Revival

Time to get this thing going again. I don't know whether anyone will see it, and I don't promise to have all-new material. But this is a good place for thoughts that are a bit longer than a tweet. Here goes.

On May 19th, 2019, John and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. Over the years, we had celebrated that date several times with trips, including a Las Vegas trip in 2004 for our 25th, when digital photos were stored on floppies and my first blog was still a new thing. Here is a photo from that occasion, when the Las Vegas Hilton still hosted Star Trek: The Experience:

We also went to Disneyland twice on our anniversary, in 2012...

and in 2013, when Cars Land was new at DCA:

I don't think we had done anything much since then. For our 40th, though, I wanted to do something, and John suggested Monument Valley. Monument Valley! I've wanted to see that place with my own eyes since at least 1986, if not long before that, when I still lived Back East. We thought about stopping by on our way back from my dad's funeral in Wilmington NC nearly four years ago, but time and distances would not permit. I was also desperate to go see Doctor Who episodes being filmed in Arizona and Utah during the Eleventh Doctor era, but that didn't pan out, either. 2019 would be different.

John left the arrangements to me. I booked us into a hotel in Sedona, which was sort of on the way up. On the Friday before our anniversary, we drove to Sedona, arriving after dark. In the morning we saw this (click to see it bigger):

Then we went on to the Monument Valley Tribal Park in Utah, arriving in time for our 5 PM "sunset" tour.

We got back well before sunset, which turned out to be good news. We got to see this from the edge of the parking lot.

The next day, we went through Bear's Ears National Monument and Natural Bridges National Monument. The latter is where I saw this:

There was more to this trip, but you get the idea. In short: it was great. John had a great time, too, which hardly ever happens. Because of this, we plan to start doing day trips once a month, and I've also been hacking around the mountains of Tucson, to the point of not working enough hours at one of my jobs this pay period. Oops! So I need to back off a little, but I'm definitely in picture-taking mode right now.

And in video-making mode. This is a little bit of a problem, because I'm putting a lot of effort into my videos, and hardly anyone visits my YouTube channel, ever. If you find this message-in-a-bottle blog post, I hope you'll help me rectify that. Here are my social media links:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Mavarin/

https://twitter.com/mavarin?lang=en

https://www.facebook.com/mavarin

https://www.facebook.com/mavarininfo/ (page for my fiction)

https://www.instagram.com/mavarinkfb/

And some others I'm not currently using. There's a lot of overlap, but Instagram is hopeless with panoramic photos and longer videos, Twitter isn't good with essays, and so on. Facebook tends to have the majority of the content found elsewhere, but I realize some people refuse to use Facebook these days.

I hope you've found this revival of my old blog at least a little engaging. I'll try to do something a bit meatier and more original next time.

Karen

Round Robin Challenge: Words and Pictures, Mostly on Paper

For the Round Robin Challenge: Words and Pictures, I asked to see one or more photographs of something that contains both words and pictures. I didn't get out for a specific photo shoot this time, but let's see what we can come up with!

Let's start with a few shots from April, 2014, when John and I attended the 50th Anniversary party at Kon-Tiki, on what was really the 51st anniversary. Here are both sides of the special menu they had that night. One side was for appetizers at 1963 prices, the other for cheap drinks.

Many of the tables also had this commemorative poster.

But there was another version, and we bought the artist's proof, direct from the artist, Doug Horne. I have it pictured here with several Tiki mugs from Kon Tiki plus a Tiki mug and two Moai salt shakers from Disneyland (one of them is tipped over to show the Disneyland logo on the bottom).

Speaking of Disneyland, we own two reproduction posters of attractions, one past, one present, both with an outstanding combination of words and pictures!

 

The Rocket to the Moon Poster is the one we bought at the relaunch of Tomorrowland in 1998, specifically to ask astronaut Buzz Aldrin to sign it. He didn't do it.

 

Disneyland itself has lots of words and pictures combinations, including this obscure example photographed in May 2013.

So far I don't have anyone else for my Round Robin Photo Challenges Linking List this week. I'll let you know if anyone else participates (pleasepleaseplease!)!

