The big number 365!

This post is post number 365, even though it took more than 365 days to get here (I didn't really get into daily posts until last fall).  

So a little history today instead of my original plan of a birthday cake, balloons, funny hats, and those things you blow on the extend out and make kazoo sounds...

The first post here.

Long delay in posting because we bought our first house.

Which of course means I have to mow grass.

Then, joy of joys, a pipe burst in the laundry room and flooded one end of the house, resulting in nearly five months of this.

But that was all finally wrapped up and we got to enjoy a nice Christmas with a full size tree for the first time, since our old apartment was too small to hold a real tree (leaving us to settle with with a tiny table top tree).

In January we got our gorgeous new kitten Mischa - more about that tomorrow.

In April we visited Sea World and got to meet God's greatest flightless bird, the Penguin.

In May, to go with the new silver kitten, we got a silver one of these.

In July we got to enjoy a beautiful sunrise.

And that pretty much brings us to where we are now, with lots of other little things in between.  It's been real.  It's been fun.  It's been real fun.  I thoroughly enjoy blogging and interacting with fellow bloggers from all over the world - its been great meeting so many wonderful people from so many places.

Here's to the next 365. :)

More Pumpkin Persons

More pumpkin people from the Magic Kingdom:

An unfortunate drummer who seems to have been a little too aggressive...

A female pumpkin who has been making lollipops and candy apples:

I'm guessing that she did NOT make a pumpkin pie... ;)

Pumpkin Bandmaster

A pumpkin bandmaster, baton in hand, standing in the circle at the entrance to Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom of Disney World.

iBlog on iMac

Our new toy - a shiny refurbished Apple iMac to replace our aging and dying PC.  After looking at all the various options for a new PC and hearing how much a lot of our friends love their Mac's, we decided to go ahead and spend the little extra money for a refurb Mac and make the switch.  Wish we had switched sooner.  We love it so far.  Takes some getting used to, but all in all it is fabulous. :)

One of the downsides is that I have had a little trouble transferring internet bookmarks, including all of my favorite blogs to visit, so if I have not been around to leave a comment lately, that is why.  I am slowly building them back up, though. :)

Sky Watch Friday

I've posted palm trees in the past for Sky Watch Friday, but those have all be real - this palm tree is made of metal - located in Tomorrowland near Space Mountain in the Magic Kingdom of Disney World.

Visit http://skyley.blogspot.com for all the Sky Watch Friday fun.

Disney Fall Decoration

Wide angle and a couple of close-up shots of a fall decoration at the Magic Kingdom, featuring what else?- a pumpkin Mickey.

ABC Wednesday: "J" is for Japanese Drummers

A somewhat abbreviated ABC Wednesday this week as we have just switched over from our old, dying PC to a new shiny iMac by Apple and I just got our pictures transferred over tonight but have a long way to go to get it fully setup and then getting used to the differences - but we love it so far!  

Anyway, in keeping with my Disney theme lately I bring you shots of some Japanese Drummers this week for ABC Wednesday.  There are three players than beat out their rhythms on giant drums with big sticks.  It is quite impressive and inspiring.

Visit http://wednesdayabc.blogspot.com to see what everyone else has drummed up. :)

(And apologies if I cannot visit much this week - getting the new Mac setup and all and I don't have my bookmarks from the PC over in the Mac yet so I only remember my own blog and the few I have linked to in the past on my blog page... might have to rebuild all my bookmarked favorites all over again, but we'll see...)

Magic Kingdom Train Station 1

The top of the train station at the Magic Kingdom, decked out in fall colors.

Pile o' Pumpkins?

Just a random pile of pumkins and squash?

Of course not - this is Disney World... it's a Mickey head! :)

Disney Pumpkin 3

"Three! Three, ha-ha!" - The Count from Sesame Street.

Ok, that's all of them. :)

Disney Pumpkin 2

" Two! Two, ha-ha!" - The Count from Sesame Street.

Sky Watch Friday

Another Disney World photo for Sky Watch this week - with a twist. This is a shot of the sign above the entrance to the Snow White ride, the back of which is a mirror - nice blue sky and puffy clouds in the reflected sky, and myself waving hello just underneath the witches hand while taking the photo. Hello! :)

While you reflect on that, head over to http://skyley.blogspot.com/ for all the other wonderful photos - don't worry, none of those are poisoned. :)

Disney Pumpkin 1

A pumpkin / jack-o-lantern at the main entrance of the Magic Kingdom... with plenty of useless and empty sky above it to try out and show off my new circular polarizer filter. :)

ABC Wednesday: "I" is for Intracoastal Waterway

ABC Wednesday this week is "I" for Intracoastal Waterway. The below shot is the ICW is from between Little Talbot and Fort George Islands, two coastal barrier islands east of Jacksonville, between which the ICW passes.

Taken from the Wikipedia article:

The Intracoastal Waterway is a 4,800-km (3,000-mile) waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. Some lengths consist of natural inlets, salt-water rivers, bays, and sounds; others are man-made canals.

The waterway runs the length of the Eastern Seaboard (Maine to Miami, Florida), from its unofficial northern terminus at the Manasquan River in New Jersey, where it connects with the Atlantic Ocean at the Manasquan Inlet, to Brownsville, Texas. The waterway is toll-free, but commercial users pay a fuel tax that is used to maintain and improve it. The ICW is a significant portion of the Great Loop, a circumnavigation route encircling the Eastern half of the North American continent.

