Is a Happy Place Always Happy?

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Every so often we take a walk down memory lane and head 70 miles north to visit the happiest place on earth…that’s right, Disneyland. As someone who grew up in southern California, I have been going to Disneyland since I was a small child and my father’s military status got us in at reduced costs. (My father never went after his first visit, but my mother took us regularly–especially when relatives visited from out of state.) And yes, I even spent my honeymoon in the Magic Kingdom.

My husband loves to visit Disneyland during the fall when the park is decked out in all its Halloween finery…after all, his birthday is on Halloween. So since we had a weekend off, we headed to Disneyland on Saturday–in spite of the predictions of record high temperatures–to enjoy the park, rides some rides, watch some parades, and view some fireworks. We started early and stayed late…all in the name of fun!

Disneyland is constantly changing–and some things never change, like the French Quarter in New Orleans Square where we headed after our first few rides (and lines) for a cool mint julep and Micky-shaped beignets.

But like an evil twin or a twisted pair, this happy place also has an ugly underside. There are long lines–in spite of fast passes and a handy app that tells you the wait time for each ride, rides that break down just as you get to the front of the line (Space Mountain and the Matterhorn!), rides that pause for no apparent reason (we heard it was to accommodate handicapped visitors), expensive food and drink, and the grumpiness that comes from a long day in the hot sun, in long lines, with unexpected frustrations.

But maybe the lesson is to temper your happy place with a dose of patience. Waiting in line allows time for chatting with strangers. There is also ample time for people watching. There are opportunities to observe every possible parenting style–from the threats and bribes and incessant cajoling to the offering of limited choices and clear expectations. And then there are the various clothing choices–the families in matching T-shirts (some with clever numbers and nicknames), every variety of Disney character shirt from every decade, and some indescribable get-ups from scanty to absurd. (And who knew that Dooney and Burke made a Star Wars leather satchel?)

I did find my patience tested–and it required effort on my part to stay even-tempered and polite. But those qualities were also rewarded. Somehow, along the crowded Main Street, we found ourselves in perfect position to watch the daytime parade.

Drummers set the rhythm as we all sang along to M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E. Then there were the chimney sweeps dancing to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from Mary Poppins,

swirling skirts,

and Peter Pan up close and expressive!

And sometimes standing in a ride line resulted in a picture perfect shot of the Matterhorn in the sunlight,

or a free choice fast pass as compensation for the ride breaking and us waiting out the minor repair until it became major.

And even though we were tired, it was fun to watch the night light up with dancers attired in neon that swirled and twirled–creating such fun photos,

and capped with a display of spectacular fireworks, projections on buildings…and even snowfall on an evening that was still 86 degrees at 10pm in mid-October!

I had fun and I was exhausted. There were spectacular sights and episodes of commercialism and overindulgence that made me cringe. I revisited the past and peeked into the future, and still wonder how this place will accommodate more visitors when it is already crowded beyond belief!

I enjoyed my Disneyland trip on Saturday…but I won’t need to return for a while.

So, can one place be a twisted pair? And is your happy place always happy?

Weekly Photo Challenge: On and Off the Wall

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This week I’ve been working on reminding myself to take pictures, even when they seem ordinary. Today I got lucky and had a bit of time to spare as I headed off to get my hair cut. I knew I would stop and get some coffee…and remembered some wall art I had seen some weeks before but hadn’t stopped to look more closely. I parked near my coffee place, but headed off in search of the walls I remembered.

As I walked, I noticed some other places to explore. When I saw this wall, it was even better up close than I had noticed at a distance. I love the way this painting on the wall also interacts with the planters jutting off the wall and the building features.

I crossed the street and headed back in the other direction where I had seen another wall mural. But first I came across this incredible Eucalyptus with a huge trunk, rounded by years, thick and sturdy. I started to think about the ways our bodies change with time. And even if we work to stay thin, mature bodies thicken and bulge as time passes. I always feel like I want to judge my thickness, push it away, hide it…but admiring this incredible tree made me start to rethink my attitudes. I’m still working to embrace the aging process.

Apparently this wall mural is part of an ongoing art contest, featuring a local artist’s work on the side of the building. On the side of a local restaurant, this larger-than-life art helps to draw attention to the business. I didn’t get close enough to read carefully about the contest, but the art is interesting and definitely attracted my attention.

I cut through the parking lot and remembered another painting on the side of the liquor store. I turned my phone sideways to capture the perspective of wall, liquor store, and parking lot.

Around the corner from the coffee place, I remembered this wall painting of cats with colors raining down onto them.

And remembered the deluge of rain on Monday at school–water poured off the roof and the walls. I have yet to master the art of photographing rain, but I think you can see the water pouring down.