Linking List
as of Monday, 7/14/14, 2:33 AM

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

Karen

Round Robin: Fancy Dress (both kinds)

For the Round Robin Challenge: Dress Up, I asked to see "Any kind of costume ..., any dress, tux and tails, doll clothes, anything worn by anything or anyone as long as it's out of the ordinary." Although I'm feeling pretty wiped out tonight with a bad allergy attack that's gone on for the last 15 hours or so, I can supply examples in several of those categories.

My immediate inspiration was the idea of cosplay - fans making and wearing costumes that represent characters and creatures from their favorite books, movies, tv shows and comics. Over the years I've taken more than a few photos of fans in costume at Gallifrey One, the annual Doctor Who convention in Los Angeles. It's been several years since I made it to Gally, but I recently managed to buy a ticket to the 2015 convention in the 75 minute window before it was sold out. So let's celebrate that victory with memories of costumes past. I'll try to avoid reruns from past postings:

 From 2010: A Clockwork Droid threatens Reinette, 

a.k.a. Madame de Pompadour.

From 2011: Amy Pond in her Kiss-o-gram police uniform, 

with Rory Williams, the Last Centurion.

The last time I saw people in cosplay as Doctor Who characters was last year, at Disneyland of all places.

 

The Tenth Doctor, Captain Jack Harkness, 

and the Eleventh Doctor, Disneyland, May 2013.

In the U.K., "fancy dress" means a masquerade costume. Here in the U.S., it tends to have a more literal meaning.

A young woman poses for photos at Gates Pass, September 2013.

This one is a rerun: a wedding party at Reid Park, 2009. 

That green dress looks like something Tinker Bell would wear. Love it!

But let's go back to Disneyland for a moment. Come to think of it, Disneyland is full of fancy dress, and fancy dresses!

Tiana from The Princess and the Frog, Disneyland, May 2012.

I have many more, but that's enough for tonight. Let's so see what all the Robins came up with for this Challenge!


Linking List
as of Saturday, April 5th, 2014
1:54 AM MST

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Mande
Simply Learning to Explore and Use My Camera
http://simplyturtlepictures.blogspot.com/

Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

If it's still the weekend, it's not too late to play along yourself! Go for it, I say!

Karen

Round Robin: Listen to This Picture

For this week's Round Robin Photo Challenge: Listen to This!, I asked to see pictures of persons, places or things that have a memorable and distinctive sound. I didn't manage to get anything spectacular along these lines, but let's see what I did come up with!

 flap-flap-flap-flap-flap!

 rrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrr!

chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga Woo! Woo!

Ffft! Ffft! Fft! Fft! Fft! Fft! Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop! Boom!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Tromp Tromp Tromp Tromp Thud.

Not a big list of participants this week - unless you care to join us!

Linking List
as of Saturday, August 10th, 2013
12:30 AM MST

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/mavarin

Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

Karen

Back to the Land - Disneyland 2013

This past weekend was our 34th Anniversary. Like last year, we celebrated the day with a trip to Disneyland. We would go every year if we could, but it's not always easy to get away, financially or in terms of obligations at home. Leaving my dad unvisited for three days was going to be a problem, but friends from church stepped in to help, and we managed to get away for three days, Saturday morning to Monday night. The highlights and lowlights are as follows:

Best Technology Improvement: Using my iPhone this year was less of a problem than last year, due to a battery pack I brought with me to keep the battery from running down halfway through the day. I still ran low, but the phone never quite died on me this year. With it I was able to run several Disneyland-related apps, including something called MouseWait, which had crowd-sourced attraction waiting times, restaurant reviews and more. It's all a huge upgrade from my old Samsung flip phones of yesteryear, which used to be continually "Looking for Service" at Disneyland until the battery drained.

Best New Attraction: Cars Land at Disney's California Adventure, both the overall themed area and the specific attraction at the end of the street, Radiator Springs Racers. It was upsetting last year to be at California Adventure just two weeks before Cars Land opened, and only be able to glimpse it afar by peeking over a high wall. But it was worth the wait, and the return visit. The little California/Arizona border town (judging by the geology and plant life) of Radiator Springs is lovingly rendered in full scale, from Flo's V8 Diner to Luigi's Tires, and all the other familiar businesses from the first Cars film. Inside they are mostly shops, but the Cars Land merchandise is classy and inventive. The Luigi's Flying Tires attraction was a disappointment to me, the tires being too big for a single rider to control more than a tiny bit, and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree was fun but not amazing. The best part was Mator's square dance caller-style accompaniment for each set of riders, different each time as we await our turn.

