.

On Tuesday, I left the office, got into the car and viola, I know the air temperature around the Malibu. I also noticed I had rolled over a magic number when I pulled into the office. I didn't notice this until I was to go home. This is fortuitous. I can see exactly how many miles it is from the office to home.

When I got home, the temperature had dropped and it's 12 miles from my house to the office. It takes me from 20-30 minutes, depending upon traffic, to traverse those miles. Right now, there is road destruction in a number of locations so, even if I plan to get to the office early, I can be on-time or late, if the destruction is in my lanes. I know it will be very nice when they get it done. It's just enduring that time until it is done.

I've spent a lot of time in my car in the past 3.5 months. We've been slammed with work which has meant a great many day trips. I was coming back from Dubuque, Iowa, after one project and thought just how nice it was to put on cruise control and just drive, knowing my car is in excellent repair, even if it is 5 years old, and I have nothing to worry about. It makes driving 300 miles a joy, rather than a chore.

Beverage:  Earl Grey Tea

Deb

A Promise of Better Things

I have been noticeably absent this space since early April. It's been a combination of things. I have not felt well. The warm spring days were followed by chilly and damp days. I don't do chilly and damp very well anymore. It settled into my joints and I found myself aching much more than usual. My rheumatologist agreed that this spring has been hard on people with joint problems.

Then, our work load quadrupled, which sounds like an exaggeration, but is not. I found myself doing day trips two, three and four days out of a week. I appreciate that fate or God or karma decided last year I needed a newer car because the drives to all these places was ever so much nicer when it was done in a car with adequate heat and windshield wipers, as well as cruise control and the ability to sip, not guzzle, gas.

This became something of a bad circle. I ached because of the wild swings in weather. I ached because of all the driving and walking. I couldn't get comfortable at night to fall asleep and stay asleep because I ached, which made me tired. Weekends have been something of a fog. I didn't have the stamina to complete a project so my house is littered with unfinished things. This made me sad and, let's face it, depressed, which contributes to the uneven sleeping. Everything accumulated making writing a chore. I just felt overwhelmed and unable to put thoughts to paper.

That being said, I've been working on a short story based on a writing prompt a friend gave me. She "double-dip dared" me to write a story around a silly Internet photo; a photo I had made an off-hand comment about. I know how the story ends. I just have to write the lines to that point. Now that the weather has moderated, it's inspiring to sit outside with my pen and write. I bought a journal to use for book quotes, but picked it up to use to tell this tale. It's probably a pedantic sort of tale, but I haven't done anything like this in years so it feels fresh and exciting.

I probably have 8 more hours of writing left to do. In true "Sagittarius mode", however, there are more shinies calling for my attention. That's what can overwhelm me and leave me feeling depressed. I love having projects to do, but completing them has always been a problem. The simple act of setting up the project is exhilarating to me. What do I want to do and what supplies will I need to accomplish this? But I get into the thing and have to set it aside because something else crops up, like the need to have clean underwear, and then I lose the drive to finish. It was extremely acute during April and, now, May. Then, I feel like I can't do anything and you see where this track goes. I'm ever so good at beating myself up.

The weather seems to have moderated now. I had a doctor visit last week where I poured out my frustrations and my rheumatologist was so understanding. She reminded me that living with RA means doing small tasks. "Just finish one thing and celebrate that; dishes, a load of laundry, pick up the living room so you don't see lots of piles." I got the oil changed and tires rotated. I spent 3 hours writing on the story; advancing the plot by leaps and bounds. I did a load of laundry and swept half of the floors. Just those things made me feel as if I could accomplish more.

Memorial Day weekend was a series of small victories which I'll detail below. Each step leads to another step which leads to a feeling of accomplishment. The business of business is still astonishingly hectic, but it appears, like the Tetris game, things are falling into place so I am not quite so overwhelmed. I still have to travel, but it's not in a rushing sort of way.

And then, as if to rubber stamp my sense of worth, I managed, for the first time in 3 months, to carve out time to go to cross-stitch club at the Wheaton Public Library. I haven't felt any inclination to do any stitching on the project since January because I've been coming back from somewhere on the day of the club. I stepped out of the house and headed to the car. There was a small rain shower going on. It wasn't much; more like the last bit of water was being shaken from the watering can. I got to the car and turned to slide in and saw this.