So take a look at the walls around you. What’s on the walls…or maybe off the wall in the places your frequent? Maybe you won’t find wall murals…but as you look closely, what will you find? Will you notice a rounded mature eucalyptus tree–and rethink the shape of your body? Will you notice the beauty of randomly stacked odds and ends? Or maybe the sun slanting down on an old building?

You can post your photo alone or along with some words: commentary, a story, a poem…maybe even a song! I love to study the photographs that others’ take and think about how I can use a technique, an angle, or their inspiration to try something new in my own photography. (I love a great mentor text…or mentor photo, in this case!) I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #walls for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

So take a look around…what’s on or off your walls? I can’t wait to see walls through your lens!

Weekly Photo Challenge: #litterati

Some of My Favorite Things: October’s Photo-a-Day Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Manmade

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I love spending time outside, appreciating the breathtaking beauty of nature. The brilliant blues of the waves crashing on the shore, bees buzzing near vibrant blossoms, colorful sunsets and more… Yet, sometimes I find myself in places where nature’s beauty takes a backseat and I find myself noticing interesting manmade creations.

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. It wasn’t nighttime, so I didn’t get to star gaze and experience the telescope…but the building is spectacular!

The beautiful sunny day created a perfect backdrop for the architecture of this building. And from another angle, you can see the dome that houses the telescope.

Indoors, there are many informative exhibits–open to the public, free of charge, everyday! From the Foucault’s pendulum to the design of the windows, this is an extraordinary place.

While I didn’t get to go in where the current telescope operates, this “retired” version was on display. I am struck by its intricacies and beauty!

And looking out from the park, you can see the LA skyline from one side and then spy the iconic Hollywood sign in the other direction.

And sometimes interesting isn’t necessarily beautiful. A trip to LA is almost always accompanied by traffic–and this trip was no different. But since I wasn’t the driver this time around, I could take some photos out the window. I was interested in watching the train that traversed the freeway…although the moving car didn’t allow me the best angle!

So take a look around for photos that feature the manmade. Where do you find manmade beauty or objects of interest? Is it in the architecture? In the technology or transportation available? Something right in front of your eyes that you hadn’t paid attention to?

You can post your photo alone or along with some words: commentary, a story, a poem…maybe even a song! I love to study the photographs that others’ take and think about how I can use a technique, an angle, or their inspiration to try something new in my own photography. (I love a great mentor text…or mentor photo, in this case!) I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #manmade for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

Take a look at the manmade this week…what do you notice? I can’t wait to experience manmade (or womanmade) through your lens!

Wordless Books and the Power of Words

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Yesterday we embarked on a study of graphic novels in our classroom by reading Owly and Wormy Friends All Aflutter by Andy Runton.

This picture book is a nice entry into the world of graphic novels for our young students–even though it may not technically fit into the definition of graphic novel.

Our students aren’t new to reading wordless books, last year we delighted in the wordless books of Flashilight and Inside Outside by Lizi Boyd (you can read about these adventures in a post by my teaching partner here).

So there were no surprises yesterday when we began to read about Owly and Wormy. Our older students were eager to “read” as we turned pages under the document camera, and it wasn’t long before our young students began to join in, volunteering their own readings.

Wordless books, and particularly those with a graphic format, allow confident readers to emerge–even if they are still struggling with decoding print. Our students showed off their wealth of symbolic knowledge–recognizing that a four leaf clover in a speech bubble is a message of good luck and that a light bulb represents a new idea.

Imagine my delight when one of our first grade boys raised his hand…with two things to share. He quickly pointed out that this book was filled with verbs. You might wonder what he was thinking…this is a wordless book. But I knew that we had been working with vivacious verbs last week, using George Ella Lyon’s All the Water in the World and Thomas Locker’s Water Dance as mentor texts for this year’s first attempt at poetry. As I asked this student about the verbs in the book, he pointed out that Owly and Wormy were reading, sleeping, planting… It was obvious that he understands verbs! (And I wish I had recorded the actual verbs he pointed out…they were better than my memory!) I don’t remember the second thing he shared–it was relevant–but not as exciting as his noticing of verbs in a wordless book!

We’ll continue our study of graphic novels, focusing on the features as we connect back to Owly and Wormy and also to Julia’s House for Lost Creatures by Ben Hatke (a hybrid graphic novel/picture book that we read the first week of school to talk about what we needed to do to get along as a community).

And we’ll take our study further as we explore Hatke’s latest graphic novel, The Little Robot as a class read aloud.

The more I read wordless books and graphic novels, the more I am intrigued by the power of images and the resulting power of words that my students bring to our conversations about these rich, complex, and layered books.

What are your favorite wordless books and graphic novels to use with students? For yourself?