But Radiator Springs Racers! Oh, my! There's a reason the line at 9:15 AM just to get a Fastpass for this hot new attraction was two or three blocks long! We opted to skip the Fastpass and stand by immediately. The wait was already an hour and a half, but it was worth it. The pre-ride line wound through beautiful scenery with a fun, clever backstory about the founding of Radiator Springs. Eventually we arrived at the loading area, in a cavern at the edge of the red rock mountains. We soon found ourselves in a full-sized, four-door race car, racing through the mountains in competition with another carful of riders. We lost, but who cares? It was awesome! We would have gotten a Fastpass afterward for a second go, but by then all the Fastpasses were gone for the day.

Biggest Disappointment: The Blue Bayou Restaurant is normally my favorite place to eat at Disneyland, but every year it seems less worthwhile. I love the romance of the fake dockside-at-night ambiance, with the restaurant's dining area located across the lagoon from the peaceful opening scene of Pirates of the Caribbean. Service is good and the menu is upscale - perhaps too upscale. For $112 including tip, the two of us had rack of lamb with a somewhat paltry amount of medium rare meat - and we'd both ordered medium well. At that price, ambiance and a miserly quantity of mediocre food just isn't good enough.

Best Food Find: Still hungry several hours after the Blue Bayou, I asked a cast member for the location of a food cart selling Disneyland's "famous" turkey legs. I was directed to a cottage-style food stand near the Matterhorn, I think it was called Edelweiss Snacks. They had not just smoked turkey legs but also barbecued port shanks for the same price, $8.95. I opted for the pork, and I didn't regret it! It was very tasty, not too greasy or sweet and only a little bit sticky. And there was more meat there than in my $40 rack of lamb entree earlier!

Best Unexpected Encounter: The day after the terrific Doctor Who season finale, which we were lucky enough to watch in HD at our hotel room, I spotted these Doctor Who cosplayers, appropriately turning up in Tomorrowland. Later I caught up with them and snapped this photo. The costuming is better than the physical resemblance, particularly in the case of the Eleventh Doctor (right). The others are portraying (left to right) the Tenth Doctor and Captain Jack Harkness. They told me there was also a Clara Oswald around somewhere, but I didn't see her.

Best Cast Member Performance: The pre-show and post-show of the venerable Enchanted Tiki Room was shiny and new because of this man, who called himself Tiki Maynard. He did new gags, voices and accents, and was generally highly amusing. I tried to congratulate him afterward, but the cast member I spoke to, who looked exactly like him, wore a name tag that said George, and claimed not to be Tiki Maynard at all.

Biggest Waste of Time: Innoventions, which seldom has anything better than remotely interesting, had an exhibit of Tony Stark's Iron Man suits, from relatively primitive beginnings to the latest and greatest upgrade as seen in Iron Man 3. We got in a line to go have a look at the suits, only to fine ourselves stuck in a queue for a game in which the visitor virtually dons a suit and watches his or her animated self move around in it. Neither of us had the slightest interest in doing this! Eventually we pushed our way out of there (politely, of course) and made our way around to where we could see the physical costumes and props from the films.

Worst Mistake: I have to award a tie here. One mistake was not allowing a fourth day, to give us more time for travel and rest. John can't take the go-go-go of three long days at the park on inadequate sleep, and even I was pretty exhausted by the time the plane home took off. The other was John's mistake of not checking his shoes for signs of wear before relying on them for three days of almost continual walking around and standing in line. His shoes turned out to be badly worn out inside, and he ended up with a two inch blister. I got a box of the biggest bandages the hotel gift shop offered, and taped him up for the final afternoon.

 Karen

RRPC2: A Variety of Varieties

For the Round Robin Photo Challenge this week, I asked to see "something that comes in a variety of shapes, sizes, and/or colors." I'm going to spread my personal response to this around a variety of social media. For Blogger, I'll just gave you examples of some of the varieties of varieties I found to photograph:

A variety of tropical fish at the Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney.
More on my Tumblr.

A variety of Disneyland ticket books, from the days of the "E-Ticket."
Another shot is on Facebook.

A variety of bowls in our cupboard, after a bit of a purge.
A better shot is on Twitter.

A variety of squashes. 

These organic yellow squash come in a variety of sizes and shapes, especially when I throw in an organic zucchini for contrast. These funky little squashes don't taste very good, though.

