Monday, March 13, 2023

Winter Recollections


 While I spent the last few weeks blogging about the wonderful Disney Cruise--click here to read those posts--that we took to warmer Mexico at the end of January into early February, our part of Colorado looked like the photos I took above of snow-covered hills and frosty temperatures.  

We had a few "arctic blasts" during that time where our temperatures went well below freezing and a few days below zero.  It has been an unusually cold winter this year, but one good result was that the snowpack in Colorado was above 100% in most areas.



A mother doe and her fawn visited my backyard a few times to eat the tips from a pine tree. It is one of their favorite food sources in winter when the ground is covered with snow.  The little fawn would eventually fall asleep under the tree and the doe would stay outside as a guard.  It was a very endearing scene to witness.





Snow-covered deer!




Now that March arrived the snow is quickly melting as our Colorado Front Range temperatures are rising and Spring is on the horizon.





As the snow recedes the wildlife has more sources of food. I saw this Disney-style "Bambi and Thumper" moment through my window when a rabbit and fawn were searching for food together.



In fact, I've been seeing many bunnies lately! Sometimes they are chasing each other, which makes me realize that soon there will be baby bunnies hiding in the grass. Spring certainly is a season of sweet renewal.  I wonder if we will see fawns being born in our yard in a few months like we did last year? Click here-- to see that post.



My husband and I attended the Eric Korngold Opera "Die Tote Stadt" at Opera Colorado in Denver, Colorado in February.  It is a beautiful, mysterious opera, yet rarely performed as the arias are demanding. Composed in Vienna in 1920 and based on a novel written by Belgian author Georges Rodenbachin 1892, Die Tote Stadt tells the story of a man who, still grieving the death of his wife several years earlier, compulsively becomes infatuated with a woman who resembles, in his mind, his dead wife—with predictably disastrous results.  

What made the opera stand out in this series of scheduled performances, however, was the fact that the soprano playing both roles of Marie and Marietta, Sara Gartland, unfortunately, became afflicted with Laryngeal (vocal cord) paralysis from a prior Covid -19 infection, just two weeks before the opening night!  
Fortunately, Opera Colorado was able to find a last-minute opera soprano who knew the role, Kara Shay Thomson. Since costumes were already made and staging had been practiced with Gartland, it was decided that Thomson would sing offstage while Gartland played a silent role in costume. Gartland couldn’t even mouth the words while Thomson sang; her voice therapist said it would further strain her condition. 
Hopefully, Sara Gartland will recover with rest and her career will go on. You can read more about this unusual story here and here.
We felt the opera was outstanding, made even more so by the brave sopranos--one who acted while the other sang from a pedestal in the orchestra pit. Bravi Tutti to both!  It was another very memorable opera moment for my husband and me.


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Monday, March 6, 2023

The Last Day of our Disney Wonder Cruise





It was the last day of the wonderful Disney Wonder Cruise that we accompanied our daughter and oldest granddaughter on.  We were sailing from the end of Baja California, Mexico, back to San Diego, where our cruise began five days before.



There were beautiful blue skies and warmer temperatures so we enjoyed sitting on our cruise ship cabin veranda and taking walks outside along the ship's decks.  Although we were sailing fast the ocean was calm and serene.



 
Although there was a children's club on board with many activities available, and the pool and slide on an upper deck were open, this day our granddaughter wanted to relax with us and listen to her music.  She also enjoyed this large lollypop that she bought in an onboard gift shop.  



One event she did not want to miss was a photo opportunity with one of her favorite Disney movie characters, "Stitch," from the movie Lilo and Stitch. She had a lot of fun taking a 'selfie" with him! 
At ten years old she wasn't as interested in the other Disney characters, as she was when we visited Disney World together when she was five, but she really enjoyed the more contemporary characters she saw on the ship.




We all watched the sun set over the Pacific




Dinner that evening was held at the "Animator's Palate" restaurant on the ship.  The walls of the restaurant are filled with screens that change all during the meal and show famous Disney movie sketches in black and white as well as colorful backdrops and scenery from the movies.  

On this last night, we were told there would be a surprise!  As we were seated at our table we were given a paper that had an outline of a person and told we could fill in details for the person any way we wished with colored pens and pencils. After were finished coloring the waiters collected our papers.  Then, after dinner and before dessert was served an announcement was made that our drawings had become animated!




If you click on the short Youtube above you can see how the drawings were animated and each table's screen showed a video of them walking, dancing, and skating,  across the screen.  It was a lot of fun to see our drawings come alive!




After dinner, there was a fireworks display off the upper deck and a wonderful musical in the theater of classic  Disney characters called "Cavalcade of Characters."




Our last blanket sculpture was a cute elephant!





The ship returned to San Diego, California, by seven in the morning and the disembarking process went very smoothly.  This was our last look at the Disney Wonder Cruise ship as we drove away to the airport. All in all, it was a fabulous and memorable trip!  

Thanks for coming along and reliving all the memories with me!





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