I do not remember when the last time was I saw a rainbow this brilliant. Look at the colors. You can see all of them; red, orange, yellow, green, indigo and violet. Excited, I quickly drove to the end of the drive, got out and aimed my ancient cell phone skyward.

Yes, please. I'll have a double helping of rainbow.

If you've followed me for some time you know I'm not a very God-y person anymore. I believe in an almighty, but I don't feel he pays too much attention to me; checking in on occasion, to see that I'm still hanging in there. Sometimes, he takes pity on me and things align, but most of the time, he smiles and moves on to someone with way more cares than I have. I don't want to make too much of a scientific occurrence, but I think this was nature's, karma's, "God's" way of telling me the storm has passed and, while things won't be smooth sailing, because, after all, it is raining, it won't be quite as bad as it has been these past 2 months. I've come through a choppy time and now there will be quieter seas ahead.

(On a strictly scientific note, I was quite surprised the rainbow was so vivid. We didn't get enough rain to wet the deck all over. It really was simply a sprinkle. Yet look at the colors, how clear and dramatic they are. Everything was at the right juncture to create this scene. Science is fascinating.)

So, dear reader, if you've progressed to the bottom of this post, I can't promise I will be as dedicated to this space as I was at the beginning of the year, but I have hundreds of photos I should blog about. It appears life is on the upswing. Things are, indeed, better. I have a double rainbow to prove it.

Beverage:  Earl Grey tea

Deb

Things I See, part two.

There is a sign on the northwest side of Chicago, near Albany Park.

I seem to remember a billboard campaign utilizing this opening line from Ayn Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged. I have never read that particular book. Rand doesn't interest me. But this tattered billboard has me trying to remember the ad campaign.

It may also have been a reaction by someone with a political motive. Atlas Shrugged has been co-opted by a number of people and used as an example of anti-government writings. Protests against banking institutions; the Tea Party; and Congressman Ron Paul; have all used this phrase, or referenced it.

In my travels, I've seen a lot of vacant billboards along the highway. The churn rate for advertising along Interstates must be rather large. This area of Chicago, while slightly busy in the morning and at night, is not the place urging the protest of government would be effective. It's incredibly easy to miss seeing this. The other billboard you see just off center, also says, "Who is John Galt?" but because that billboard faces the sun, it's very weathered. I wonder who is paying for these or if that detail has been lost to the winds.

Who is John Galt indeed?

Beverage:  Orange Juice

Deb

How Was Your Summer, Part 6

I might have had a lot on my mind at the end of June, beginning of July. But helping Becky find a forever home for the waif in the bathroom was never far away. I posted and reposted the photos. I sent inquiries to no-kill shelters in the east and southeast Virginia area. All were full of kittens. They empathized, but no one was willing to take a kitten. Then a co-worker of Becky's came forward.

She would provide the kitten with a home. Her son had seen the photos and was in love. They would come get the girl the week before I was slated to come to Virginia on vacation. I was thrilled. Then it all fell apart.

I'm not privy to why it fell apart; it just did. We were back to square one. Becky was devastated. "I don't know what to do. It can't live in my bathroom. At some point, Zia (one of her dogs), is going to figure out how to get the door open and I fear Zia will kill her. And there's the whole allergy thing." I looked around my house. I have two girls I adore. Was my house and my heart and life big enough for a kitten? I decided it was and I offered to take the kitten if no one came forward.

Becky pushed everyone at the hospital where she worked. She showed countless people the photos. No one wanted her. So, the day after I arrived, she and Jon came to Carole and Larry's to play games and to bring this little gal, who I was taking home with me. I couldn't come up with a girl's name. I struggled and struggled. I always told myself that if I ever got to name a female cat again, she would be called "Rosalind", after the main character in Shakespeare's As You Like It, one of my favorite plays. But, as I drove east, it just didn't sit right. I finally settled on "Esme", for "Esme Weatherwax", a character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I don't really like Esme, but nothing seemed quite right.

"The naming of cats is a difficult matter. It isn't just one of your holiday games." --T.S. Eliot; Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. 

We put the kitten in my bedroom with food, water and her litter box. The bedroom was about twice the size of the bathroom, plus, there were windows she could look out. She warmed up to me almost instantly and spent half of the night sleeping either on or next to me. We let her come out of the room, supervised, the next day. Carole's cats were unimpressed, except for Jacen and Jaina. Jaina was upset and hissed, growled and spit at the kitten when it came out of the room. Jacen, on the other hand, was really excited to meet Esme and the two of them chased each other, tumbling around on the carpet under the bed. Becky had done a very good job of socialization. There was one problem. This was not a girl. This was a boy.