A variety of hot sauces at Daniel's Really Good Fresh Jerky in Quartzite, Arizona.

My review of this must-see shop is here. I have a photo up there too, but it doesn't fit the theme. Click on the photo above for a closeup - but actually I'm rather glad you can't read these labels, some of which are quite rude!

Now let's see what a variety of photos other Robins came up with!

Linking List
as of Saturday, June 2nd, 1:48 AM

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/mavarin
http://mavarin.tumblr.com/
@mavarin

Jama - Posted!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com
https://twitter.com/#!/ondinemonet

Karen

Round Robin: Phone and Photo Phun!

For this week's  Round Robin Photo Challenge (RRPC2: Fun Fun Fun!), I mostly had in mind the fun I am going to have this weekend. By the time you read this, we will be driving to Disneyland! Perhaps we'll even have arrived by then, and will be having serious Disney-themed fun. I'll post pictures from Disneyland before Saturday is out, probably to Facebook and maybe to Tumblr. But in the meantime I'm having fun putting this post together on my newest toy: an iPhone!

My iPad II, called Ariel, and my new iPhone, "Blue Belle."

I'd been wanting to get an iPhone for over a year, but the desire grew especially intense as the Disneyland trip approached. I had apps on my iPad with maps of the Parks and wait times for the rides, but even if I were foolish enough to carry the iPad into Disneyland it wouldn't help much. It doesn't have a built-in wireless connection, so it wouldn't be online gathering data. But an iPhone is online, portable and versatile. My research showed that dumping the landline plus an Episcopal Church discount would save enough to just about cover the cost of me having an iPhone and John having my old Intensity II - John's first mobile phone ever. John said to go for it, so I did! I've been walking around with a big grin on my face for several days. Fun? You betcha!

My Canon Powershot has seen better days. 

One cool thing about this phone is that it has a fairly decent camera built in. It's certainly better than the one on my old phone, or even on my iPad II. To test this, I experimented with using these three devices to photograph each other. My three year old camera is a bit beat up from all the hard use and abuse I give it, and has dust inside that nobody is willing to clean for me. Plus, how do I transfer the photos while I'm in Anaheim without a computer? Photo uploads from an iPhone are a different story.

Blue Belle's photo of Ariel photographing the Powershot, which doesn't have a cutesy name.

As for the photos themselves, I'm not going to bother with the iPad ones. The resolution on the iPhone photos is visibly better. I was also pleased, and a little surprised, to discover that the iPhone has built-in flash, something my iPad definitely does not have.

Enough. Check out the various flavors of fun found and photographed by other Robins. I'll be back with photos of Disneyland fun, on one or more social media sites, before the weekend is over.

Karen

Linking List
prepared ahead of time because I'll be on the road

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/mavarin
http://mavarin.tumblr.com/
@mavarin

Freda
Day One
http://fredamans.blogspot.ca

Jama
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Teri
Teri H Hoover Photography
http://terihoover-crystal-iris-images.blogspot.com/

Carly
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com


Tina
Tina´s PicStory
http://tinaspicstory.blogspot.de/2012/05/stuttgarter-fruhlingsfest.html

EMPS: The Mermaids of Disneyland

Carly asked to see sand sculptures or mermaids, neither of which are a natural fit for life in the desert. So I went to my archives:



First off, here's Ariel, the Little Mermaid herself, photographed at Disneyland on Christmas Day 2005. There's a better than 50-50 chance that John took the photo, but I did the editing, including the framing.



More recent, but definitely my work, is this shot of the ceiling at my local Chuy's Mesquite Broiler, taken a month ago.



Finally, here's a playful composite I made from about five different photos. The scene is the submarine lagoon at Disneyland, now home to the Finding Nemo attraction. There are mermaids on the ride itself, but I got no photos of those. These are, or course, the mermaid Barbie dolls from the ceiling of Chuy's! The two subs are both from other photos taken the same day as the lagoon itself.

Incidentally, back when the original Submarine Voyage attraction first opened, there were live "mermaids" in that lagoon!

Carly also asks whether I'd rather have sand of grass between my toes. Neither would be best, but failing that I'll go for some nice, clean, dry sand. I'm allergic to grass!

Karen

What happened to Karen? She never posts anymore.

