Day 2 - December 13, 2010 - Part Six
Okay, where did I leave off? Again, forgive me if Im not replying to everyones comments just yet I want to try to make some progress on this TR while I have a window of opportunity. I had been saving my TR in an MS Word document as back-up as I went along, just in case the DIS locks up or acts weird. And now my MS Word document wont let me open it! I can open it as a text file, but not in MS Word just all of a sudden! I could open it yesterday, but not now. Technology is so frustrating.
Anyway, if I get tied up with other things, I may not be able to post for a couple of days and I dont want to lose momentum! So I want to at least knock out another few installments and then go back to responding. I appreciate everyone coming along for the ride and taking the time to comment in detail (especially deejdigsdis and Mariezp) I am definitely very interested in what everyone has to say and thank you to the newcomers to the TR like Disgram23kids and JH87 (Jillian, who I forgot to properly welcome when she popped in a while back).
Where did I leave off? Ah, yes, I was in the Emporium, and I was observing that the Castle in the giant snow globe had Christmas decorations on it on one side, but not the other side
which is pretty much what its like in person. Gotta love how Disney pays attention to the details.
These little guys took a long time to make their grand appearance in DLR for the holidays (they didnt show up until the season was well underway), but once they did, they were all over the place. I saw lots of people carrying them. I saw them in all sorts of shops. There was no shortage of Snowman Mickey popcorn buckets. I think Disney wanted to make up for the fact that they ran out of the Ghost Mickey popcorn buckets for Halloween, when they underestimated how popular those would be.
Yes, I am getting all up in the lamps and light fixtures in this TR - not even intentionally, really the lamps and light fixtures are more deejdigsdis and Mollys (Bumbershoot) thing! And it was very original! I suppose I was taking photos, specifically thinking of showing them, and in the process I ended up with a bunch of lamp photos of my own! But I dont think it will be an ongoing Quest for me, after this trip. Not sure. I think it was a temporary Quest!
As Marie said, its funny how you sort of get a thing going and stick with it for a while until you get bored or burn out. Sometimes you get on a roll with lamps, sometimes its trees and wreaths, sometimes its statues or fountains (not drinking fountains, but the kind like the Roger Rabbit fountain in ToonTown or the Sorcerer Mickey fountain in DCA), sometimes its signs and plaques, sometimes its popcorn-turning dudes, sometimes its topiaries, sometimes its weather vanes, sometimes its plants, trees and flowers, sometimes its pressed penny machines, sometimes its treats, sometimes its window displays, etc. There are many, many Quests on which to embark, and the great thing is that we can all just jump from one to another to another and never run out of things to photograph. Plus, we will always catch something that someone else hasnt seen, so there is always the excitement of getting photos and thinking, Ooooh
so and so will love seeing this! I try to touch on a little of all the Quests, but I end up with more photos of some than others! There is only so much time in a day!
Which shop was I in when I took this photo? I cant recall. Was it Fortuosity? Hmmm
. In any case, I love this wreath, against the elegant draped curtains and the Christmas stockings hanging in the background. Its a very beautiful, old-fashioned type of décor, I think.
Here is a clock for Sherri (not a working one, I dont think, since the time is way off) I know she said she was hunting down clocks on her DLR trip:
I never made it inside Blue Ribbon every time I walked by and was in the mood to stop, the line for baked goods was much longer than I was prepared to wait in.
But
I think I hear the Call of the Peppermint
I think I will have to come back to Gibson Girl in a moment
(Or, as the dorky guys who used to hang out of the car and ogle at girls used to say in those horrible Mr. Microphone commercials from the late 70s and early 80s, Hey, good lookin, Ill be back to pick you up later!)
I must say and I could have overlooked something I did not see any Mickey wreaths anywhere other than hanging over Main Street this year. I did not see them on the posts in ToonTown, where they had been relocated after they were coldly removed from the posts on Main Street way back when. Did I miss them? I was all over ToonTown and I was back and forth on Main Street a million times. I saw no Mickey wreaths on lampposts or signposts anywhere so now I wonder if I just totally looked past them when I was looking for other things
or if they have been taken down totally.
Okay
so now we come to The Ice Cream Trash CanCamera Incident I teased at the end of the last installment.