We had a huge laugh. In Becky's defense, she'd never cared for kittens so had no idea what to look for, shall we say. Well, that changes the naming convention, doesn't it. Esme Weatherwax went right out the window. Immediately, I knew what his name would be, "Hamlet". I don't know why; I just knew. My first cat had been named "Shakespeare". This felt right.

On Monday, July 18th, I left Virginia at 5 in the morning with a kitten under the passenger seat of the car. That's where he stayed the entire trip home, coming out only to use the litter box and to have food and water. When I stopped for food myself, I would check on him. He was quite the trooper. The next day, he went to the vet.

Becky had mentioned she supplemented the wet and dry food with milk supplement for kittens for the first couple of weeks he lived with her. My vet was impressed. He seemed healthy. She felt he was around 4 months old which would be consistent with his size and needing milk supplement when Becky found him. We drew blood to check for feline leukemia. He had ear mites, which was to be expected and he also had fleas. I wound up having to treat everyone for fleas from July through last month. But other than those issues, he's a healthy kitten.

He spent the rest of July and most of August living in the office. I would go in and play with him but contact with the girls was minimal. I would put him in my bedroom and leave the door open so the girls could go into that room and smell his scent. After being in the office for a month, I let him out when I was home. Over Labor Day, I let him out at night, too. No one was allowed into the basement through the month of September, something Pilchard was not pleased with. My rationale was that he needed to learn his name and to come when I called. There are so many hiding places in the basement. One step at a time. He was spayed in September, getting the rest of his shots at that time, too.

There was a lot of hissing, yowling and growling. I opened the basement up in mid-October and allowed Hamlet to go outside during the end of October, when we had some wonderfully warm afternoons and weekends.

But have I made the right decision? Mija and Pilchard are not happy.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

How Was Your Summer, Part 4

So, I'm home, going on 6 months now, with a new-to-me car. Yes, it's 5 years old, but it was not driven very much and was well-maintained. These two things made the price more, but also contributed to the attractiveness of the vehicle.

I got asked, quite a bit, that first week, what was the difference between the Jeep and the Malibu.

1. The Malibu runs. I did have to put new tires on it because it sat on the lot for some months and the tires exhibited dry rot. I could see that. But, my mechanic gave it a 100% and said I'd done very well. 
2. Air conditioning. Gone are the days of taking off the windows and driving 65 just for a breeze. 
3. Cruise control. The first big thing I did was to drive to Virginia to see Larry and Carole. I will have issues on these long trips with my calves tightening. With cruise control, I could stretch out my legs and not lose travel time. 
   
4. Gas mileage. On a good day; open road driving; I could get 16, maybe 17 miles per gallon in the Jeep. My last trip to Virginia gave me an average of 38 mpg. When you are trying to make every penny count, not needing to fill up the tank as often is a blessing. 
5. Comfort. The seats are cloth and are very comfortable. I can move them forward and backward and up and down. 
6. A radio and CD player that work all the time. I was having issues with the CD player portion of the Jeep's radio. The Malibu has the ability to get Sirius XM radio. Thanks to my insurance, I can get 3 years of basic On*Star services free. When I called to sign up, I was given the full package free for 3 months to try it. That comes with a free 3 month subscription to Sirius XM. I may renew On*Star but I won't be renewing Sirius. The have exactly 4 jazz stations; something called "breakfast jazz", which is what I call "smooth jazz" and which I would never listen to; 1940's radio; All Sinatra; and a "miscellaneous" channel which is just awful. Sirius is for sports and current music lovers. It is not for me. 
7. Defrosters which work incredibly well. At our first frost in November, I didn't scrape. I came out early, started the car and cranked on the defrosters to see how fast they would work. 5 minutes and I could drive out the drive with adequate view. 8 minutes and 90% of the windshield was clear. The rear window defrosters get it clear in 3 minutes. 
   
8. Windshield wipers which work reliably. 
9. Adjustable side mirrors, door locks and the ability to roll down windows, all from the driver's side. 
10. An instrument console with so much information at my fingertips. I see air temperature; here 100 degrees. I see tire pressure and oil life. I see gas mileage and average speed for the current tank of gas. And I have an extremely reliable gas distance meter. I know how far I can go with what's in the tank. This was good on the trips to Virginia. Oh, I should get gas now because there aren't stations between here and when I'd be running on fumes. 
    