Yes, I gave up on the Weekend Assignment and sometimes fail to participate in the Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot. Consequently I'm barely posting at all.

But I can explain.

Stuff I can't disclose is making things extra busy at my non-church job in far-off Marana. I've also got a lot to do at church, paid and otherwise, and I'm spending all day on Sundays with two mobility-impaired friends (and a friend whose mobility is fine, except that he doesn't drive).

Some days I'm working both jobs, which last week led to my leaving home at 7 AM and getting home at 11:10 PM on Thursday, and being gone from 7 AM to 10:30 PM on Friday. I had a conference on Saturday, and got home from church and friends after 6 PM on Sunday. I haven't been this busy since I was working full time and studying accounting at night. I haven't been MORE busy, methinks, since I pulled crazy hours at year-end at First Magnus, back in the day.

But I just got a check from First Magnus Liquidating Trust for most of the rest of the pay they owed me from 2007. Add that to what John and I have been earning for our crazy hours lately and we're looking good for a quick trip to Disneyland in June. That's if I can get away, and that's a big if. My boss hasn't okayed it. But if we go, we'll take a night at the Disneyland Hotel for the first time ever, possibly the only time we'll ever do so. It's over $200 a night!

Stay tuned. I'm not done with this blogging lark, but my entries may be thin on the ground for a while, and inadequately illustrated.

Karen

Weekend Assignment #322: The Mark of Quality - Sort Of

Well, I've been stumped all week on Weekend Assignment #322: Product Placement:

Weekend Assignment #322: Product Placement

Okay, let's shift gears to something very commonplace. Product Placement. We all have a certain product in our lives we simply couldn't live without. Tell us about your favorite product. How long have you used it? Why is it the best? If it were no longer on the market, what would you use instead? Give us all the details!

Extra Credit: Time to get creative. Take a photo of your favorite product!

What specific product do I feel this way about? I don't have a favorite soda, toothpaste or brand of chicken or cheese. I don't have a favorite fast food chain, or the best possible car, computer or phone. Even our DVD and BluRay players leave a lot to be desired. So what product engenders brand loyalty in me? I finally asked John to name a brand or product I care about. "BBC," he replied, without a moment's hesitation.

He's got me there.


This banner caused a ruckus on the BBC by being plastered over 
Matt Smith's face during the climax of a Doctor Who cliffhanger.

The British Broadcasting Corporation, launched in 1927, is "the largest broadcasting organization in the world," according to Wikipedia. This government-owned broadcaster of tv and radio is supported by as license fee paid by people in the UK, in return for which they don't run advertising (except for promos for their shows, which can be intrusive and obnoxious).



BBC Worldwide markets BBC programs and products to the rest of the world, which is how we get BBC America on cable and BBC Video from a company called 2|Entertain in stores like Best Buy. Rapid Doctor Who fan that I am, BBC mostly means Doctor Who to me: BBC-branded DVD box sets from 2|Entertain, Doctor Who on BBC America on weekends, novels from BBC Books on my shelves.

But the truth be told, BBC has entertained me with a much wider range of shows than that. Choice lines from Monty Python's Flying Circus have been part of the culture of every group of friends I've had since 1974 or so. My husband even designed Python trading cards and T-shirts for a living during one brief but golden period in the 1990s. (This resulted in our attending a party once in L.A. with several Pythons, Jeff Lynne, Sid Caesar and other luminaries.) I remember watching the BBC's The Six Wives of Henry VIII as a kid.  David Tennant's recent RSC run as Hamlet was filmed and broadcast by the BBC. And where would Douglas Adams have been had the BBC produced that wholly remarkable radio series, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? I even watch Cash From the Attic sometimes at 2 AM on BBC America, or those amusing guys on Top Gear, the only car show capable of appealing to someone like me who doesn't care at all about cars. And I liked both the original Life on Mars tv series starring John Simm and its equally bizarre U.S. counterpart.

There is one other entertainment brand that means something to me, and you can probably guess what it is:



Yes, it's Disney. I won't say I love everything the studio has ever done; there are entire decades (I'm looking at you, 1970s) when most of the studio's output was not very good. Nor have I ever forgiven the Disney Channel for dropping its Vault Disney lineup of classic shows in the middle of the night in favor of running its mostly-dreadful (to my adult sensibilities) Tween-oriented comedies night and day. Do children really need the opportunity to watch Hannah Montana at 2 AM?



