Origami Sphere

There was a free class on origami in the center of the Chicago building on my last three posts. This was one of the items on display. It was a sphere made of colorful paper and was about four feet* in diameter.
I'm going down to Palm Beach for the weekend so will try to take some pictures of or on the beach. I will try to post while I'm gone but don't know if I'll have internet access. The friends I'm staying with are computer phobic.

*That's 48 inches or 122 cm

This is a view of the center of the building whose bottom floor and ceiling I've posted the past two days. Odd to see that these are all in the same building. Thanks to David Mitchell for telling me that it's the James R. Thompson Center. It's a fantastic building.

Yesterday's post was the ground floor looking from the street level. This is the view looking up. Tomorrow I'll post one of the side walls. It's still raining here so I haven't been out to take any new local photos so I'll just post Chicago for a day or two more.
Thanks to David Mitchell for giving me the name of the building. It's the James R. Thompson Center in Downtown Chicago.

While in Chicago my friend and I went into this building looking for a place to have lunch. We entered on the ground floor and the center of the building was this huge open space that went both up and down. This was the view looking down. The graphic nature of the building was awesome. I'll post a view of what we saw when looking up tomorrow. I wish I'd made a note of the name of the building.

France!

Well, it isn't really France but it's as close as I can get for now. It's one of the buildings in France at Epcot, Disney World. This is in the back where there is a pretty fenced garden and the building houses a store that sells very expensive French Perfume. I usually visit the pastry shop in this area and sit with a pastry and cup of coffee and imagine that I've been transported to the other side of the pond. Sigh. Maybe if things work out, it will happen later this year.

Chicago

I'm still in Chicago but heading home today. It was a fun visit. Met with and spent time with two groups of computer friends. Amazing how this communication device has made the world a smaller but friendlier place.
If I'm not too tired tonight I'll try to write my daily post for tomorrow.

More sunsets. Florida sunsets can sometimes be breathtaking. I'm told that the lovely reds and orange colors signify pollution. Florida is flat but late afternoon when the clouds build they appear like mountains in the distance to give us a more interesting landscape.
I'm heading to Chicago for a week and won't be posting the Kissimmee blog until I return. I may do a Chicago post if I can.

I was going to do a skywatch Friday but couldn't find the links so this is my version. I took this shot the other day when the shuttle lifted off. I watch the launch on television and then go outside to see it rising into the sky. Well this is what I saw. Somewhere in those lovely white puffy clouds is the Space Shuttle heading off to fix Hubble. It usually heads to the east over the ocean so it never appeared in the nice little blue space that I watched for ages. But it is there.. honest.

Striped eggplant? These were on display at the Farmer's Market. I've seen white eggplant and the usual purple but the striped was new to me and I thought it was very pretty. I didn't buy any because it's just not my favorite vegetable, although I could try to find a good recipe.

Yesterday's photo was of a fountain attached to Bongo's Restaurant at Downtown Disney. Today's is of the huge pineapple on top of it. There are so many fun and funky architectural details there and I always find something new that I hadn't seen before.
Hooray.. we finally have rain. Big storm passed through last night. Now perhaps my lawn will turn from brown to green.

Temperature has been in the 90's (*) these past few day and it is humid and uncomfortable so I'm posting a photo of a fountain at Disney Marketplace. This is on the side of Bongo's restaurant and near my favorite Wolfgang Puck restaurant. It's little sprayers mist the air and water spills over the sides of the fountain. Very pleasant and cooling.
* that's farenheit, equals 32 to 35 celsius

Table and chairs again. In the new building downtown all of the new restaurants and stores each have their own style and it shows in the types of tables and chairs they use. This nice big round table with umbrella is outside of one of the smaller restaurants further down from the corner. Nice ambiance and the food is good, too.

I'm being lazy today because here in the US it's Mother's Day. So Happy Mother's Day to all of you, everywhere. And a belated Happy Birthday to La Tour Eiffel. You look marvelous for 120 years old. Today I'm going to brunch and to see the new Star Trek movie with some friends.

Getting an outdoor table is easy if you go between lunch and dinner. I stopped for a Cafe Mocha and a pastry yesterday and enjoyed them along with a book. So that's today's photo. Enjoy!

It's starting to look a bit like Paris. It seems that since I've been back home there are cafes and outdoor seating popping up all over Kissimmee and in spite of the heat, the outdoor seating is popular with our locals. Difficult to find an empty seat outside during lunch and dinner.
I hope this trend continues. Now if we can only get good foie gras and crepes. Bon appetit!

The Spaceship Earth Dome is lit up at night. I think it's lovely. Bucky would be proud. Below are photos of the dome from a distance and upclose.

This is from the Japanese Pavillion area looking across the lake towards the dome. It's quite a landmark from many areas of the Disney property and helps orient you when you are there. If you are parked in the main lot, you just head for the dome to get back to your car at the end of the day. Japanese pavillion has a display of Bonzai for the Flower and Garden Festival. Some are almost 100 years old.

There are many fountains and water displays at Disney's Epcot. This one is just at the entrance near the Spaceship Earth Dome. I like the way the water just pours off the surface and the square rocks break up the pattern. When our hot Florida sun gets to be too much it's a very nice place to sit and cool down.

It's spring and the little lizards are all over the place. I spotted this one from my office window and he and his lady love were making lizard love. By the time I grabbed my camera and went outside she had run off and he was resting.
These little guys are mistakenly called chameleons but are anoles, a cousin of the chameleon which is a bit bigger and not native to this area. Pet stores up north used to sell these and we would put little collars on them and wear them on our sweaters when I was in high school many, many years ago. Cute little buggers. My cats go crazy when one gets in the house. I've rescued quite a few of them over the years.
One species of Anole is green and a bit smaller than this brown one. It's been reported that these are more agressive and now outnumber the green ones.

Tent City? Driving along the lakefront these tent tops were on the ground and I liked the image. They were preparing for an event along the west side so it was most likely a very big fishing tournament. Later they had added legs to the tents and even though I didn't get back to see what the occasion was, I could hear loudspeakers and music from my house.

This is the box for the butterfly Chrysalis. Most had already done their metamorphosis into butterflies but there were still some left. I had never before seen any that looked like these. They were a pale green with gold trim and looked like enamel jewels. Perhaps this being Disney, they weren't real but I think they were.

Here is another little fairy/pixie house from Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival. The mushroom shaped house is about 23 cm (9 inches) high and sits on a tree stump surrounded by plants & flowers. This display had winding paths and many little houses like this. Some were on stumps like this one, some on the ground, and some were hanging.
Below is another part of this area.. clouds and a hot air balloon.

May 1st: Theme Day: Shadows

The Theme for the CityDailyPhoto for May First is Shadows. This is my cat Shadow. Since I only have one of him I am posting two photos. He is a shadowy gray and also follows me around like a shadow. He is a fun and entertaining cat. At least when he isn't sleeping.

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