Why???

Why? Planted on either side of the shed doors is southern jasmine vines. They were all planted at the same time, given equal amounts of fertilizer and water, and equal amounts of TLC. So why is the vines to the left of the door growing so abundantly and the vines to the right of the door seem to be struggling?

I am at a loss for an explanation. Anyone have any ideas? Even wild speculation would be appreciated. Here’s hoping that your day will be as spectacular as this sunrise.

A sight like this makes getting up early worthwhile. Have a good life. Lew

pretty earrings

While at Downtown Disney I got Mary a pair of earrings as one of the presents for her birthday which is coming up October 13. They are in the shape of the Mickey logo of one large circle for the head and two small circles for the ears. Only in this case they gemstones. They have a lot of fire to them and are really clear like diamonds.

They are just ablaze with the fire and reflect the light so nicely. And the stones are set into a 14K gold settings. I think that she will be happy with them.

Don’t tell Mary that I got these for her for her birthday. There are other presents to go along with them. Plus we will be taking the dinner cruise on the boat Rivership Romance which we always like to do. The food is so good. Gourmet.

Have a nice day as the daily temperatures here in Florida are steadily dropping. Slow but steady. Lew

T-Rex

T-Rex. That stands for that terrible lizard Tyrannosaurus Rex. It also stands for a relatively new restaurant in Downtown Disney. We decided to have lunch there. Here is Mary holding a place in line for us.

We were worried that we would have a long wait. We asked how long it would be before we were seated at our table, and they told us 2 minutes. And they were right. Believe it or not we were seated at our table within 2 minutes. Amazing.

Immediately upon entering the restaurant we were greeted by a 20 foot tall T-Rex. The dinosaur would bend way over so that the head with its gaping mouth was eyeball-to-eyeball with me.

The dinosaur was animated with lots of different movements and roars. He was so close that you could reach out and touch him, but I passed on that idea. What a monster it was.

I got this picture because of the large caterpillar climbing on the tree. The triceratops were also animated as were all of the creatures. The dining accommodations were incredible as you can see.

But the best part of all was the ice room. It looked like real ice and was illuminated from within to give a blue glow.

Here is the entrance to the ice room.

Yep, that is Mary in the lower left corner leading the way to the ice room. It was really neat inside the ice room because there was a blue glow cast everywhere.

I think that it would be neat to dine in the ice room with the translucent walls glowing with a blue iridescence.

We looked over our menu which had all kinds of dinosaur type names to the food.

Mary had the stegosaurus steak and cheese sandwich. It was like a first-class philly steak and cheese sandwich. The proportions of meat were very generous and there was plenty to eat. I had the bronto burger which was a very large hamburger (probably 1/2 pound of hamburger) which was cooked over an open flame and had a nice char to it. I can't remember when I have had a restaurant hamburger taste this good. It was absolutely fantastic and I enjoyed every bit of it. The waiters and waitresses were fabulous (as they always are at Disney). Lunch was over and it was time to go home. We had a light supper that night because we were still full from that sumptuous lunch. The food was good and the decor was great and looked like a forest from the time of the dinosaurs. I have only praise for the T-Rex restaurant at Downtown Disney and I would recommend anyone in the area to eat there. It is really quite an experience. Have a nice evening and don't forget that today is Monday and that means there is wrestling on television tonight if you happen to live in the Orlando area. Here is hoping that your next lunch at a restaurant will be as much of an adventure as Mary and I had yesterday. Lew

Downtown Disney

On Sunday, Mary and I went to Downtown Disney to stroll around for a bit and have lunch. This is one of the entrances to Downtown Disney. The parking is free. The admission is free. And the entertainment is free. The chocolate candies at Ghirardelli's emporium of fine chocolates was free. But lunch we had to pay for.

We visited one of the numerous gift shops. The first one that we went into was huge. I think that there are around 8 or ten huge rooms with each room having a particular theme. This is Mary posing next to a pirate outside the gift store.

The employees dress in colorful costumes. The one employee is demonstrating a special wand for blowing bubbles.

The bubbles are hard to see but if you look close you can see them.

This is just one of the eight rooms. Very high ceilings. The Mickey logo can be seen, one round circle for the head and two round circles for the ears.

The centerpiece is Cinderella's castle. Straight ahead there was another room and another room beyond that. To the right there was another room as well as to the left. Behind me was another room and also another room beyond that. All of the rooms were huge with the high ceilings.

I remember these candy buttons on paper at the candy store when I was young. I liked them because I got a lot for a penny.

Well Disney has them also. I spotted these while in the gift shop and they brought back memories of peeling the candy buttons off of the paper and eating them.

There is a difference though. The buttons that I got were small in diameter, the ones at Disney were much bigger. Those are rock candy on a stick above the candy buttons. And the rock candy sticks come in different colors. I liked the rock candy as a child but found it so hard and slow to dissolve. What are those tubes on the right in the picture? Marshmallow tubes. An interesting treat but I never had one as a child.