Even so, Disney at its best is very good indeed. John and I love Lilo and Stitch, and even like the spinoff tv series and direct to video sequels. I loved Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame so much that I collected some decidedly marginal merchandise (e.g. party hats) from the movie before my mania subsided. We've bought at least 3 copies of Mary Poppins on DVD because they keep coming out with special editions with extras I can't pass up. Great film, great music by the Shermans. Aside from Doctor Who stuff, Disney is responsible for more more merchandise on display here at the Museum of the Weird than any other entertainment company.

And if John and I lived in Southern California, we would probably be at Disneyland at least once a month. Much as I'd love to get back to Universal Studios Florida to see the new Harry Potter attractions, there is no theme park in the world that means as much to me as Disneyland and Walt Disney World. And never will be. John collects Viewmaster reels and postcards and online images from Disneyland's 55-year history. I have a pin collection, and we've each taken a ton of photos over the years. The powers that be at Disneyland have taken occasional missteps, such as the fake Jules Verne retro-style Tomorrowland of 1997, or closing down the Country Bear Jamboree, which was in the design stage when Walt died. But I've gotten a lot of joy over the years from Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye and Space Mountain. If I could, I would wake John up, jump in the car right now and drive to Disneyland. Again. But I suppose that would be silly!

Karen

Weekend Assignment #267 : A Parade in Town

Late again! I had a topic all planned out, but a Tucson Toros game, lots of photos to edit and excessive sleepiness delayed its implementation. Much later, I remembered that this is Memorial Day weekend, and that I have this week's assignment, minus last week's responses, saved to draft. Here it is.

Weekend Assignment #267: In some communities, Memorial Day is celebrated in part by a local parade. Have you ever appeared in a parade, or at least attended one? Details, please! Note that I'm asking about any parade, not just a Memorial Day one.
Extra Credit: Have you ever studied to play a band instrument? (No band camp jokes, please.)

I've written about Memorial Day before, for John Scalzi's old Monday Photo Shoot. That was several years ago, though. Let me take another stab at the subject, before expanding to include other Parades I Have Known:

I grew up in a house on Fayetteville-Manlius road, about a mile outside the Village of Manlius, NY, roughly two miles from the Village of Fayetteville in the other direction. Both villages were in the Town of Manlius. Fayetteville and Manlius both had annual Memorial Day parades, and at one time or another I was in both of them.

The main parade for me was the Manlius one. I'm sure I marched in it as a Junior Girl Scout. Many years later I was in it again, carrying a non-functioning rifle in front of the high school band. I had a baton, but never really learned to twirl it very well. I just don't have the dexterity for something like that. Nor did I ever get good enough on the clarinet back in fifth grade to join the school band. Getting braces on my teeth was my ticket to dropping clarinet lessons, which I accepted gratefully. Anyway, my task was simply to march in time, which was challenging enough for me. The highlight was always at the corner of Fayette Street and Seneca, where one could usually see an exposed cobblestone or two and a bit of the old trolley track from the turn of the 20th Century, when a streetcar carried people from Syracuse all the way to Suburban Park.

Even if I wasn't in the Memorial Day Parade in Manlius, I always attended it. If my family didn't drive, I'd probably walk into the village, and stand somewhere near the former elementary school, Temple's Dairy Store and Sno Top. Temple's would sell pinwheels, vendors sold little flags, and Sno Top would sell twist cones dipped in chocolate on its "humdinger" opening weekend. Besides the scouts and the school bands, the parade itself always featured a vintage carload or two of World War I vets, marching World War II vets in the VFW (my dad, a former POW, was never part of such things), and the volunteer fire department, including my seventh grade social studies teacher, Thomas Murphy Hennigan. It wasn't the most exciting parade in the world, but it was a community event, something that drew us all together for an hour or so.

One year - and only one year - my mom took me to a Thanksgiving Parade in downtown Syracuse. I think kids' host Denny Sullivan was associated with it in some fashion, and I know I got one of those balloons with a shaped balloon (Mickey Mouse?) inside a clear round one. That's all I remember about it.

Disney's Electrical Parade at California Adventure, July 3, 2003.

I never got to the Columbus Day Parade in Syracuse, the Martin Luther King Day Parade in Tucson, or any parade at all in Columbus or Florida. My post-Manlius parades have all been at the Disney parks - Disneyland, California Adventure and Walt Disney World. And I like them very much, yes I do!

