Here it is 7 p.m., and I'm just now winding down from a busy day. It started at 7 a.m. with breakfast and a trip to the college for water aerobics. I needed my jacket and gloves this morning, since the weather turned sharply cooler from yesterday. For the first time this season (that I noticed, anyway), the windshield was covered in crackly starbursts of frost, and fields along the route to the pool sparkled white in the sunshine.
The pool was 86 degrees today...such a heavenly change from Monday's 82 degrees. It's amazing what a difference a few degrees can make. 82 degrees feels like a dip in the Atlantic to me.
One of the water aerobics ladies is in the process of getting a book published, and this morning she asked me to do photos of her for the book jacket. I was delighted to be asked, of course, and we set a 3 p.m. time for her to come to my house for a photo shoot.
Back home from water aerobics, I spent the rest of the morning stowing stuff, making room for a large family gathering on Thanksgiving Day. After lunch, we shopped for groceries...mainly a turkey and other ingredients for the big feast.
Shortly after we got home from shopping, my water aerobics friend came, and we spent about an hour getting just the right shots of her. After she left, it was time to think about supper. And now, at last, here I am at the computer. But soon it will be time to go downstairs and join my husband for the rest of the evening.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Raisin Contemplation
Our local hospital frequently offers free noontime lunch programs on a variety of topics, aimed primarily at women's health issues. Yesterday's topic was coping with stress during the holidays. Scheduling too many events is on the list of stressers, so Mother and I had to laugh that here we were squeezing in another event so close to Thanksgiving.
It was nice, though, to gather with other women acquaintances, enjoy a sandwich lunch, and listen to a speaker remind us to relax and live in the moment, rather than worrying about the future.
To illustrate this concept, she distributed raisins to each of us. Our job was to focus all our attention on the raisins...their shape, their characteristics, how they felt, how they smelled, and finally how they tasted. The idea was to empty our minds of everything except the raisins. Whenever our minds tried to wander, we were to bring them back to the raisins.
It was a difficult exercise for me, because I'm guilty of letting my mind wander all over the place all the time, making mental lists of what I need to accomplish in the next hour, the next day, the next week, rather than fully focusing on what I'm doing at the moment. At this time of the year, I'm especially susceptible to mind-meandering.
But I'm going to do better. I'm going to relax and... need to gather my gear for water aerobics in the morning...focus...need to finish my grocery list for shopping tomorrow...on the raisin...wonder what's on TV tonight?
It was nice, though, to gather with other women acquaintances, enjoy a sandwich lunch, and listen to a speaker remind us to relax and live in the moment, rather than worrying about the future.
To illustrate this concept, she distributed raisins to each of us. Our job was to focus all our attention on the raisins...their shape, their characteristics, how they felt, how they smelled, and finally how they tasted. The idea was to empty our minds of everything except the raisins. Whenever our minds tried to wander, we were to bring them back to the raisins.
It was a difficult exercise for me, because I'm guilty of letting my mind wander all over the place all the time, making mental lists of what I need to accomplish in the next hour, the next day, the next week, rather than fully focusing on what I'm doing at the moment. At this time of the year, I'm especially susceptible to mind-meandering.
But I'm going to do better. I'm going to relax and... need to gather my gear for water aerobics in the morning...focus...need to finish my grocery list for shopping tomorrow...on the raisin...wonder what's on TV tonight?
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Branson Landing
Branson Landing is a 1.5 mile long shopping development, anchored at one end by a Belk's store, and at the other by a Bass Pro Shop. In the middle is a spectacular water feature...fountains, colored by lights, shoot 120-foot geysers that dance to music, and smokestacks (called cannons) intermittently belch booming plumes of fire.The water shows occur about every thirty minutes, so shoppers are bound to catch one during their walk up and down the brick-paved street between the shops.
One and a half miles is quite a hike, especially for my 85-year-old mother, so we welcomed a trolley ride back to our truck once we had finished shopping last weekend. The trolley makes several stops along the way to pick up and drop off shoppers.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Titanic Museum
Part of our trip to Branson included a tour of the Titanic Museum. I fully expected this museum to be more commercialized for entertainment than educational, but found it to be a treasure trove of factual information.
The museum simulates the Titanic both outside and inside. The "ship" includes a grand staircase, first and second class accommodations, and a deck, among other things. Interestingly, we were informed that although the real Titanic's staircase was marble, the first-class staterooms featured a newly invented flooring that was even more expensive than marble, and which was affordable only to the rich...linoleum.
The museum tour begins at the boarding area, where staff, dressed in costumes, and speaking in charming English accents, gives each visitor a boarding pass that includes a Titanic passenger name. My assigned name was Lillian Mae Thorpe Minahan, a wealthy first-class passenger, married to a doctor. My husband and mother were also assigned wealthy passenger names. At the end of the tour, we would discover whether or not we had survived. At this point, too, visitors can (for an extra $5) get a recorder for listening to survivor stories and hearing information not contained on museum placards. I think the recorder should be included in the price of the entry ticket, but I do recommend getting it anyway, because it's a definite enhancement to the experience.