11. Multi-faceted interior lights that work, front and back. 
12. Cup holders everywhere. I keep bottled water in the car and there are several places to actually put a bottle of water so it's not rolling around. 
13. A trunk. This is the biggest thing I've had to get used to. I do not have to stick the groceries in the front seat. I can put them in the trunk. 
    

I lost one of my bumper stickers.

This had been on the Jeep for a very, very long time. I removed it and it just crumbled. One of the problems of the Malibu is that the bumpers are heavy gauge plastic. I don't want to adhere stickers to the bumper and not be able to change my sentiments. My bumper stickers were on these magnetized strips which I would remove and replace, sticking the old ones on the side of the fridge. On the way to Virginia, the only sticker I had was an Iowa Hawkeyes sticker on a magnet, stuck to the trunk.

I had been given a minion decal a couple years ago but really didn't want to put it on the Jeep. It was perfect on the Malibu.

Then, probably when I stopped for a potty break in Indiana, someone peeled off the minion decal and swiped the Hawkeye bumper sticker. I didn't notice until the day after Thanksgiving when I was outside at Carole's helping with Christmas lights.

Seriously. Who does stuff like this? I was really angry. Nothing I can do about it, however. Ironically, I put the bumper sticker on the car at the beginning of football season. It had lasted through a number of trips into Chicago where you'd think sticky fingers would abound. It took a rest stop in Indiana to have it stolen. I replaced the minion decal with a decal supporting Ocearch a non-profit which does research into sharks off the east coast.

I also added, in the rear window, a Cubs decal.

That will be its own post. Unfortunately, it popped off with the first snow so I have to figure out how to attach it to the window so it stays. The sticky side is on the back side of the decal. If I stick it to the inside of the window, the decal will be backwards. Right now, it's stuck to the side of the fridge where I won't lose it.

Carole and Larry gave me new floor mats.

They are doing their job because the back yard, thanks to an abundance of rain, is a swamp and extremely muddy. I will need to hose these off once the air temperature gets and stays, above 60.

Larry also helped me put Jack Skellington back on the car. The Malibu does not have an antenna. What's there is compact and the antenna topper I bought in 2015, was not going to work. I hit upon the idea of attaching the topper to one of those 3M easy hang picture hangers. They had one with a metal hook, just the right size for the topper. But the adhesive on the hanger would not stick to the plastic of the dash where I wanted to put it.

I tried Elmer's glue, but, when it got hot inside the car, the glue melted and popped off. Larry had a tube of brand new super glue. If I feel I'm going to be anywhere the topper could attract unwanted attention, I can pop it off the hanger and stick it in the center storage well.

It took until mid-September to get the license plates all squared away. It took a bit for the DMV to understand I wanted to transfer the title and get completely new plates, but with my personalization. It was expensive, another cost I had not factored in when I bought the car.

I was so excited when they finally came.

So, it's all mine. Everything has sorted itself out. I've gone to Virginia twice in it and the trips have been comfortable. I see Jeeps on the road and it's hard to remember what it was like to drive the Jeep, although I loved that car. It was time to move on.

Beverage:  Belhaven Oatmeal Stout

Deb

Life

I used to be so good about blogging. I used to be so good about reflection and the observational life. I write. I read. Observation goes with those.

I used to have more than enough material for daily posts. For 3 years, there was more than a post a day. Now, I can barely get a post a month. You can be forgiven for feeling that I'm never around. It is the truth. I'm not around.

What happened?

Life.

In February of 2013, my office won a very large job, part of the largest road construction project in Illinois, the rebuilding of the circle interchange in Chicago, where Interstate 290 meets Interstates 90 and 94. It was complicated, but it got us into several other projects and work has never ceased. If we aren't out in the field, we are in the office. I used to write several posts from the comfort of my office. Get the work done, write one, two or three posts. Now, I don't have that luxury. I'm heading out in the early morning hours Monday for a full day in the city on yet another large job. I started it last Thursday. There are 30 buildings to inspect. I am not sure if I will do the bulk of them but I will have a lot done by noon on Tuesday. I don't mind the field work, it's the writing up of the reports afterwards that I dislike. I admit to procrastination in that regard. I should be better about writing these. If I didn't drag my feet because I dislike it, then there would be more time for the things I do like.