How about you? Did you grow up with one parade or another, or only get to one as an adult? Are you parade memories of community events, or the big holiday parades on tv, or commercial parades at them parks? Tell us about it! Write it up in your blog, and please remember to include a link back to this entry. Then leave a link to your entry in the comments below. I'll be back in a week with the results. Here, meanwhile, is last week's results:

For Weekend Assignment #267 : 30 Years Ago, I asked for your recollections of the late 1970s, or the late 1980s if you're too young for the 1970s. Here are excerpts from the replies:


Julie said...

The 1970s era was sharply divided between high school and college. I've blocked out a lot of my high school years, though I still keep up with a few good folks from that era. College was much better, especially after I switched majors. My counselor at high school pretty much forced me into a business major in hopes that I'd find a nice fellow business major who would take care of me and lead me to a life of bland suburban bliss. I had other plans, and switched my major the first week of school.

Florinda said...

30 years ago this week, I lived in St. Petersburg, Florida with my parents and younger sister, and I was nearing the end of my freshman year of high school. The fact that I still remember my class schedule from back then may have something to do with my inability now to remember what I walked into the room intending to do - I have an extreme case of Brain Clutter. So let me share some of that clutter with you:

Mike said...

After doing a little math, I figured out I was in 4th grade 30 years ago. It wasn't my best year in school. Not that I remember a whole lot, I just know that I got screwed with my teacher. My brother is three years older than me, and when he was in fourth grade he loved his teacher. I guess she was really nice and helpful. So I was looking forward to it over the summer. Then the bad news came. That teacher left, but that wasn't the worst part. The replacement was my old nemesis from kindergarten.

I'm still dangerously low on "guest professor" suggestions for these Weekend Assignments, so I ask again: please, please, please, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE email me some new ones. I warn you, I will continue adding another please to the previous sentence each week until someone suggests something. Save us from the invasion of the pleases!

Karen

Night Games

Peter Pan in Fantasmic! (camera phone, 7/27/08)

I can't believe it's been two weeks already since the last Round Robin Photo Challenge! What a busy time I've had! Two weeks ago tonight, I was packing for Disneyland, posting my RR entry, and trying unsuccessfully to get more than 3 1/2 hours of sleep before heading out to the airport. As you may have gathered, I had a wonderful, exhausting time at the Happiest Place On Earth (my left leg is still sore from all that walking), and a trying time connecting with transportation to get home again.

Here comes the Mark Twain! (camera phone, 7/27/08)

I went back to work, and was plunged right into the worries and the difficult decisions of Tuffy's last days. Then there was a new dog to be adopted, taken to the vet, renamed and taught not to eat napkins. And suddenly it's time for a new Round Robin entry, based on the theme Night Shots, as suggested by Steven of (sometimes)photoblog and (sometimes)blog. Oh, my! Already?

Fortunately, I got a call today from Proscovia King, the nice lady who trains and manages the acolytes (crucifers, servers, torchers and lectors) at St. Michael's. She had a couple of tickets going unused for tonight's church outing to a Tucson Sidewinders baseball game. Did I want them? Hmm. Good question! I didn't really want to go without John or Kevin or somebody, so I called John. He wasn't interested. John and I have issues with the Sidewinders going all the way back to the last days of the old Tucson Toros, when they changed the name, the mascot, the major league affiliation, the ballpark and the general manager, all for the worse. I've already ranted this rant several times over, but here's one example of the causes of our discontent. In the old days, the team mascot was Tuffy the Toro, that friendly bull character after whom I named my timid little dog. Now the mascot is Sandy Sidewinder, a snake with arms and legs. We will never name a dog after that monstrosity! I suppose after all these years we should give the current version of the team a fair chance, but somehow we've never managed to enjoy a Sidewinders game.

Sidewinders scoreboard at sunset

So John didn't want to go, but I believe in rut-breakers, so I offered to take Kevin, my friend from church. He said yes. At 6 PM we were standing in the parking lot at St. Michael & All Angels with Father John and Father Ed, the senior warden and some other folks. Kevin and I rode in Father John's SUV to Tucson Electric Park.