There was just so much to see and we only saw a small part of it. It was a wonderful and fun-filled day. The time passed so quickly. Since it is free we can always go back again and again. Oh yeah, we also got a free boat ride across the lake, but that is another story. Have a fantastic day. Lew

wasp food

I was admiring the yellow flower on the hibiscus plant. It is quite a nice flower. Then I noticed the wild poinsettia plants. Actually I couldn’t help but notice them since they are growing everywhere like weeds and are taking over the flower beds. I noticed what at first glance I thought was a bee on the flowers of one of the wild poinsettia plants.

Upon closer examination much to surprise what I thought was a honey bee turned out to be a wasp.

Yes, definitely a wasp. I learned something new because I never knew that wasps went after the nectar of flowers. Actually, I had never given much thought as to what they ate. All that I knew was they built nests out of either mud or a paper type nest. That is my discovery for the day. They say that you should learn one new thing each day and this day it was that wasps drink the nectar from flowers just like the honeybees do. See what discovery that you can make in your flower garden, hedge, bush, or tree. There are lots of places to look. Go in peace. Lew

telescope

I purchased this telescope a number of years ago from an individual who took the lenses from old copy machines and used them as the front lens for a telescope. The lenses are quite large for the price of them. And because they are big, they gather a lot of light into the telescope.

I also managed to pick up a few of these surplus copier lenses myself. The lenses were of different sizes. The lens in this telescope is the smallest, but it came already mounted as a telescope. One of the lenses was really large, twice as large as this one. The lens in this telescope was made in West Germany by Zeiss and so is of a very high quality.

The telescope came with an eyepiece which I believe was of orthoscopic design. Orthoscopic eyepieces are common and inexpensive. I always prefer an eyepiece of Erfle design because of the eye relief that this design provides. These eyepieces are large and expensive but worth every penny (or should I say dollar).

I wanted to see if I could do nature photography with this telescope by holding my digital camera up to the eyepiece. I tried and tried but I wasn’t really satisfied with the results.

I was trying to get a picture of the squirrel feeder attached to the side of the tree. I had to rotate the picture to get the tree straight up and down and that is why the edges of the picture look so funny. So I guess that it is back to the drawing board as they say and scratch my head to see if I can come up with some more ideas on how to get nicer pictures. It is always fun trying to come up with a solution to solve a problem, a challenge. Someone once told me that nothing is impossible, we just haven’t come up with a solution yet. I think that is true. Have a nice day wherever you may be. Lew

latest additions

Here are the two latest additions to the brood. There are only two of them. They seem very healthy and like playing a lot. However as with feral cats they are skittish of Mary and I. The one cat is just like Tammy when she was young.

This is Tammy when she was a kitten and Mary was lucky enough to catch her and bond with her. Now Tammy the cat is very friendly and likes to be around us. However, the new kitten seems to be more black and white than gray and white as Tammy was as a kitten. But they both have long fluffy hair.

Can you see the similarities between the two? The other kitten is a dark tiger stripe like the male feral cat Alex. And this tiger kitten has white socks on all four feet just like Alex. I guess that we know who his (or her) daddy is.

The mother Dolly is ever vigilant as most mothers are. It is good to see that they are eating solid food. In the bowl is dry meal and the red bowl contained milk. The dark tiger kitten seems to be climbing into the food bowl with one leg on the rim of the bowl. So that is the latest additions to the farm. I say farm because we have one dog, 5 cats, and a rabbit. Have a good day. Lew

a mother's love

Only this toad’s mother could love this toad. He lives in the garage and is in the same area each morning when I get up. The cat usually gets me up around 5:30 each morning. When I go out into the garage the toad will hop across the room and under my tool chest.

Perhaps he (or she) lives under the tool chest. Mary actually likes the toads and frogs but I don’t. I have heard that if you touch a toad then you will get warts. Is that true? I try to find beauty in everything but I think that the toad is testing my limits. At least his mother loves him as all mothers love their children. Where would we all be without a mothers love.

Here is the feral cat Dolly with one of her kittens. This kitten looks just like Tammy with the long fluffy fur and the black and white markings.

For once Dolly wasn’t hissing at me like she usually does since she has had her kittens. She seems to be very protective of her kittens which is a good thing. A mother’s love.

Have a nice day. Lew

acorn

"From a little acorn, a mighty oak shall grow".

This is one of two acorns that Mary brought in from the front yard for me. She knew that I would be interested in seeing it. We have two large southern oaks in the front yard which produce quite a bounty of acorns which the squirrels love. I can see a squirrel or two most every morning on the ground beneath the oak trees feasting on the plentiful supply of acorns. There are so many acorns that the squirrels couldn't possibly eat them all.