I've seen things, gone places I never would have ventured to. I kind of want to go back to this fabric shop even though I need fabric like I need Bubonic Plague. But...fabric! I never would have found this place had I not had to go do an inspection in a section of Chicago where I'd never been before.

I'm traveling more than in past years. That alone takes me away from this computer and the pushing of keys and the wrestling of letters into words into sentences into paragraphs. It's sort of good for the pocketbook because we get paid a mileage rate when we have to use our cars. But day trips of 12 hours can wear on one, grind one down, make the recliner or the bed more attractive than telling you about the way cool place I found myself back in May. I haven't blogged about that even though the space was amazing and I should show you some of the photos I took.

I made the deck space this year different from previous years. I haven't shown that to you and here it is, half-way through deck season. I'm out there, although not, obviously, right now, writing or reading, cats under the chair or in the doorway. I started journaling, something I used to do ages ago. I bought a package of gel pens and writing in colors has been wonderful for creativity on those pages, not so much for collecting thoughts here. And I'm drawing again. Bits and scraps and thinking I really need to invest in a good pencil sharpener. The journal entries are interspersed with art. Will I post some of it here? I don't know.

And there is life, in general. The Jeep finally died. I think I can write about that today although the deck calls. I need to upgrade my computer as World of Warcraft is bracing for a major expansion of play next month and the memory cards sit to my right, still in the box, still waiting for me to make the time to change out what I have for new and shiny. The electric line through the middle of the house, covering the bathroom, the hallway and the office, is non-functional. Next month, I need to have an electrician come out and look at it, tell me what it will cost to fix, and dread that whole process. I look years ahead and think just how much to do I want to invest in this place that's been my home for 30+ years. I had to move the computer to the living room. There are plusses and minuses to this.

I found, rather he found me, a landscape/lawn guy. He lives two blocks north of me; went to the same grade and high school Carole did. He's a go getter, if I may be allowed a retro word here. Yes, last year, I spent $250 on a brand spanking new lawn mower that now sits in the shed. If he hadn't wandered into my life when he did, my lawn would not look as good as it does. I have no time and less energy. I haven't blogged about that and I need to show you what I've done.

And there is the RA.

I honestly don't remember what I was doing when I cut my finger. It was something in early June. Probably planting. I was going to blog about my evolving plants. Well, that didn't happen, but there is a minion bandage for that cut. And it's my hands which have given me the most problems this year. My rheumatologist has moved to Atlanta and I see a new lady in August. Spring was, for some reason, particularly trying. There were and are aches in finger joints and in my wrists. That's the only place I seem to be greatly affected. When you spend a whole day typing reports, you don't want to come home and type blog posts, less so if the middle digit on the left hand hurts.

There has been the fatigue. I have energy that astounds me. I have calm. I have inner reserves I marvel at tapping into...

and then I crash. It is not uncommon for me to sleep 16 hours on a Sunday after a Saturday of activity. I don't feel fatigued on Saturday. I feel energized and am thrilled with all I can accomplish. Sunday morning dawns and I feed the girls and go back to sleep, getting up for an hour at one and maybe a few hours from 4-8. The RA web sites I follow talk about the fatigue. It is beyond "fatigue" and the associated connotations. It is beyond "exhaustion" and the definition of that word. I collapse, completely, totally. The deck and the sunshine hold no allure. Give me my bed.

This breeds frustration. There are dishes in the sink, clothes in the washer, grit on the floors, dust everywhere. I forget my daily vitamins. Don't bother me. I retreat. I seclude myself. I don't go out. Don't ask. It was a big, very big, deal to go to a wedding at the end of last month. It will be a big deal to go to Carole and Larry's. I could, very easily, recuse myself from life and stay in my bed. You don't know fatigue until it's from a chronic illness. "I'm so tired." Please. And this takes me away from the blog, from life, from things which used to give me great pleasure.

So, where am I? I am still grateful every single day. I am happy, too, in my own way. My happiness does not depend upon others. It comes from myself and if I can make myself happy in a small way, my whole day is happy. Yet, I look at this space and the hundreds of photos I have taken which have not made their way here and I feel a pang of unhappiness, emptiness, maybe. How to realign my life that I can get back here and yet do those things which are giving me pleasure? That's where I find myself. I promised, some months, or perhaps a year ago, that I would post more. I shouldn't make empty promises. I'm still here. I'm still me. I have joys and sorrows, frustrations and celebrations. I still have two cats, one of whom is in her box, snoring. I am reminded of a quote usually attributed to John Lennon but which was written by Allen Saunders for Reader's Digest.

"Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans." 

Truth. I love the journey, even with the potholes.

Beverage:  Orange Juice

Deb

Traveling

Recently, my mom and sister, Sharyn, went to visit Carole and Larry in Virginia. I drove to Iowa the first weekend in May and picked up mom. She stayed at the house for a day while I worked and that evening, we drove into Chicago, in a driving, pouring, beastly rain, to pick Sharyn up at the Greyhound station.

Ironically, I had inspected that station, twice, for a very large road construction project currently going on a couple blocks away. The rain had stopped by the time Sharyn arrived so the drive home wasn't quite so sloppy.

We got up at 4 am the next morning, to pack up the car and head to O'Hare. They had an 8:30 am flight to Richmond, Virginia.

This is a really big deal. Mom hates flying. Once you get her in the air, it's not so bad and I'm told she even looked out the window once or twice. But she has issues with the pressure encountered when you take off and land. She said landing at O'Hare on the way back was horrible. Her face hurt so much she almost cried. The week spent with Carole and Larry was worth it, however.

While out there, Sharyn saw these.

This is an orb spider. They only come out at night. They were all over Carole and Larry's front porch and across the front of the garage. There was some "freaking out" when Sharyn pointed them out and a request to "Kill them! Kill them all!" Sharyn will have none of that nonsense. She knows, as I do, spiders are extremely beneficial. If you don't want to be eaten by mosquitos or have your deck plants chewed on by nasty bugs, you need to keep spiders around. Of course, they don't need to be in the house. We both try to gather the arachnoid onto something and fling it into the yard, where it belongs. Sharyn said the orb spiders in Michigan aren't as pretty as these. A friend said she'd be more afraid of the shadowy thing in the background than the spider. The angle of the light on the spider does make for an interesting shadow.

They are home now. I drove Sharyn to the bus stop and mom to Iowa. Pilchard and Mija weren't happy there were others in their house, but we all survived, including, I might add, the spiders on Carole and Larry's front porch.

Beverage:  Cream soda

Deb

The Random View of Thursday at Disneyland

Here's a collection of photos from Thursday, November 5th. Let's start with the mountains.

This is the view from the Mickey ferris wheel. The real mountains are in the distance with the fake mountains from the Cars Land ride in the foreground. The fake mountains don't look all that out of place from the real ones due to the realism of the fake ones. I also like the clouds in the sky. Just needs a couple of vertical lines and you'd have a tic tac toe game in the sky.

How about a fountain?

This one is in Downtown Disney. It's a stylized flower. I like the undulating shapes and the gradation of color from center outward. There aren't a lot of fountains around. It wasn't until I was looking through my photos that I realized this isn't a part of the decoration in either park. Fountains take space and they tend to break up a path. Disney is about funneling large amounts of people from one point to another. A fountain is just in the way. Oh you could tuck it off the the side. This one was alongside a thoroughfare, but that seems to defeat the purpose of a fountain as a focal point. This one is quite pretty. The color change was achieved with small tiles. Wonder how long it took people to apply the tiles?

Speaking of tiling, here is the floor in the pseudo French Quarter of Disneyland.

Attention to design is paramount at Disney. Liz pointed out, on many occasions, where you could find the outline of Mickey in the architecture and design of both California Adventure and Disneyland. While Mickey's not here, on the floor of the Pandora Jewelers, I like the use of tile to create a mosaic which fit with the surroundings. I see things like this and I remember working in mosaics in an art class in college. We worked with heavy paper and the section on mosaics was to help us understand color. If I wasn't so busy with other craft projects...

Color and design on the ground is not limited to mosaics. Witness what they did with colored cement.

"Cement" is a bit of a misnomer for this ground covering. It's an aggregate which can be tinted in a large number of colors. I've seen this in a lot of places. One of the problems with it in cold climates is that the colors are usually separated by thin pieces of metal. The surface is sealed so you never feel the change from one piece to another. But, the ground freezes in the upper Midwest, so spring heave is a big concern. I've had to inspect designs such as these and you find all sorts of cracks at corners and uneven heave can produce a large crack in, say, the middle of one of the yellow triangles. Ground issues are probably not a problem in Southern California, so they are free to be inventive with the design and color. It was quite impressive.

I would do this in a heartbeat if I could figure out how.

