Turkey-time

Remember my turkeys? I'm sure that they are strung up somewhere, I've heard the hunters out there.

Off to our folks for the week for the Thanksgiving holiday. Since they are on the west coast of Florida, we're spending the week down there. Here is where I hope to be at sunset tonight...or at least tomorrow night.

More disney observations

I bet there aren't alot of people who notice the more hidden disney stuff, but most of it caugh my eye. I already mentioned how detail oriented their designers are, so I was on the lookout for the details. I don't know how they do it, they must travel around buying up stuff from esoteric places. Part of me wants to think of Disney as Walmart - robbing people and places and I don't know if that is true or not. Here are some items I noticed.

Yes, it's a Cinderella mozaic - but what amazing work! I'd like to recognize the artist that did this but he/she wasn't mentioned.

There were these wall art pieces that I swear looked authentic but again, I just don't know. Either way, they are amazing. Apparent fresco's and carvings. I didn't touch them maybe because I wanted to preserve the illusion of actual pieces. Again, either way, they were incredibly detailed and wonderful to look at.




Lots of overhead prayer flags in this section



I love signs and have alot of my own so of course I noticed these



I know it's probably fake rust, but if I didn't appreciate the real thing, then I appreciated the idea.
As I read this I realize that there is the skeptic in me that is reserving judgement and sort of holding out on truely enjoying the experience. So I'm going to let it go, and just say again what a good time I had with my boys and best friend.

Illustration Friday night - and so I wait

I don't know exactly what she is waiting for, but she looks aprehensive.

Illustration Friday - late, late, late

I'm not even posting this on the IF site, it's wierd. Started in on a plane to Florida, and doodled around with colored pencils and watercolor; it originally had an audience but I erased them and her hair also.

Anyway - it was fun to do.

100 things - unknown person biography - project # 8

The project is to draw an unknown person and make up a short biography about them. I had fun with this as I love to make up stories about people, about their lives. I also learned (again!) that if you try to work with a pen that has any kind of liquid ink - it will explode on a plane. I worked on this portrait and story and then put it aside and started to work on something else. Tried to use my silver ink pen on the back of this sheet and SPLAT - a big blob of ink came out which now shows as a grease spot on my man's head. Oh well, perhaps the 95th thing I should add is "mess up your artwork".

The Biography of this guy reads: "John Q - born in Spain to a poor family. Went to school thru 7th grade and then started working with his father on the family fishing boat. Got big and burly. Married at age 20, had 6 kids by age 30. Bought his own boat by age 35 with money from secret cod fishing spot. Hired a crew and expanded the fleet.

Died at age 35 when a rogue wave swamped his boat at his secret cod spot. Son Cesar survived the wreck and was picked up by a passing Italian fishing boat. Cesar never fished again and never ate cod for the rest of his life"

100 things - draw your dinner

I drew my dinner on a plane (where else) on Thursday night going down to Florida for my mini-vacation. You can see that I didn't start out this vacation with good food, and while the food was somewhat tasty at Disney, it was NOT good for you in any way. So I started off this trip with a dinner as nutritious as most of the meals that followed. Peanut butter crackers and coffee. I did this in pencil as I can't use pen and ink on a plane as it usually explodes - as I will show in another post for 100 things.

Here are links to some of Kerstins 100 things - 1 and 2

Disney World Vacation - First impressions

Well, it was a whirwind mini-vacation, from Thursday night to late on Monday (2:00 AM - arrived home). The first time I went to Disney was when the boys were 6 years old, and there was alot of watching them, going on slow rides, afternoon naps by the pool and alot of "watch me, watch me" shouts. It was a fun trip, and not too exhausing if I remember correctly. Now 9 years later, keeping up with two 15 year olds was a bit of a challenge, but still fun and do-able.

DisneyWorld amazes me, with it non- stop merchandizing, the incredible attention to detail and the actual feeling of being away from it all. I did fall under the Disney spell - I admit it! - but stopped short of thinking that all of the clothes with MM ears were chic. First off we went to the original park, Magic Kingdom, where the Cinderella castle overlooks the whole park. Here is a picture of it during the day - and the illuminated night shot. Below it is a shot of a little US colonical house that you pass while walking to some of the rides. In clever Disney style, the dimensions of this house are off just a bit. Adjustments are made to the house measurements to make the structures seem cozier, more approachable. This is done everywhere - and it's a very clever approach. The buildings are not overwhelming, they look like you could walk in and settle down by the fire with a good book. Anyway.....

The park was filled with little girls dressed up as Pricesses. For just under $300.00 you can get your little girl the full princess treatment, complete with dress, hairdo, and nail polish. It certainly seemed excessive to me, but I can imagine how thrilled and happy I would have been as a 6 year old princess. Ah yes, Princess Mim of Brooklyn.

We all went on roller coaster after roller coaster. I love thrill rides, usually can't get enought of them. I am always terrified, can't believe I got myself into this, and scream out loud, or laugh hysterically through out the whole ride. My life passes in front of me as the ride twists and turns and speeds down steep slopes. But I keep going back for more. The great thing about doing this with 15 year olds is that they love the rides too, and will scream out loud along with you but probably for different reasons. Plus, I get to keep reminding them that I am OLD and they should be grateful for a loving aunt who will do this with them. They smile and pat me on the head and drag me off to the next ride. How lucky am I?

Here is a shot of the outside of the Everest ride, where you hurtle upside down and backwards

More impressions coming soon. Also to answer Kerstin's question - I think that Disney World is much bigger than Disney Land. World has the inside-the-park resorts and hotels and much more acreage than Land - but I'm not sure on the actual details.