As I strolled along Main Street, I encountered Gibson Girl Ice Cream
home of the peppermint ice cream I love. I hadnt eaten anything since the huge breakfast at Goofys Kitchen the day before. I looked inside and saw that the line was not TOO hideous yet. It was a really warm day (upper 80s again), and I didnt feel like eating anything heavy or hot, which would include the things with lots of protein that I need. So, going against all rules and reason, I abandoned my usual start the day with lots of protein to keep my blood sugar in check motto and decided to get the Breakfast of Champions a peppermint ice cream cone. Not just any old cone, mind you. The cone, in this case, was not the chocolate, red & green sprinkled holiday cone that we have all seen on the Guy Fieri special on Food Network. No
this was a new holiday cone with crushed candy cane bits glued to the side. It was rich peppermint ice cream, nestled in a tasty peppermint-encrusted cone. Pure heaven on a hot day. Sublime, pepperminty bliss
. (PHXscuba, are you still out there?)
So I purchased this lovely, sugary creation (and learned that Gibson Girl does not accept the AP discount, which was news to me):
That is the only photo I managed to get of it. The darn thing nearly killed my camera and a helpless trash can that happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time. I was lucky to even get this one picture.
You see, when I got the cone outside in the toasty air, it quickly started to melt. It was dripping down my hand almost immediately. I couldnt figure out if I wanted to try to rush to an empty bench or stand there and get a photo of it for the DIS, of course. All in the name of the DIS.
Well, I decided that it was melting too fast for me to fool with finding a bench and then whipping out the camera. The thing would be liquid by that time. I decided that I had to get a photo of this cone while I stood there.
Well, I am right-handed. I held the cone in my left hand. Somehow, I managed to pull my camera out with my one free hand. I was going to snap the photo with that free hand. I noticed that my right hand was shaky MOST LIKELY because I hadnt had any protein since the previous day and my blood sugar was running wild.
So I figured that to get a not-as-blurry photo of this cone, I would have to stabilize my hand somehow. Aha! I can lean my arm on that nearby trash can over there, I decided. I thought Id hatched the perfect plan.
I found a trash can that looked steady. I leaned my right elbow on it and bent over in an awkward stance to try to get the peppermint ice cream cone in my left hand in the frame. It took some doing its not as easy as it sounds like it would be. I was mainly concerned that the picture was well-lit, show the colors of the ice cream and the crushed bits on the cone, and not be too blurry.
I concluded that setting the camera ON the trashcan would make for a better, more stable image. I poised the camera just so. As I snapped the picture, I must have moved my foot without thinking. And my foot hit the trash can. And the trash moved a little bit. And when it moved, my camera slid off the trash can and started to make its way towards the pavement. There was NO way I was going to ruin my almost-new camera by letting it smash to pieces on the ground, so I had to stop the fall. I lifted my right leg up, bent at the knee in a soccer-worthy move, to catch the camera mid-stream. Once I had stopped it from suffering a horrible death, I quickly clasped it in my right hand and haphazardly shoved it back in its case, which hung from my neck. I felt angry at the camera, as if it was its fault for causing me such grief.
But my quick camera-saving maneuver of pulling my knee up actually ended up pushing the trash can towards the edge of the curb, and it was precariously tilting.
I had saved my camera, but could I save the innocent trash can too? And, more importantly, would I ever be able to eat my ice cream before it melted all the way down my left arm?
I lunged out like a madwoman towards the trash can, clawing at it to keep it from toppling over as though it was a basket of kittens about to fall from a balcony. There was a loud aluminum-
thunking sound while I caught it in a death grip and pulled it to safety, all the while balancing what was left of my nice peppermint ice cream in my other hand so that it would not fall to the ground. I would rather save a trash can than let my expensive cone go to waste and have to buy another one.
Once the camera was safely around my neck and the trash can was safely back in its place, I did what anyone would do in the same situation - I looked around to be sure that no one had seen me. And I got far, far away from that trash can.
I took my ice cream cone and stood in some shade by a window display and tried to mop up the sticky peppermint drops from my hand as I recovered from that traumatic experience and composed myself. Thats what I get for eating ice cream before having a real meal.
All that trouble and the ice cream cone picture still came out blurry anyway!!
I figured that I would revisit Main Street later that day. Time to mosey on over to Frontierland to rustle up some Old Western-ness.
I like this tree in the Golden Horseshoe:
And this one is cute, too:
Coming up next: More fine feathered friends and a quickie trip through Fantasyland. And, after that, at long last I am all over the Reindeer Round-Up!!
I think a lot of people don't get it when you take photos of anything else than your family/companions.
Sherry, I am loving your report and all of your pictures. So many comments to make...where should I begin...
Almost looks like you can reach out and slap hands of people as they roar past on California Screamin'. And yay for the upgrade!
.
). But now I can tell everyone on the DIS about how they remedied the situation!!
This is even better than the poopy water outcome!!
