Why I Oughta...

Over the years, I've made a small little catalog of Disney Parks Maps from various visits here on the blog.  I'm drawn to various forms of Disney Parks ephemera and have posted some photos online here, mostly so I can remember them and...throw out the actual map.  Here's the tag of all the Parks Maps posts .   And, here's another collection of posts all showing various Disney Parks ephemera .  The last time I shared a Disney Parks map was from 2019 when we went to the opening season of Star Wars Galaxy Edge in Disneyland Park .   Below, is the latest parks map showing the 50th Anniversary of the Magic Kingdom showing Cinderella's Castle on the front.   Below is an inside look that shows the 'Now Programming' for the Tron ride in Tomorrowland. Below is one of the inside spreads featuring the details of "The World's Most Magical Celebration" for the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World and the Magic Kingdom. For the rest of the catalog of Disney

This recent boat ride - from the Magic Kingdom to the Grand Floridian - was on aboard a new-to-us vessel:  the Calm Seas.  We love a good Disney boat ride and have done a bunch of them:  from resort to parks.  From resort to Disney Springs.  From Resort to Resort.   Friendship boats.  Motor Launch boats.  Ferries.  Pontoon boats.  But, the boat you see below in photos, was new-to-us:  Calm Seas. It was running on the Seven Seas Lagoon, so that had me wondering...what was the story with the boat?  Turns out, it is repurposed boat from Animal Kingdom.  Via Wikipedia, we discover (get it??) that the once-used Discovery River Boats ride was in service for about 18 months and closed in 1999 .  Two of the four boats have stayed at Animal Kingdom.  But, Wikipedia tells us about the Calm Seas and how it was relocated .  With another boat: Two of the boats were later moved to the Magic Kingdom resort area on Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon, where they were repurposed for a pirate-themed fire

Over the past few years, I've always worked to identify some 'priority areas' in the garden/yard that I posted about - ahead of my annual to-do lists - that was a sort-of forcing-function to get me to focus on specific plants and planting projects.  Last year, I identified three areas of focus:  behind the oak on the southside , understory on the northside and the IB2DW area in front .   The results?  Mixed bag.   That doesn't mean I'm going to abandon the prioritization process here in my planning portion of my [ garden diary ].  But, I'm thinking of things a little differently this year and plan on trying to consolidate my thoughts in a few posts that will outline some PLANTING priorities and AREA priorities.   For this first one, I'm calling it a Planting Priority - because it isn't just in one specific area, rather across a variety of spots. And that planting priority?  Shrubs.   I suppose I'll start with a list of needs with shrubs: 5 Oakleaf H

We recently rode the Jungle Cruise in Adventureland in the Magic Kingdom and being all-in on Staghorn Ferns lately, it was a lovely surprise when I spotted a couple of them attached to tree trunks near the beginning of the ride.  I've looked at a bunch of POV videos on YouTube , but can't seem to find a clear look at the ferns and I wasn't able to whip my phone out fast enough to capture them.  But, trust me...they're there.  Once you leave the dock, look to the right side on a few of the bare palm tree trunks - about six-or-so-feet high from the waterline, you'll see a couple of Staghorn Ferns.   Although there isn't a similar site for Walt Disney World, the folks at Plants of Disneyland have documented four different Staghorn Ferns in Disneyland.  You can see the listing page here - screenshot below.   Source via Plants of Disneyland I'll be sure to have my phone out the NEXT TIME that we board the cruise. 

We've been going to Disney's Boardwalk since for ten years now ( here's a post showing our first visit, I think...back in March of 2012)  and have come to really love and appreciate this resort area of Walt Disney World.  Sure, the Magic Kingdom resorts have the monorail, the electric water pageant and Magic Kingdom Fireworks.  But the Epcot resorts have walking-to two parks, the Skyliner and the Boardwalk area.  On a recent walk around the Boardwalk, I came across this sign that is situated right on the border between the Yacht Club and the Swan and Dolphin bridge that evokes one of those old-time-y vacation postcards.  It has a cute Walt Disney World Resort postmark on the top, even.  But, the part that jumped out to me was the copy in the red bar across the bottom:  "Come to the Showplace of the Shore".  That's a new-to-me tagline for the resort area.  See the signage below: A quick spin around the Google machine shows me, however, that is his NOT a new tag

On a recent takeoff from ORD, we came across four buildings in Chicago that are peeking out the top of the cloud cover.  Contrast this view you see below with a cloud-free version at sunrise from last November .   Three of those buildings are familiar to me:  From the left: Sears Willis Tower, Aon Center, the mystery building and Trump Tower.  What's the third one?  Pretty sure it is the St. Regis building on Wacker Drive .  Back when I worked in the Aon Center, we would - on occassion - get views that were 'above the clouds'.  Here's one from six years ago (March 2016) from the 64th Floor of the Aon Center . 

I've now put together my fourth Staghorn Fern that is mounted on a board.  But, just the second one that I've kept for myself; the first one being the tiny one I posted about last week . I gave the first two away as gifts, but after those initial mountings, I had three Staghorn Ferns in containers that I needed to do something with.  So, I got busy mounting another, large one. This is the third of four of the good-sized plants that I bought at Home Depot in February .   I mounted this one - just like the other ones - on a board with a Sphagnum Moss base and 'volcano' using some fishing wire and drywall screws.  The board has a knot hole on it, so I mounted this one a little lower so you can *see* the hole in the mounting board.  Here, below, is the new fern mounted and hung on the wall in my office. Here, below, is a profile shot showing how far the Staghorn Fern sticks out from the board.  One of the things that I've been thinking about is adding a sort of 'bum