As this long preamble wraps up and we finally get to my pictures, I'm going to admit right off the bat that I messed most of them up. See, when I pull the camera out of my purse, I don't always remember to check the settings, which sometimes change by themselves when I'm not looking. Is it set on flash, no flash, or automatic? Is the macro on? The wheel of different modes, from video to portraits to night shots with distant focus, is particularly susceptible to getting turned to some wildly inappropriate option. And because most of the time I deliberately leave it on automatic (other options usually have disappointing results), I don't always notice right away that for it's set on macro, no flash, bright sunshine beach scene, when I'm trying to photograph the moon over distant mountains at midnight.

Revenge of the macro! Father Ed and Father John head out.

That's my excuse, and I'm sticking with it. I'm not saying that every shot here was on some crazy setting, but it was definitely on something odd for a while in the TEP parking lot tonight. And when I got home I noticed the macro was on. Macro! For wide shots of an entire ballpark, and later for fireworks!

Oh, well.

Okay, this shot of TEP isn't too bad.

The game was every bit as dull as the last several Sidewinders games I've attended: too many walks, two HBP, lots of fouls, hardly any hits or runs for most of the game and oh, yeah, the 'Winders lost. The crowd was much bigger than average, well over 7,000. If the turnout were this good every night, the team might not be leaving town after this season due to financial losses and lack of support. Even with that many people, hardly anyone clapped or cheered or sang when prompted. Not that there was much to cheer about, but still. Half as many Toros fans would have made twice as much noise at the old ballpark.

Fireworks from the parking lot.

Chances are excellent that half the people were there mostly for the fireworks the franchise shoots off after Friday night home games. I took dozens of hurried photos as Kevin and I searched for Father John's vehicle. Turns out we were the first ones to reach it. The building in the background of this shot is UPH, formerly Kino Hospital, next to the ballpark. The main psychiatric ward in town is there.

I like the reflection off the car roof.

For most of the fireworks photos I either had the camera on automatic or ISO ("shoot without flash in low light reducing blur"), but it got changed by accident at least once, and the macro may have been on at least part of the time. Still, some of the pictures are better than anything I got at Disneyland two weeks ago (granted, I was using the camera phone) or outside my house on the Fourth of July. I would have taken many more shots, but half the time the camera didn't go off, presumably because it failed to find anything bright and stationary to focus on.

The back door beckons

Back home afterwards, I turned the macro emphatically off, and took one last picture under more controlled conditions.

Now let's go see everyone else's night visions!


Linking List

Steven - Posted!
(sometimes)photoblog
http://sometimesphotoblog.com

Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

Vicki - Posted!
Maraca
http://mymaracas.blogspot.com

Gattina - Posted!
Keyhole Pictures
http://gattina-keyholepictures.blogspot.com

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Celeste - Posted!
C's Life
http://celeste-cslife.blogspot.com

Jennifer Robin - Posted!
Robin's Woods
http://robinswoods.blogspot.com

Molly - Posted!
Return of the White Robin
http://returnofthewhiterobin.blogspot.com

-rRose - Posted!
WAIT-NOTYET-/
http://journals.aol.com/rrveh1/WAIT-NOTYET-/

Jama Hameed - Posted!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Robinella - Posted!
Robinella's
http://robinellablog.wordpress.com

TJ - Posted!
T.J.'s Photo Expressions
http://tjphotoexpressions.blogspot.com

Jill
Letting Crazy Take A Spin
http://lettingcrazytakeaspin.blogspot.com

Marie
Photographs & Memories Too
http://photographsmemoriestoo.blogspot.com
or
Photographs & Memories
http://journals.aol.com/mariebm56/PhotographsAndMemories

Sandra - Posted!
Strong Chemistry
http://strongchemistry.blogspot.com

Annie - Posted!
Pictures of Craziness
http://krspkrmmom.blogspot.com

Gina - Posted!
Gina's Space
http://journals.aol.com/rbrown6172/Ginasspace

Momma - Posted!
Sandcastle Momma
http://sandcastlemomma.blogspot.com

Sahvvy - Posted!
The Instantaneous Existence of Me
http://instantaneousexsistence.blogspot.com

Ourhomeschool - Posted!
... Through The Eye Of My Camera
http://ourhomeschoolinthewoods.blogspot.com

Em Dy **Welcome New Member** - Posted!
Captured Beat
http://capturedbeat.blogspot.com

And, well, you know, you're welcome to join in too! Check the Round Robin blog for details.

Karen