When I was young I use to like to take the acorns and remove the acorn cap. Then with a pocket knife, I would make a hole in the top and carve out some of the interior. The with the point of my pocket knife I would make a small hole in the side of the acorn. Next I would find a small twig that would just fit the hole that I had made in the side of the acorn. It now looked like a little acorn pipe and I would pretend to puff on the twig as if I were smoking a pipe. Of course this was when smoking was fashionable.

But this acorn was not made into a pipe. I tossed it and also the other acorn out onto the front yard to sprout and grow into that mighty oak. Have a nice day and try to find at least one thing of nature to marvel at and think about. There will be plenty located in the yard. When was the last time that you saw a lady bug crawling on a leaf? I always liked the little lady bugs and if they were ever in any danger, I would let them crawl onto my finger and then move them to safety. Usually I don’t care to have bugs crawling on me, like grasshoppers. But the ladybugs I never did mind.

When I worked in the bug show at Disney, there was a lady bug on the souvenir pin for the show It's Tough to be a Bug". And it is my favorite of the Disney pins. Have a great day and don't forget to look for one of nature's remarkable marvels each day. They won't be hard to find. They are all around you. Be good. Lew

Classics Illustrated Comics

Classics Illustrated Comics. As a child, these were my favorite comics to read. And I still like them after all these years. I am just as enthused when I read one now as when I was a child. The illustrations were great. My favorites were the action stories.

I read Caesar's Conquests again and again over the years. Whenever I would get bored I would get my stack of Classics Illustrated Comics and pick one to reread. And quite often it would be Caesar's Conquests.

For me these comics were the Disneyland of the mind. I would be magically transported 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea along with Captain Nemo on board the Nautilus. As a youth I had a very vivid imagination and would lose myself in the story that I was reading. Such excitement. Such entertainment.

And I must admit that on occasion that I actually wrote book reports for English class after reading one of these comics. I guess that you might consider these comics as the forerunner of Cliff Notes or Schaum's Outline. In a sense the Readers Digest of school students. I can only imagine what Voyager will have to say about that. LOL.

There are just so many of these Classics Illustrated stories. And of course whenever my parents went to Florida on vacation and gave me $ 1.00 a day for comics, I increased my Classics Illustrated collection immensely. They were more expensive than the regular comics but I considered them worth it. I wish that I had my collection of the Classics comics today because they have become collectors items and sell for $ 30 and up per comic. There are sites on the internet where you can download some of the comics for free (I guess that the copyright has expired). Then I found a site where the complete collection of Classics Illustrated is available on DVD and only $ 9.95. I jumped at the chance and ordered it. Now I can read and reread these comics as I once did.

Which one was my favorite? Probably Caesar's Conquests but War of the Worlds wasn't far behind.

Have some fun today. Go to your local bookstore or comic shop and get a comic to read and a Baby Ruth candy bar to eat and have a pleasant afternoon. I am. Lew

window shelf

This is the window that Tammy the cat likes to look out while lying on the window shelf. Unfortunately, the window ledge is narrow so we decided to get her one of those special shelves from the pet shop that they can lay on to comfortably look out the window. The shelf consists of a wooden board with a thick piece of foam covering the board and then a soft fleece over the thick foam. I felt it and it is very soft. She likes it but is unsure of jumping up to it. She routinely jumps from the floor to the window ledge and manages to keep her balance on the narrow ledge when she lands on it. Her balance amazes me. She never misses the ledge and always lands on the ledge on her feet.

To help her, we put Mary's chair next to the shelf as a "helper" for her.

Perhaps now that she has her own padded luxurious window shelf to lie on, she will lie on it rather then my printer/copier. She likes to attack the paper as it comes out of the printer.

Have a really great day. Lew

Addie's camp

I was sitting at the dining room table in the early hours of the morning browsing my laptop for something to read. I came across this picture that I had saved. The picture always brings back a flood of pleasant memories of a place called Addie Dingman’s camp. Addie was a kind elderly woman who lived in a cabin in a rural part of New York. Like Addie, the cabin was old also. You know the kind, the wood has no paint on it and is weathered and gray. Inside the cabin the rooms didn’t have doors but just a blanket hung in the doorway. I remember that it was always dimly lit inside. No electricity. A hand pump leading to a well under the house was next to the sink and supplied us with water. The bathroom? Oh yeah, you guessed it, about a hundred feet from the cabin. She had an extremely large garden next to the house which supplied her with fresh vegetables, especially corn on the cob. Are you starting to form a mental image of the place. But what I liked best was the boat dock and a leaky rowboat (there was a tin can in the boat to periodically scoop the water out). The picture above is a replica of that place that I loved so much. I would row out onto the water for hours. What fun it was. The water was always calm and slow moving. So when I want to escape our high-tech fast-paced world, I just close my eyes and allow myself to be transported to that wonderful place called Addie Dingman’s camp. Have a pleasant day. Lew