The creation of the Intracoastal Waterway was authorized by the United States Congress in 1919. It is maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Federal law provides for the waterway to be maintained at a minimum depth of 12 ft (4 m) for most of its length, but inadequate funding has prevented that. Consequently, shoaling or shallow water are problems along several sections of the waterway; some parts have 7-ft (2.1-m) and 9-ft (2.7-m) minimum depths. The waterway consists of two non-contiguous segments: the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, extending from Brownsville, Texas to Carrabelle, Florida, and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, extending from Key West, Florida to Norfolk, Virginia (milepost 0.0). The two segments were originally intended to be connected via the Cross Florida Barge Canal across northern Florida, but this was never completed due to environmental concerns. Additional canals and bays extend a navigable waterway to Boston, Massachusetts.

The Intracoastal Waterway has a good deal of commercial activity; barges haul petroleum, petroleum products, foodstuffs, building materials, and manufactured goods. It is also used extensively by recreational boaters. On the east coast, some of the traffic in fall and spring is by snowbirds who regularly move south in winter and north in summer. The waterway is also used when the ocean is too rough to travel on. Numerous inlets connect the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico with the Intracoastal Waterway.

Navigate your way over to http://abcwednesdayround3.blogspot.com/ to see what everyone else has dredged up. :)

Beauty and the Beast Window

A nice stained glass window depicting scenes from the Beauty & the Beast, illuminated at night. This can also be found in the France section of EPCOT.

Paris Street Scene by Day

A couple of daylight shots of that same Paris street from yesterday's night shot.

Paris Street Scene at Night?

Paris at night? Nope, still in EPCOT - France now, of course. :)

Night Light

A street light in one of the corridors of the Morocco pavilion in EPCOT.

Sky Watch Friday

When walking around the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, watching the skies is likely to result in seeing all sorts of great things - like a Tiki tower in Adventure Land! (Home of the Enchanted Tiki Room.)

Wander over to http://skyley.blogspot.com/ to see what other exotic views can be seen in this week's Sky Watch Friday.

Morocco Tower

A tower from the Morocco section of EPCOT illuminated at night.

ABC Wednesday: "H" is for Historic Home

An alliterative post for ABC Wednesday this week - "H" is for Historic Home. This is just one of many similar houses in olde St. Augustine - simple design, sloped roof to prevent rain water from accumulating and collapsing the ceiling, small balcony sticking out on the second floor, chimney at one end for cooking (if no detached kitchen) and heat in winter.

Visit the ABC Wednesday Blog here or here to all of the other posts for the week.

* A happy birthday also today to my wonderful mother who is, as always, 39 years old... or is it still 29? Either way, she's young. :)

Statue at Night

A closeup from a statue in the Italy area of EPCOT.

The Full Fountain

The full fountain from which yesterday's fish was taken.

Fish out of water - or is it water out of a fish?

As I said in the last post, we returned from Disney World with a little over 600 photos from 1.5 days, so I could post one per day from now until May 1, 2010... but don't worry, I won't do that. Besides, we'll be back in November and again in Decemeber (and more in 2009 since we have season passes) so I'll have other new photos to mix in. :)

Any-hoo... here is a shot of a closeup of a fountain in the Italy pavillion of EPCOT taken at night with a longer shutter speed.

Happiest Birthday on Earth

Where does one spend the happiest birthday on earth? In the "Happiest Place on Earth", of course - Disney World. So while you read this on Saturday, I will be here:

Well, probably not there exactly (waiting for the steam boat in the Magic Kingdom near the Haunted Mansion), but... you know... there in the general sense of being in Disney World. Got it? Good. Back on Sunday (short trip) with plenty of photos, no doubt.

Sky Watch Friday

A lovely orange sunset on low level clouds being swept in on winds from Tropical Storm Hanna, which is thankfully too far away to give us much else besides a nice breeze and some clouds for a nice sunset.

Visit the Sky Watch Blog for all the other great shots of the week.

Do you fondue?

Chocolate fondue from The Melting Pot - a mix of white and milk chocolate. Yum-E. :)

ABC Wednesday: "G" is for Golf

Our ABC Wednesday this week is brought to us by the letter "G" - is for Golf.

The first game of golf for which records survive was played at Bruntsfield Links, in Edinburgh, Scotland, in A.D. 1456, recorded in the archives of the Edinburgh Burgess Golfing Society, now The Royal Burgess Golfing Society.

To put that into a bit of perspective, 1456 is a year before King Henry VII - the first Tudor king of England - was born. The English "War of the Roses" was in its infancy. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake 25 years prior. Ferdinand and Isabella wouldn't unite Spain for another 13 years.

But that year was just the first documented case of a round of golf. Other evidence suggests golf actually began in the 1100's - during the high Middle Ages and the century of the Crusades. Moral of the story? Golf is old. :)

While golf is most likely based on a Scottish word meaning "to hit or cuff" or a Dutch word meaning "bat or club", in reality, golf was used because all other four letter words were taken (and can be heard in abundance on most golf courses even today - "@#$& Clubs", "$@#* Ball", "#$%& Grass", etc.) ;-)

As the great golfer Ben Hogan once said, "All a golfer needs is more daylight." Amen.

So while it is dark (unless you have glow-in-the-dark golf balls or a lighted course - both of which exist!) head over to http://abcwednesdayround3.blogspot.com/ to visit all the other ABC Wednesday blogs until the sun comes up for more golf tomorrow. :)

Blue Garbage Can

Why? Well... why not? It was there. :)

Frisbee Golf

The nearby park we enjoy walking around from time to time has one rather rare passtime available - frisbee golf. (In spite of my enjoyment of real golf, I have never played frisbee golf myself.) Basically you take a frisbee, start at the "tee box" like in regular golf, and throw the frisbee down the "fairway", then throw it towards the "green", which is actually a chain link net type object attached to a pole - you "hole out" once you are able to throw the frisbee into the chain link net (as seen below).