cupcakes

When someone says cupcake what do you think of?   Yeah, those delicious cupcakes with the white squiggle over the chocolate frosting on top.   By the way, did you know that there are exactly    7 1/2 swirls on top of each cupcake?   Oh, and also, did I mention the inside?   That yummy cream filling?  

Oh yeah, makes me hungry just thinking about it.   But what about loyalty?    I know, what does loyalty have to do with cupcakes?   Well if you live in Florida, land of the orange trees then loyal Floridians eat orange cupcakes.

I have tried them and I like them.   The citrus of the range offsets the sweetness of the cupcake somewhat.   A great treat for the summertime.   But what about the creme filling?   It is still there.

When you live in the land of oranges then it is loyal to eat oranges and orange products.   Grape jam on toast?   Nope!   Orange marmalade.

By the way since we grow lots and lots of strawberries in Florida, strawberry jam is an acceptable alternative to orange marmalade.

But the orange marmalade should be the first choice for topping for toast if you want to be a loyal Floridian (or a wannabee Floridian).

Well, it is time to go get some sun.

Be sure to try those orange cupcakes.   They really are pretty good.   Have a nice day wherever you may be and most of all, enjoy life.    Lew

Space Shuttle Endeavor

The space shuttle endeavor on the back of a commercial jet left Florida yesterday for the west coast, Los Angeles.   I live in Orlando and so I watched the takeoff of the plane carrying the shuttle on television along with millions of other viewers.   I could have gone over to the coast but I knew that the crowds would be tremendous based on past experiences.   But to my surprise I didn't have to go to the space shuttle, it was coming to me.   The only problem was that I didn't know about it.   I had not heard anything about the shuttle flying over Disney on the local news.   Not even on the live broadcast of the takeoff which I watched on television early in the morning.   The space shuttle had flown over the Spaceship Earth exhibit at Epcot in Disney World.

That big silver ball is the Spaceship Earth attraction and is the first thing that you see as you walk towards the entrance to Epcot.    Now here is a helpful hint for any of you who have not visited Epcot yet.   The path around the attractions is a big circle.

First thing in the morning there is a large crowd.   After going through the admission gates you will have to go around either the left side of the large ball Spaceship Earth or go around the right side of the large ball.   We are conditioned to always go to the right, like driving on the right hand side of the road.   So the massive crowd of the people will go to the right.   Don't go to the right, go to the left.   There were be much fewer people because most everyone will be on the right side of Epcot and you will be on the left where there won't be short lines (if any at all) to see the attractions.    Take a closer look at the map above.  You can click on the map to make it bigger.  See what I mean?   Just a helpful hint.
       If I had known about the flyover of the Endeavor over Epcot at Disneyworld I would have gone down there to see it.    I bet the visitors at Disneyworld got a great view of the shuttle and an extra treat on their day at Disneyworld.   You have to admit, isn't Florida a great place to live?   I think so.  

The above picture is my nephew Pete who put tiles onto the space shuttles.

Have a great day and a glass of orange juice (we grow oranges in Florida).   Lew

it's a beautiful morning

Remember that song It's a Beautiful Morning by the singing group The Rascals?   And what a beautiful morning it was.   It reminded me of the song.  Such a splash of color.    I feek that mornings are always nice because the troubles, ills, and problems of the previous day are behind us and now we start a new day afresh.

The colors are so intense and bright.   It is quite a sight to see and well-worth getting up early to see.   But since the summer solstice (longest day) on June 20, the days have been getting shorter.   That means that sunrise will be a little bit later each day which makes getting up to see and enjoy the sunrise a little bit easier each day.   Get your cup of fresh brewed coffee plus a slice of toast and sit out on the front porch and enjoy this God -given beauty of nature.

There isn't too much entertainment any more that is free.   The sunrises and sunsets are one of those freebies.   Oh yeah, the Downtown Disney of Disneyworld is entirely free.   No admission charge.   Even the parking is free.    You can't beat that.

Have a great day and enjoy life to its fullest.    Lew

International Space Station

I missed it, the passage of the International Space Station passing overhead.   If it happens to pass over either early in the morning or evening, you are suppose to be able to see it.  It passed overhead on Wednesday morning, 9-12 at 7:00am.   That was a good time for me since I am usually up at that time of the morning and the space station was suppose to be pretty bright and easy to see.

You can see in the picture below of the track that it passed right over the little red house in the picture which is where I live.   All that I had to do was to step outside and look up.   So why didn't I?   It slipped my mind.   I was busy reading about osteoperosis of the bones and DEXA scanning, for continuing education credits.