This was outside the Starbucks where we had breakfast. It's a mesh in which a variety of plants have been planted in what appeared to be a peat-like potting soil. This would be a wonderful way to shade a patio. I could see it planted with flowering plants to provide color. It appeared to have a design to the plantings but was in the midst of a change of seasons so some plants were new and not completely filled out. I also loved that, unlike Disneyland, there were birds nesting in the mesh. That, alone, appealed to me. I'm all about providing habitat for nesting birds. I'm sure, if I looked, there are plans online for something like this. You'd need it to be fairly high to block out the sun, but you could make it merely 6-7 feet tall to act as a screen.

Could it get any better than this?

Part of the design of California Adventure is the recreation of an early American amusement park. Witness the roller coaster and the ferris wheel. LOOK! SWINGS! Liz and I walked toward the ferris wheel and she pointed out this ride. I love this ride! I am at the edge of fitting into the chairs but it was an absolute hoot. I have so many, many warm memories of county fairs with a swing ride. I wouldn't go up in a ferris wheel, but I'll let a ride fling me almost sideways with nothing but a chain to hold me to the top. You are never too old to have your feet dangling in front of you, the wind in your face, giggling for all your worth, while your 9 year-old self comes bubbling to the top for a ride. That's Disneyland, for you. It's okay to be on the backside of your middle ages yet riding swing rides.

Beverage:  Raspberry Seltzer

Deb

Thursday Disneyland

Going back to all the photos I wanted to post and comment on but never had the chance to until now. If you're bored with this trip, skip this and a few more upcoming. This is a review of Thursday, November 5th. It was a sparkling morning.

Because of the lingering drought, this is usually how mornings start, I'm given to understand. For a Midwesterner who does not anticipate this kind of sunshine in November, when it can be more cloudy than sunny, it was exciting. Liz and I walked the equivalent of 6 blocks north to the park. We got there, on purpose, with time to spare, to have a quick breakfast and then to wait.

It really didn't seem real until we went through security and into this plaza where all the light posts were festooned with the celebratory 60th Anniversary banners. Oh that's right! Disneyland is celebrating its 60th year in operation. Liz had mentioned this and said there would be all sorts of fun stuff going on. It did not hit me until I was standing in that square and there were these banners.

Liz handed me my ticket. Wow. She was ever so patient and amused at my slack-jawed yokel-ness amazement at where I was. When we decided to do this and I made the decision to pay for 2 days of Disney, it was a long ways off. Liz, the admitted Disney "freak", kept getting more and more excited to show us the parks she loves. It was exciting, but, jeeze, I need a new washer and then the car dies and any celebration is simply that I can pay all my bills at the end of the month. But then, she hands me this small piece of paper and  I walk into the plaza between Disneyland and California Adventure and, my mouth drops open. I really am here.

I was given the option of going to California Adventure or Disneyland first. I thought about it and decided on California Adventure as Disneyland would be quasi-familiar due to my visits to Walt Disney World. I handed the pass to the gentleman at the gate. "Welcome Princess," he said. I laughed and said, "No one has ever called me a princess. I should get that in writing." He pulled out his marker and wrote on the back of my pass. There. "Proof", such as it is, that I am a 'princess'. Yeah, tell that to the cats.

We headed into the park. Of course, I had to take a photo of the map.

It is quite easy to get completely turned around. That is probably by design. The longer you are in the park, the more chance the souvenir shops can part you from your money. North is at the bottom of the map. The ferris wheel, which I've already blogged about, is at the top of the map. Part of my job is to know which way I am facing when I discuss what I see on a building's walls. I abandoned my kind of meager sense of direction and just surrendered to the fun. This is supposed to be part of "the happiest place on earth". I should enjoy the sensation.

We walked about the park. Around every bend are the unusual and photogenic. Disney, of course, plans for this, although there aren't a lot of the obtrusive "Kodak Photo Spot" signs I remember from Disney World.

This is hilarious. All the eateries are in cone-shaped buildings in Cars Land.

The obligatory humorous photo conveniently provided by the park and, of course, you have to do it.

Oh my gosh! Real birds! You don't expect to see those. You kind of think, because Disney is a leader in animatronics, that any animals you see are going to be of the mechanical kind. I had to take a photo of real, live, seagulls. Here's another spot where there were real birds.

These are the fake mountains in Cars Land, in the ride area. It's hard to see in the small photo, but there are seagulls perched on the top of this hill. I thought, "Gee, they do think of everything" when I saw it and then a couple of them flew off.

