Movie night at the El Capitan

Took a bus and a train up to the El Capitan to see a show and a movie. Before we went in, we snapped this shot of us across Hollywood Blvd from the Disney theater.

Once in, we enjoyed the Wurlitzer organ playing Christmas and Disney songs, and then a 20-minute live show encouraging us to sing along and ring the jingle bells they had handed out to everyone in the theater.

The most interesting part of the evening was the movie, Dicken's "A Christmas Carol," which was presented in 3D. Amazing effect. If you haven't seen the movie, do so, and make sure it's in 3D. Seeing it at an IMAX won't hurt, either.

After the movie, we headed back on train & bus, and got home with our hearts and wallets intact!

Pete and Me

Hi, everybody! Here are Pete and me in Hollywood and I am getting expert instruction in all matters bloggy. We are going up to the El Capitan theater to buy tickets for tonight's "Christmas Carol showing (+stage show!). This afternoon we are going to have a hot dog at PINK'S on La Brea at Melrose. Neither of us has ever had one.

And, by the way, we went to IHOP in WeHo Saturday morning and tried the eggnog pancakes. Wow! Yum yum yummy!!

Dad.

Sou'wester

Nancy and Jay had their Nor'easter recently. Yesterday, DOD and I had our Sou'wester.

Up here in the high country, as the next graphic indicates, there were 26 inches measured last night, 20 inches of it in 12 hours. That was accompanied by 50 mph sustained winds, gusting to 70 mph. While I was asleep we lost power, but I don't know for how long because all my clocks re-set automatically. I knew the outage was the case, though, when I heard my computer reboot as I was sleeping. The reboot woke me up, and I realized that there was also lightning. This graphic is from NOAA Tuesday morning--

We knew the storm was coming Monday morning. By noon on Monday, even though it was Finals Week at the University, all classes were canceled. This is unprecedented for Finals Week. The decision to cancel was most likely taken because blizzard warnings were posted. There haven't been blizzard warnings posted here in over a decade. And while 26 inches isn't really much of a newsmaker here -- last year, for instance, we had a 52-inch storm -- it was the combination of heavy snow and high winds that freaked people out here.

The University also canceled classes and exams for Tuesday as well for the reason that the brunt of the storm was to occur early Tuesday morning. The wind and snow tapered off quickly around 4 am, and when I went to the grocery store at 6:30 am, I took the following pictures before very much shoveling had been done. (Click on pictures to enlarge.)

Stepping out onto my front porch

The view toward market, from just under my balcony

The main entrance to my complex

Even the door knocker had a mantle of snow

Because work closed early Monday and all of Tuesday, I was able to enjoy a nice, quiet day-and-a-half in my cozy, warm home. Wednesday, that will be quite a different story as I head back to work to liberate the many vehicles in our fleet buried under snow.

Virginia's Nor'easter

Today was to be the worst weather event since Hurricane Isabel in 2003. The weather guy said tides and pounding rain were going to swamp the Hampton Roads area. So I was ready...I had my coffee and a good book. I had my jammies and my blanket ready. I turned on the news to watch the closings scrolling across the bottom of the screen. Oh good! Poquoson is closed, and my school district is right next door. Wow, Virginia Beach is closed, and they NEVER close for anything! Next on the ticker, I see Chesapeake, then Norfolk, then Suffolk, then Portsmouth. Pretty soon, every school district on the Southside and on the Peninsula EXCEPT Newport News. Pfft! I got dressed, just in case. My heart was soon broken...I ended up GOING TO SCHOOL! I had only 11 students show up for class. It turned out to be a game day, which was good for team buiding.
Seems tomorrow we are starting the day with a 2-hr. delay.
I am loving the weather, though. Lots of rain and wind. Just my cup of tea.

Peetay of Croquet

Vicious!

Oh, no no, no! Don't let them fool you ... they of cunning connivery, they of fiendish fourberie, they of pretentious pecksniffery, they of merely middling mediocrity even! ...

Though they would front like bosom buddies ...
... they couldn't hide their true Hyde.

No opportunity was lost smashing my ball into the next state (oh, bad comparison, one can see Ohio from the front yard for pete's sake, my bad). Still, it was just vicious!

No matter my loud and repeated protestations, they kept stealing my turn! *hurrumph!* It was a slugfest ...

Youda thunk I woulda had a thumbs up my way from Nero et Brutus, but they just kept feeding me to the loins ...
There was one moment of levity, literally, when I found DOD bolt upright, asleep at the mallet, snoring away ...
Anyway, clearly, they could not come to terms with such exemplary showmanship and superior skill.
Everyone else was left in the dust. DOD was flummoxed!
Remember mere mortals with whom thou dealst! (Hey, kinda a catchy closer, eh?)

Jayjay of Croquet

Here, Dad, let me show you ...

"Jay, look! Up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a ..." (hehe, now to move my ball) ...

There's just no way ...

Was it Jay who was forever hitting his foot? You can sense the strangled smirk oozing from DOD.

And we end with this terrific shot ...

First hard freeze

I don't think winter is here just yet (temps will moderate of course in the weeks ahead), but we are getting quite a wake-up call for what is certainly coming. This screen capture was taken at 6 am this morning. The walk to work at that time included sweatshirt, scarf and cap.

Dadday of Croquet

Has to go through the hoops first ...
Olympic form ...

The hedge hog was not happy ...

DODs feet kept getting in the way ...

Jay's balls kept getting in the way ...

OK, maybe not his best angle ...

"Dad, we're already done ...."

Arts and letters II

Remember when?

Accoutrements

Multum in parvo

ELO

ELO.

It doesn't stand this time for "Electric Light Orchestra." Rather, it is the acronym for the city lying opposite the Mighty Ohio from Chester.

Jay and I were fortunate to be able to spend our days in Chester, then luxuriate in the comfort of a nice bed at our Uncle Les and Aunt Joan's lovely home on the other shore.

Our late arrivals to and early departures from our very accommodating hosts' home meant that we wouldn't see them much until later when we all had a pizza dinner there. Nevertheless, these pictures represent some of what Jay and I saw of ELO during our evening retreats from Chester.