I was really disappointed when I discovered that I had missed it.   But it will come again.   There is a website where you can see where the International Space Station is currently located and watch a track of it as it moves around the earth.

http://www.n2yo.com/?s=25544

This is really a fun site to go to.   Here is a link to it.

LIVE REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING AND PREDICTIONS: ISS (ZARYA)

This is the opening page.

Click on the 5 day prediction circled in  red.   To get the 5 day prediction for where you live but click on "Change your location" at the very top of the column before clicking on the 5 day prediction.   Here is what mine looks like.

This is a real neat site to explore and you may get to see the International Space Station pass overhead.   Remember, keep looking up.     Lew

 

Lonely but Proud

  

Currently I am reading a book called War of the Rats.   It is about the Russian snipers in the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II.  

 

I also have an audio version of the book which I listen to on my MP3 while I do yard work outside.   I listen to a chapter on the MP3 and then read the same chapter in the book later.   This seems to make the reading of the book easier by keeping the characters straight and in general just makes for more enjoyable reading.   One of the main characters in the book is a real-life Russian sniper by the name of Vasily Zaitsev (there are various spellings of his name).  

He was one of the top Russian snipers during World War II.  He has already earned two medals in the picture above.

He was awarded numerous other medals through the course of the war and he became a hero in Russia.  

There is a ton of information on this individual on the internet and he is really an interesting person to read about.   There is too much information to include here but it is well worth reading about him on the internet. 

I think that the book is called War of the Rats because the snipers had to crawl around like rats in the rubble of the bombed-out buildings that had once stood in Stalingrad.

So many Russian soldiers made such heroic sacrifices during the war to repel their enemy, the Germans.   Heroes like Vasily Zaitsev can  be easily forgotten to history.   I had never heard of him until I started reading about the battle of Stalingrad.   So where am I going with this blog?   What is it's purpose?   It is that we should not forget the sacrifices that heroes have made.   I came across a picture on the internet that I could read a lot into.   The picture was titled "Lonely but Proud".

What a great picture this is.   What do you see in the picture?   Can you piece together a story from what you see?   What I see in the picture is an old man who is, like the title says, "lonely but proud".    Obviously from all of the medals on his jacket (11 in all) he must have been a great hero of the Soviet Union.   He did his duty as a soldier and did it quite well as all those medals attest to.   How proud he must have been each time he received one.   What a smile he must have had.   But now he is old and frail.   He looks lonely and so his wife of many years probably passed away leaving him alone.   He lives in a simple peasant style house with a thatch roof.   However, it is probably warm and comfy on those cold winter nights.   I see the chimney on the roof for his fireplace.   His children have probably moved on to the city leaving him alone.   It probably wasn't too bad when his wife was alive but now that she is gone, he is probably experiencing a terrible loneliness.   Such sadness in his face.    But he has his medals and memories of his past glories to comfort him.   Thank goodness as we age our long-term memory increases and we are able to retreat into those past memories that we like so well and relive them again. This story is not unique to this individual but is played out over and over again as each couple age and grow into their twilight years.   On Memorial Day and Veterans Day it is good to give recognition of the heroic sacrifices made by so many soldiers of all nations during times of war.

Here is a picture of another Russian hero.   Just look at all of the ribbons on his jacket, plus the breast badge.   Each ribbon represents a medal.   Please post in the comments what you see in the photo and in the expressions and manner of the old Russian hero.  What do you think that he is thinking about at this moment?   A picture can say so much.   I hope that I haven't depressed too many of the readers of this blog with sadness.   My aim is to take a minute to reflect on history and heroes.   Cheer up and have a chocolate milk shake and I guarantee that you will feel better afterwards.

How can you resist such an epicurean delight.   I recently had one of these for my birthday at Ghirardelli's chocolate shop in Downtown Disney, Orlando.   It was better than it looks and I can say that after drinking a chocolate milkshake all of your troubles will fade away and then disappear.   Go ahead and splurge and have fun.     Lew

camouflage gone wrong

I was walking past the back of the garage when something caught my eye.   It was a moth on the current resting.   Remember the old adage that butterflies fly in the daytime and moths fly at night.   So here is a moth trying to get his rest during the day.

He spreads his wings for camouflage while he rests.   Well here is “the good news and the bad news”.   Let’s take the bad news first.   He is a dark brown moth on the white background of a white curtain.   Not a good choice on his part.   And the good news?   He is behind the glass window which will protect him from any predatory birds or other animals.   But as moths go, he seems to have a nice pattern on his wings.

Hopefully he will live a long life.   He just has to stop landing on white objects for his daytime siestas.    “Live a good life”.    And if you know the name of the movie that the quote is from please put it in the comment section.     Lew