We didn't see many birds or chipmunks or squirrels in the park, in spite of the huge amount of food around. Even though there is an army of people with brooms and small waste cans, food is everywhere. Yet, those scavengers I'm so used to at other large venues where nowhere to be seen. I wonder how much of that is due to the diligence of park personnel in keeping the place clean and how much is due to the presence of feral cats. If you didn't know about the feral cats making their homes in Disneyland, here's the link to an article about them. I have noticed an uptick in wildlife in my backyard now that I don't have outdoor cats roaming about the yard.

At noon, we went across the plaza to Disneyland. Of course, this is the first thing you see when you walk in.

I didn't get to ride the train. Guess I'll have to come back.

So I wonder if this is the most photographed human sculpture in the world. That's Sleeping Beauty's castle in the background. Cinderella's castle is at Disney World. This one isn't as high and it's a different coloration. Lots of people were trying to get just the right photo of the statue with the castle in the background. Everyone was respectful and waited their turn, even offering to take photos with other people's cameras so they could be in the photo.

We didn't hang around much because we were coming back for an extended period on Sunday. Disneyland feels more like a park should. You're entering from the south and working north instead of the other way around. I don't know if situating your amusement park along cardinal directions has anything to do with attendance, but Disneyland felt more comfortable. That could also be the problem of California Adventure trying to figure out what it is. It's always been something of a step-child to Disneyland. There aren't as many rides and it's more heavily shop-based than Disneyland. It's supposed to be a Disney-fied version of the Anaheim Walt came to in 1920. It's fun, but if you're a tourist, you gravitate to Disneyland. That's only natural.

We left at 3:30 and walked back to the hotel. I had a blister on my right foot; on the ball of the foot below the middle toe. It made walking painful. We met up with Ashley, who had arrived at 3, and headed over to the Convention Center.

Again, I felt that awe at being in a place I'd spent 6 months preparing for. There were people everywhere, although no one in costume, yet. We walked in and got in line for our convention badges. The line moved swiftly and I think we had everything in 15 minutes. There is no merit to showing up early. You can't do anything other than stand in line for hours to buy things from the Blizzard store. Ashley and I went to the store on Saturday morning and spent 30 minutes total, making purchases. If I ever do this again, that's when I'm going, first thing on a Saturday morning.

From here, there was a "party" in the Hilton which wasn't real spectacular. There was an art exhibit and, later, meet and greets with people from WOW-themed web sites. But we weren't really interested in them so we met up with Amy and her hubby and went to dinner. Friday would be the big day.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

Next Christmas

If you're on the Christmas card list, you got a card with a photo from my Disneyland trip. It was one of my goals to get some kind of photo from either BlizzCon or Disneyland to make personalized cards. When Liz said you could meet Tigger, assuming he was out, well, that's who I wanted to have my photo taken with. We wound up waiting 20 minutes but it was worth it. Using my cell phone and my camera, Liz took quite a few photos.

The cell phone camera has a darker color than the digital camera. These were good but when I compared them to the ones on the digital camera, I felt the color was better on the camera. 

I went with the last one in the series. The cell phone seemed to latch onto the dark of the area and enhance it. The background got lost in the shade. I liked the color and our positioning of the bottom photo. What you can't see is that my tee shirt had Tigger on it. He's always been my favorite Disney-fied character so it was exciting to get a photo. Pooh turned out to be just around the corner in his photo spot. It was funny to see Tigger's line be twice as long as Pooh's. 

Making my own cards was a lot of fun. There is free software with the new printer so it was reasonably easy to print what I wanted. It has me looking ahead to this Christmas. What do I want to do for cards? I have a lot of regular cards I've accumulated over the years which would cover my needs. I wouldn't have to buy any this winter. And then, it snows. 

There is a pine tree outside my office window. I watch squirrels go up and down, chasing each other. I left one noon to get lunch after a morning of wet snowfall. I was greeted with these images. 

There are large pine cones on this tree. I'm not up on my identification of pines so I don't know what kind this is, but they make for great photos. 

I particularly like this photo below. 

If I was going to do a personalize card this Christmas, there is great potential in this photo. I don't spend a lot of time composing my photos. I'm very much a point and shoot person. Photos like this tend to be a happy accident. 

So, I will keep this in mind for the winter. Of course, there are 10 months between now and when I need to have cards. We'll see what other photos present themselves as card potential. 

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb