Some of This and That

Hello and how is your week going?  Ours has started off well.  I got some things accomplished in the house yesterday, and we've gotten some rain here -- nice rain that falls rather softly as opposed to the gully washers that summer often brings.  I'm so sorry for the terrible flooding and deaths the people of West Virginia are dealing with right now.

This is another catch-up post.  I mentioned a few weeks ago that we were preparing to visit Disney World.  Unfortunately, we were there during a very bad week for the city of Orlando.  The shooting at the Orlando nightclub happened the day after we arrived at Disney World.  Such a senseless occurrence; I could say so much more, but I'd best not get started.  What I will say is that we did not get any warm and fuzzy feelings when we learned that this same shooter had visited Disney Springs earlier, looking for targets there.  Of course, the thought crossed our mind while we were planning this trip that Disney World would be a prime target for terrorists since there are so many people there every day, but we can't stay home and hide under the bed for the rest of our lives.

Two  nights after the nightclub shooting, a two year-old toddler was grabbed by an alligator and pulled into the water at the resort where his family was staying in Disney World.  The child was drowned and his body was recovered less than a day later.  I can only imagine what this has been like for those poor parents -- talk about your dream vacation turning into a nightmare.

In spite of all this, we still had a good time.  We were glad to spend some time with our son and my husband's family.  Yes, it was boiling hot there, but we survived.  ;)  We drank a lot of slushies, and though I tried not to drink them too fast, I still gave myself brain freeze a few times.  :-D

This is one of my favorite things at Disney -- the story of Cinderella done in tile mosaics.  There are five mosaic frames in all, and they really are amazing.  I've shared these mosaics in an older post, but the Mr. took these pics with his new camera, and I think they turned out really well.  I love the medieval-style iron hardware on the door.

These are the last two frames of the story.  I think there's some sort of princess event going on in the room behind the second picture (they told me I was too old to participate).   ;>)

The artist and designer's signatures are even at the bottom of the last frame of the story.  

This was the first time I had noticed the details on the columns between each arch.

I love how it shows the mice and birds helping with Cinderella's outfit for the ball.  This awesome mosaic is found, appropriately, in the center of Cinderella's Castle.

On our way home from Disney World, we stopped in Savannah, Georgia, for two nights.  I shared pictures of the place we stayed in a previous post.  I'll share some of the pictures we took around the city in another post; we didn't take a lot of pics because it was just too hot to be outside for any length of time.

In other news, I just finished this book --

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the last in the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series.  Book 17 of the series is due to come out in October, I believe.  I've thoroughly enjoyed reading about the lives of these lovable characters who live in the capitol city of Gaborone, Botswana.  My friend Judith, at "Lavender Cottage" blog, was also reading these books; I highly recommend them if you haven't already read them.

We've sworn off television for awhile here at Forest Manor.  Two of our favorite shows ended for good this year, and we find that it's just the same old stuff to watch.  We're trying to broaden our minds instead.  ;)  With that said, I started working on these last night --

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I took four years of French many, many years ago, and I was interested in seeing how much I could remember.  This program has speaking, reading, grammar, and writing.  In the speaking section, they kept counting some of my words incorrect when I know I was pronouncing them correctly.  I told my husband that I guess my southern accent was confusing them.  ;)  Hal is planning to learn French, as well.  We'll let you know how it goes.  ;)

So that's about it for me at the moment.  I should have a tablescape to share later this week, and some summer vignettes too.  Thank you so much for visiting me and have a great week!

Denise