Why I Oughta...

I've posted a few times about our experience(s) at Disney's Wilderness Lodge at Walt Disney World over the years .  It was the first place we stayed on our own as a family, the first place we experienced the Electrical Water Pageant and has the best resort-to-park transportation experience on property (imho) with the boat ride from the dock at Wilderness Lodge to the front of Magic Kingdom.  One of the best spots to just sit and relax on property is in the train room in the DVC studios building on the first floor where they have a bunch of Walt Disney's Carolwood Pacific backyard trains displayed .   On our recent trip at the Lodge, we found ourselves in an area that we've never really been before:  a little hidden area on the 2nd floor of the resort that feels tucked away and very private.  There's a big desk to do work and a little couch area, too.  I'll post about that part in a different post.   But, by the desk area....there's a really s...

If you ever find yourself at St. Mary of Gostyn Catholic Church in Downers Grove, make sure you take a moment to look at the painting of the Virgin Mary hanging in the vestibule right outside the church that is hanging just to the right of the main doors.  That's it above. St. Mary's is the oldest Catholic church in Downers.  From the SMG site : St. Mary of Gostyn Parish, the oldest Catholic church in Downers Grove, was founded by poor immigrants who came from Gostyn, Poland, shortly after the American Civil War. By the 1880’s, Polish-speaking priests from Chicago were regularly serving this rural settlement. Masses were said in homes or tents because there was no church. Founded by Polish immigrants.  Cool, right?  But also cool because my Mom is Polish.  So that means, I'm Polish.  And so are my kids.   Right below the painting is this plaque that reads "The picture of the Virgin Mary and child dates from 1540."   Yea...

  Of course, we saw all the highlights.  I've posted other art here on the blog.  Here's some art from a stop in Philadelphia .  And of course, I've posted about the art at Disney.  Here's one shot from the Polynesian .  But, we also spent quite a bit of time in the kids artist's studio where the kids and I used crayons, markers, colored pencils to make some original art.  Here's my still life featuring a blue flower in a red vase on a small table.  I call it:  Blue flower/red vase. Back in the aughts, I spent quite some time in my parent's basement working with acrylics and doing some painting.  Mostly on the weekends, while listening to some of my record collection.  It was really a therapeutic experience for me and something I did to express myself.  The medium was always paint and because I didn't have time or money for canvas, I mostly used manilla folders.  Or...frankly...half of manilla folders...

This interesting piece is hung up in the little nook by the elevators in the Grand Ceremonial House at the Polynesian.  Standing there, waiting for the elevator (so we can take the stroller up to the Monorail entrance), I saw this for the first time. After walking by it dozens of times, I'm sure.

This was the first Grandma Moses piece we've come across - and Nat reminded me that she gets covered on the Roadshow from time-to-time, so we had to pick this up and put it with the rest of our Christmas stuff.