Disney Adventure 1

The New Year finds me in Orlando at Disney World. It has been 3 years since I've been here. I'm staying at the Saratogo Springs Resort. This resort is designed as if an upstate New York hotel at the turn of the 20th century. The major theme is horses.

Shortly after checking in I found my way to the boat landing and took the boat to Downtown Disney. It was now 4:30 pm and after a day of travel I was interested in finding something to eat.

The views were interesting at this time.

The theater for Cirque de Soleil stood out against the winter sky.

The shops and restaurants were glowing.

 

I ended up at the House of Blues for an appetizer size meal sounded perfect. The pulled pork slider sandwiches have delicious cole slaw on the top. Yum! Perfect size. And the cucumbers made me think of Poland for some reason. But they had a bite of cayenne pepper, not usually associated with Central European food!

The lights in the restaurant made photography just a bit challenging, but oh my! the food is good.

My next goal was to check out some of the resorts along the monorail to see if any holiday decorations were still in place. I tried to find the bus stop on the West Side, but no luck. Ended up way over in the Marketplace where I knew I could find the bus stop. Glad I had the extra walk. Otherwise I would have missed this unusual music.

The long horn like instrument appeared to have been made out of plant material of some kind. I've never seen anything quite like it before.

Well, after riding buses and the monorail around to the Contemporary, the Polynesian, and Grand Floridian resorts I can say Christmas has disappeared in the resorts. However I was able to catch some music from the jazz band at the Grand Floridian.

Got lost after getting back to the resort. It is always so hard to find one's way around the first day or so in a new resort, particularly when it's dark. Oh, well, walking around in wrong places is still exercise!

Property Brothers Adventure

Yesterday I clicked off several things on my to-do list, and only about 8 PM in the evening did I remember I had intended to go to the Mall of America to see the Property Brothers. Pulled out the schedule and found I had one more chance.

I left home around noon. Last evening I had checked all the Sunday bus schedules rather thinking about going via bus and train. Should have, for I drove around the parking ramp about the same amount of time it had taken me to drive to the Mall.

Went to the HGTV area and inquired. Found I needed to get a wrist band to be admitted for the Property Brothers segment.

 Did a bit of shopping and then stopped for a coffee. At the same time I was in the coffee line, an HGTV staff person appeared. He was busy telling the coffee staff that people were in line for wrist bands at 10:30 ! The crowd was even more than they had expected after the experience yesterday.

Got in line and waited.

The afternoon event began with the light show.

The brothers appeared and talked for about 45 minutes and then took some Twitter questions as well as spoken questions from the audience. It was quite interesting, and I didn't find standing up all the time too troublesome.

People were standing too all around the rotunda.

Then we all had the chance to have a photo.

The guys are obviously at least a foot taller than me!

In line behind me was a father with a boy about 7 years old. The young boy couldn't see the stage during the presentation; he was so very quiet. His father said he first starting watching Property Brothers, but now his son watches more than he does.

Fun afternoon, like going to see a rock star!

Beautiful Night in the Neighood

To paraphrase Mr. Rogers, it's a beautiful night in the neighborhood. My older daughter and I drove around a bit last night about bit to see the nearby lights and take some photos to share with you.

By the way on December 24, the number of readers for this blog crossed 24,000 and new country for readers -- Venezuela -- popped up, too.

Very close is the Forepaugh House, now operated as a restaurant.

Close by is the hospice operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor. I see the hospice building up on the bluff from my apartment. The nativity scene below is by the home for the Sisters.

Next I spotted a lovely wreath on a building for a tattoo parlor!

I have been admiring the lights along West Seventh Street. The fence is lined with blue lights on one side while the trees on the other side have red lights.

We headed for Rice Parks and I drove around the blocks several time before being able to find a parking place for a few minutes. The musical Elf was finishing its run at the Ordway Center.

Here is the large tree in Rice Park. This is a donated tree -- coming from a yard where it must be removed for some reason.

The surrounding trees are in white lights.

These trees will remain lighted until the end of Winter Carnival in late January.

The Lawson Building features a candle.

On the way home we came by the District Heating office - I always like this view in the winter.

Hope you enjoyed a view of my neighborhood!

December Afternoon Walk

About 2:45 PM I set off on just a little walk to see what the level of the river is these days. I had read a report that the recent blizzard that roared across the country just south of the Twin Cities had added some very necessary moisture to our environment. We have had some moisture too since Thanksgiving, so I was curious.

The exhaust from the district heating plant was rising straight up, meaning there was really no wind. That was good, for while the temperature was 19 ( -7 C), it felt much colder. Last time for awhile that I will venture out without a hat!

Found what I'll again call a snow figure along the fence.

This one has a carrot -- a very frozen carrot -- for a nose.

The Wabasha Bridge was throwing interesting reflections into the river.

 Oh and the river -- Looking at a place where I often estimate the level, I think the river is up about 10 inches from the very lowest point this fall. That leaves it still 2-3 feet below low normal.

Making Christmas Tradition

Here I am decorating Christmas cookies with my 3.5 year old granddaughter.

These are designs that only a 3 year old would love!

But perhaps more important will be a memory of making them!

Out to Mall of America

I have an important social event coming up in January -- one that landed unexpectedly on my schedule after I made lots of other plans. I need a pair of shoes to wear for this event, so decided today to head to Nordstrom's at the Mall of America. It obviously is the Christmas shopping season. Prior experience plus stories recently about people driving around the parking ramp for 30 minutes before finding a space gave me the idea to take the bus and then the train to the Mall.

Found that HGTV has arrived at the Mall.

The space was very quiet today -- no designers doing day presentations. Picked up the schedule and will try to get back the weekend after Christmas to see the Property Brothers!

Huge trees have been installed in the central rotunda. There are three light shows a day, too, but my timing was wrong for everything.

I had to look twice at this wreath.

 It's made from paint brushes!

Continued on through Nickelodeon Universe, the amusement park in the center of the mall.

This are is decorated with very modern decorations.

The Mall decorations this year are very understated. Just large Christmas balls.

Good afternoon and oh, where did I end up shoe shopping -- at the Flip Flop store! Don't need Jimmy Choo shoes that cost $442, even for a social event!

A Christmas Tradition

A major holiday is celebrated in many different ways among cultures and within cultures. My church has one lovely Christmas tradition. About 10 days before Christmas there is a musical Saturday night.

The church is decorated only with fresh green trees.

The first 30 minutes of the evening involve singing Christmas carols. The facilitator makes it so much fun. He asks for choices by persons "who used to be red heads" or "who are under 10" or "who are sitting in the cheap seats." Perhaps those readers in other countries may not understand "cheap seats." That means those sitting in the very back. In a paid theater those tickets would be the least expensive, but I'm certain with that explanation everyone understands and knows how this fits with theater in their countries. Obviously, we don't charge admission for this.

The next 30 minutes is a concert by the various choirs of the church. And always the music is magnificent.

The final 30 minutes -- which frankly takes longer than 30 minutes -- is food.

There were tables covered with Christmas goodies.

One is free to put together whatever combination desired -- caroling and food, concert and food, or all three!

I volunteered for clean-up committee and became queen of the dishwasher.

When leaving I found this:

Someone had made what I'm calling snow creatures and sat them up on a railing. These aren't part of the Christmas tradition -- we certainly can't plan on having such wet snow every year-- nor do I wish for such wet snow. We did end up with a mess!

Comments about Christmas traditions would be welcome. It's fun to learn how celebrations happen in other places.