pitterpat » California

Weve Been There

Patricia — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:57:38 +0000

North South East West

Hotel Del Coronado. We spent our 30th anniversary here at this magical place. Going back again this year for sure!

Orange County’s Great Park. The scene from the height of this balloon ride is spectacular.

Home of the Desperate Housewives TV show, Wisteria Lane. On the backlots tour at Universal Studios.

Catalina Island. We’ve been there a couple of times and it is such a great place to go. One day is never really enough time to explore though.

Down To Two

Patricia — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:39:54 +0000

After the Christmas holiday season in Illinois was over, and Valerie had spent some quality time visiting with both family and her boyfriend who live there, she decided to stay put, at least temporarily. Val’s boyfriend will be getting a job transfer hopefully to the OC, in the very near future, That said, she was tired of not having her car and some of her personal belongings, which she had left here. So she flew out, visited, packed, played at Disneyland, and basically did as much as was possible in one week’s time.

Val’s dad John flew out at the end of Val’s week here so that they could drive back home to Illinois together. While here, John needed to run a teleconference meeting. Jerry and John worked a couple hours on getting that set up, but were unsuccessful. Jerry and Patty enjoyed seeing John again, especially since he is a camera enthusiast just as Jerry and Patty are. So much so in fact, John has the same camera Jerry has, a Nikon D90!

Valerie’s packing of her car turned into something of a Nintendo’s Tetris session, but she did make it all fit. Yeah! You can see Val here in the guest room closet going through her things. Here’s to Val and Roni getting a place that has a huge walk in closet when they move out to OC!

For Now

Patricia — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:07:48 +0000

Valerie, our temporary houseguest, is back home in Illinois for now anyway. She flew home for the holidays and decided to stay put, at least temporarily. When her brother asked her why she was still in Peoria on Facebook recently she responded with “A lot of different reasons: job market is non-existant right now, mom and dad can’t keep paying for my survival, jerry lost his job, roni is still waiting for an open position in SoCal…so I’m going to stick around for a little bit, see how things go, and move back when I’m able. I forgot how much I hate this town ha.” So, on that note, let it be known that we miss her and hope that when she does move back to CA with her boyfriend Roni it will be nearby so we can do lunch at Souplantation together. Note-these photos were taken on her 23rd birthday celebration! yum, cake….

Disney Topiaries

Patricia — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:11:53 +0000

Before you dive into this blog you might wonder if these topiaries at Disney World and Disneyland Resort are real. I am not sure if the Peter Pan and Snow White topiaries shown here at Disney World in Florida are real, but I do know the others are as I’ve seen them up close. The only part that is not real on the topiaries in Disneyland Resort is the yellow main on the lion. That is made out of some synthetic fiber. I hope this bit of information is helpful.

My girlfriend Pauline took these topiary photos while on a trip to Disney World in Florida with her 2 children, David and Valerie, a place I someday hope to enjoy to the fullest. I am a huge fan of Tinkerbell, for those of you who don’t know me well. I love the fact that Peter Pan is getting some recognition in these topiaires, he’s really how Tinkerbell came to be know now isn’t it?

This topiary of Snow White and a few of her adorable dwarfs is just remarkable. I wonder why they can’t do this in Disneyland or California Adventure. Maybe because of Florida’s climate, where it is more humid. The California sun can sure beat down on our horticulture.

I’m not saying Disneyland doesn’t have some amazing topiaries, as shown here with their lion ornamental tree. I’ve looked at this lion up close and the mane is made out of some kind of synthetic fibers. This particular topiary is over by It’s A Small World, where they have the largest variety of topiaries in all of Disneyland and California Adventure displayed.

I love their swan featured also by It’s A Small World. The pink flowers are geraniums and are remind me of a peacocks feathers.

Of course Disneyland does have it’s familiar characters, such as Dumbo which is over in Fantasy land. And their Minnie Mouse topiary which is over by the Disneyland Hotel. I am not sure if I saw Mickey around anywhere!