Among the museum's hands-on exhibits are a wall of ice, simulating an iceberg, a Marconi telegraph, where visitors can tap out an SOS in Morse Code, a shovel full of coal that visitors can lift to the furnace (which flames up when the shovel is placed near it), a deck that features a night sky of twinkling stars and a cold breeze, and three partial decks, set at varying angles...visitors can try to walk up these and hold on to the rails to get an idea of how passengers felt as the Titanic sank. There is also a pool of water at the temperature of the ocean on that fateful night. Visitors stick a finger in the water and hold it there to see how long they can tolerate the cold before having to withdraw. I was only able to keep my finger in the water for a few seconds. These and other hands-on exhibits help keep the museum interesting to all ages.
There is also a wonderful collection of black and white photos of life aboard the Titanic, taken by a young Jesuit priest, Francis Browne, who was on the ship a couple of days before the disaster, but did not sail with it.
A particularly poignant survivor story revolves around a seven-year-old boy, Douglas Spedden, and his stuffed polar bear, and the story his mother, Daisy wrote about it. To learn more about "Polar the Titanic Bear," go to www.polarthetitanicbear.com. In a tragic twist of fate, Douglas became the first automobile fatality in the state of Maine in 1915, three years after the Titanic sank.
Only one Titanic survivor is living today, though I don't remember her name. I think she was less than a year old when the ship sank, so of course she has no memory of the event. The last American survivor to have memories of the tragedy was Lillian Gertrud Asplund, who was five years old at the time. She died in 2006.
Titanic survivors are listed on a wall of passengers at the end of the museum tour. If you are planning a trip to the Titanic Museum, you might be assigned my passenger's name, so I won't tell you if she was a survivor or not.
The museum simulates the Titanic both outside and inside. The "ship" includes a grand staircase, first and second class accommodations, and a deck, among other things. Interestingly, we were informed that although the real Titanic's staircase was marble, the first-class staterooms featured a newly invented flooring that was even more expensive than marble, and which was affordable only to the rich...linoleum.
The museum tour begins at the boarding area, where staff, dressed in costumes, and speaking in charming English accents, gives each visitor a boarding pass that includes a Titanic passenger name. My assigned name was Lillian Mae Thorpe Minahan, a wealthy first-class passenger, married to a doctor. My husband and mother were also assigned wealthy passenger names. At the end of the tour, we would discover whether or not we had survived. At this point, too, visitors can (for an extra $5) get a recorder for listening to survivor stories and hearing information not contained on museum placards. I think the recorder should be included in the price of the entry ticket, but I do recommend getting it anyway, because it's a definite enhancement to the experience.
Among the museum's hands-on exhibits are a wall of ice, simulating an iceberg, a Marconi telegraph, where visitors can tap out an SOS in Morse Code, a shovel full of coal that visitors can lift to the furnace (which flames up when the shovel is placed near it), a deck that features a night sky of twinkling stars and a cold breeze, and three partial decks, set at varying angles...visitors can try to walk up these and hold on to the rails to get an idea of how passengers felt as the Titanic sank. There is also a pool of water at the temperature of the ocean on that fateful night. Visitors stick a finger in the water and hold it there to see how long they can tolerate the cold before having to withdraw. I was only able to keep my finger in the water for a few seconds. These and other hands-on exhibits help keep the museum interesting to all ages.
There is also a wonderful collection of black and white photos of life aboard the Titanic, taken by a young Jesuit priest, Francis Browne, who was on the ship a couple of days before the disaster, but did not sail with it.
A particularly poignant survivor story revolves around a seven-year-old boy, Douglas Spedden, and his stuffed polar bear, and the story his mother, Daisy wrote about it. To learn more about "Polar the Titanic Bear," go to www.polarthetitanicbear.com. In a tragic twist of fate, Douglas became the first automobile fatality in the state of Maine in 1915, three years after the Titanic sank.
Only one Titanic survivor is living today, though I don't remember her name. I think she was less than a year old when the ship sank, so of course she has no memory of the event. The last American survivor to have memories of the tragedy was Lillian Gertrud Asplund, who was five years old at the time. She died in 2006.
Titanic survivors are listed on a wall of passengers at the end of the museum tour. If you are planning a trip to the Titanic Museum, you might be assigned my passenger's name, so I won't tell you if she was a survivor or not.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Butterfly Palace
During a trip to Branson, MO, this past weekend, we decided to visit the Butterfly Palace. White butterflies with black markings, like the two on the right, are the featured attraction right now. These butterflies can be viewed during the facility's "White Flight" event, November 1 to January 15. There are many other varieties of butterflies as well...all of them beautiful.During "White Flight" the poinsettia decorations provide the perfect setting for the black and white butterflies. There are feeding stations throughout, too, that make for great photo opportunities.
We were excited to be available during a butterfly release. Each of us was given a clear, plastic Solo cup containing a little yellow butterfly. We tapped the cup until the butterfly took flight.
Folks who want to take the time can view a butterfly emerge from a crysalis in the windowed nursery. A time-lapse version is also shown in a 3-D movie, one of the features of the "White Flight" adventure. The movie follows the life cycle of a butterfly, and a preying mantis. At one point in the movie, it looks like dozens of tiny yellow butterflies are flitting about inside the theater.
For those who can abide them, there are not-so-appealing critters in the Rainforest Critter Center. My least favorite were the huge cockroaches. The chameleon was okay, though.
We finished our tour with a walk through the Emerald Forest Mirror Maze. We're not as brave as my hubby, so Mother and I held hands, while I felt my way along the mirrors to the exit.
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