Tulip Festival 2014

On Saturday I attended the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point.  It is something I love and look forward to every year; a ritual of spring.  This year, however, I waited until the final day of the festival because of other commitments.  I should have known better.  It was really crowded and I am not a fan of big crowds.  It was worth it, though, because the flowers were gorgeous and the weather was spectacular!

There are over 500,000 tulips in the various gardens at Thanksgiving Point!  I think I took a picture of every one of them!

After I saw all of the tulips, I ended up at the waterfall.  It is my favorite place at Thanksgiving Point because it is so peaceful.  Even though the gardens were much too crowded to my comfort level, I ended up having a lovely time...that is until I wandered aimlessly for 20 minutes through the overflow parking lot looking for my car!

African Safari

I have been blessed (or cursed) with a serious case of wanderlust.  It began with a study abroad trip to France my senior year in college and it has only gotten worse.  Since I am a teacher, I try to take an international trip every summer (this summer I am going to Russia).  I thought I would share highlights from some of my most recent trips.  I must start with my African Safari in 2012 because it was definitely the trip of a lifetime.

Karen Blixen's house (author of Out of Africa) outside of Nairobi.

Feeding my new friend at Giraffe Manor.

Masai warriors.

Some of my favorite pictures of the animals from various game drives in Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara, and Amboseli National Parks in Kenya and Tarangire, Serengeti, and Ngorongoro National Parks in Tanzania.  I loved Amboseli for the elephants and Tarangire for the lions.

The most memorable moment on safari was watching a lioness stalk and then kill a wildebeest.  It sounds very brutal but it was exhilarating to see.  It is very rare to see a "kill" and our game driver even took pictures.

Some of the unbelievably cool places where I stayed on this trip.  My favorite was the Ark in Aberdare National Park.  To get to it, you walked along a long wooden bridge through the trees.  You were literally in the middle of a wildlife preserve.  You could leave a wake-up call for when a specific animal came near and I requested elephants.  I got my first glimpse of my favorite animals in the middle of the night wearing my pajamas.  It was magical.

The five-star resort in Tarangire National Park wasn't too shabby either!  I loved sitting on my private balcony watching the animals as I read each afternoon (game drives were early in the morning and in the evening).

When I think back on this trip it seems like a dream.  There were so many amazing moments and I was forever changed by Africa.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

I have to admit something (and I hope that you won't think less of me):  I love superhero movies.  I really love them and I look forward to them about as much as a 13 year old boy does.  Quite often, I try to see them on opening night and a big tub of popcorn is a must.  Such was the case on Thursday night when I saw The Amazing Spider-Man 2.  Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield), who is still tormented by his promise to Gwen's father to leave her alone, subdues Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx), an employee of Oscorp who falls into a tank of genetically mutated electric eels and is transformed into Electro, an electric generator, in a dramatic confrontation in Times Square.  Electro is then placed in an institution to be studied.  Meanwhile, Peter's childhood friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), becomes CEO of Oscorp after his father, Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper), dies from a genetic disease which has been passed on to Harry.  He pleads with Peter to help him get a blood transfusion from Spider-Man because he believes that the genetically mutated spider venom with heal him.  When Spider-Man refuses, Harry helps Electro escape to wage battle against him.  However, Harry finds some spider venom at Oscorp but it doesn't cure him; it transforms him into the Green Goblin.  Spider-Man, once again, subdues Electro but has a final confrontation with the Green Goblin resulting in tragedy.  The film ends with Harry, who is now institutionalized, plotting the formation of the Sinister Six (I've heard rumors of a spinoff).  I enjoyed this movie but not as much as the first installment.  I loved Andrew Garfield's sensitive and awkward portrayal of the web-slinger in the first movie but, while he has great chemistry with Emma Stone, I felt that the on-again-off-again relationship between Peter and Gwen got a bit tedious.  There are many plots and sub-plots (including more information about the mysterious disappearance of Peter's parents) to keep straight and I will admit that I found my mind wandering; I definitely feel that 20 minutes could have been cut.  However, when all is said and done, the action sequences are visually stunning (Spider-Man swinging from building to building, an epic chase between a semi and every police car in Manhattan, and a near mid-air collision between two planes, just to name a few) and that is why I love superhero movies.  The scenes between Spider-Man and Electro are electrifying (literally) and great fun to watch.  The late night crowd I watched it with gave it a rousing round of applause and, I suspect, fans of the genre won't be disappointed.

Tashena the Track Star

Yesterday I cheered for my niece Tashena at a track meet and I certainly had a lot to cheer about!  She entered four events and she placed in all four of them!  I could not be prouder of her and I may have been a tad boisterous in my cheering!

Her first event was the 100 meter!  She placed second and was quite disappointed with herself because she won it last week.  She said she didn't let herself relax enough!

Next came her very best event:  the discus.  At her first meet, she threw it 89 feet 11 inches!  Her coach was absolutely amazed!  Last week she didn't do as well because so many coaches from other schools were watching her and she got very nervous.  She told me right before this event that she was a little nervous to throw because my Mom and I were there watching.  However, her first throw was 97 feet!  She was literally jumping up and down and screaming when she got the measurement!  Her second throw was 102 feet!  The state record is 113 feet and Tashena is only in seventh grade!  Nobody even came close to her distance and the coach running the event said that all she would be doing from now on is beating her own records!  I cheered so loud and yelled, "That's my girl!"  One of the parents near me told me that she was amazing!  I know!

Her next event was the 4 X 100 meter relay.  Tashena ran the third leg and when she got the baton her team was in last place.  When she passed the baton her team was in second place!  They ended up placing third!

Her last event was the shot put, which she thinks is her weakest event.  She told me that she usually throws in the 22 feet range.  Today her best throw was 25 feet and 1/2 inch and that was good enough for second place!

I may be a little bit biased, but I think she is amazing!

Arsenic and Old Lace at HCT

Last night I was able to see Arsenic and Old Lace at Hale Centre Theatre. Despite the fact that I consider myself to be quite the theatre aficionado, I have never seen this long-running play (or the popular movie starring Cary Grant) before.  Now I understand why it had 1,444 performances on Broadway;  it is absolutely hilarious!  Mortimer Brewster visits his aunts Abby and Martha only to discover a dead body in the window seat.  He learns that several old and lonely men have visited, answering an advertisement for a room to rent, and that the Brewster sisters have done their Christian duty by ending their misery with a glass of elderberry wine (with the addition of arsenic). Their nephew (and Mortimer's brother) Teddy, who just happens to think that he is Teddy Roosevelt, buries these men in the cellar because he thinks he is digging locks for the Panama Canal. Chaos ensues when Mortimer's brother Jonathan, a homicidal maniac, returns to the house needing to dispose of his own dead body which ends up, you guessed it, in the window seat.  Throw in an unwilling accomplice, a bumbling policeman who really wants to be a playwright, and a curious fiance and you have a thoroughly entertaining dark comedy that will keep you laughing all evening.  All of the performances are great.  One of my former colleagues, Claire Spencer, plays Martha and it was really fun for me to see her on stage and visit with her after the show. Brandon Green is absolutely hysterical, and a little bit creepy, as Jonathan Brewster.  I have seen him in previous productions at HCT and the physical comedy he brings to each role is second to none!  As always, I absolutely loved the set!  Kacey Udy, the set designer, created the perfect drawing room full of red velvet arm chairs, lamps with stained glass shades, and lace antimacassars.  I also loved the costumes worn by the Brewster sisters, especially the black bombazine dresses they wear for the funeral services of the men they kill.  I thoroughly enjoyed this production, but I recommend it for adults.  The show runs until May 31 and tickets range from $27.00-$16.00.  You can purchase tickets here but shows are selling out quickly.