Central Florida - The Happiest Place on Earth

In 2018, 127 million visitors came to Florida, and they spent 86 billion dollars, funding 1.5 million tourism jobs.  The vast majority of visitors came to Central Florida.  Because, after all, we have the Big Three:  Disney, Universal and Seaworld.  It's pretty easy to spend a billion dollars or so at these places.  So, thank you tourists!

But yesterday, our local columnist, Scott Maxwell, shared his annual 101 Things to Love About Central Florida.  I always love this list.  Why?  The vast majority of them are very low cost or free.  

Below are some of the ones David and I did often.  I'm hoping to be well enough to do them again soon.  It won't be the same, of course, but it will bring back good memories:

          The Annual Festival of Trees at Orlando Museum of Art.  I admit, I liked this more than David but he was a good sport.  These are professionally, over-the-top decorated Christmas trees - tons of them.  twinkle lights galore.  The event lasts about four days and then you can even buy one if you like. 

          Easy drive to beautiful beaches in an hour or so.

          The Farmer's Market in Winter Park.  I might try to go tomorrow morning.  My popcorn lady misses me and I miss her.  When she heard what happened to David she gave me two big bags of popcorn for free.  How kind is that?

          The Winter Park boat rides - These pontoon boats go through a chain of lakes where you see pristine areas mingled with lovely homes.  It's fun to go with a group and bring your own fancy snacks and beverages (adult or otherwise.)

          The Enzian Theater with it's intimate small tables for easy ordering of small bites and Chardonnay.  Our favorite place to sit was on the bottom floor, up front, on one of the couches where you could put your feet up and your head back.

          The Winter Park running of the Chihuahua's.

          And finally, Francesco's in Maitland.  This is a little hard to find Italian restaurant.  It was our favorite romantic restaurant and we ate there often - and, of course, always ordered the same meal (which we shared.)

I'll, hopefully, get back to these things reasonably soon and David will, of course, be with me in my heart.


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Stories of Our Lives

You Are Old Father William - Written by Lewis Carroll in 1865

In a recent opinion piece for the Orlando Sentinel Anne Elizabeth Zimmermann wrote about Disney's outdated cultural depictions.  She's an expert on all things Disney and lectures frequently at Rollins College on the subject. Over the years Disney stories like "Dumbo" and "The Jungle Book" have depicted cruel caricatures of black Americans.  On the other hand she lauds Disney's  tradition of storytelling that clarifies right and wrong.

She likes the straight forward disclaimer that Warner Brothers uses on their vintage Looney Tunes cartoons:

The cartoons you are about to see are products of their time.  They may depict some the the ethnic and racial prejudices that were commonplace in American society.  The depictions were wrong then and are wrong today.

I agree.  No need to censor or throw out old stories that capture who we were, but to acknowledge them and move on.  And, despite our current tribal mentality, we are moving on.  I love some old films that are delightful, with good over all messages, but then show a big song and dance number done in black face.  That distresses me.  I, like millions of others,  loved Mark Twain's  Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn books.  I wish they came with a disclaimer.

Likewise, one of my favorite poets, James Whitcomb Riley's, "Little Orphan Annie."  Annie's harsh upbringing,  and then Annie herself telling horror stories to the family's (real) children to keep them in line, would be punishable offenses in today's world.

I'm not feeling well this week so have been home rereading old poems and other classic stuff.   Most of us in today's world are aware of "Ageism."  This morning I loved rereading  You Are Old Father William, written in 1865.  Many of us oldies will have Thanksgiving with family next week and our loving children might question some of our current decisions - as is happening with Father William.  He sets them straight.  Here is the first verse:

"You are old Father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white:
And yet you incessantly stand on your head-
Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

"In my youth," Father William replied to his son, 
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again.

Yesterday my son asked me if I was lonely.  I'm not.  I miss David and I miss not doing some things that are important to me, but, to quote Robert Lewis Stevenson:

The world is so full of a number of things
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.


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Fear of Falling

...Falls are the number one cause of injuries - and injury death - in older Americans.  -  Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Over the years I've written several postings on falling and how important it is to be proactive.  I have taken several anti-falling classes and currently I'm wearing my Medical Alert button and using my colorful, hand carved cane from Mexico when I'm out and about.

A while back I went to see a good friend who had recently had a bad fall resulting in serious injury.  I admire this woman in so many ways.  She has a career and is the epitome of living a life that matters.  I sat on her couch and asked her to tell me exactly what happened.  She told a funny, hair raising story of doing several things after the fall before deciding to get medical help; like feeding and walking the dog, etc.  She then drove herself, with her bleeding arm wrapped in a blood soaked towel, to the ER.

So, wanting to be as helpful as possible I said, what you did  after the fall was stupid.  But I was laughing when I said it and we went on to have a fun visit, as we almost always do.  She's one of those strong women who's lived a life rich with many chapters.  She's extraordinarily kind and generous but a straight shooter about her beliefs and values - that differ somewhat from mine in the way we live them out.  I respect this.  She respects me.

As I was getting ready to leave she took notice of my hand bag and she expressed concern about how big it was and how it had a short handle that made it difficult to carry on my shoulder.  I told her I had all this stuff to carry, blah, blah, blah, as I was gathering myself, the big purse and my cane.

Then she said, Carrying the big purse is stupid!  Get rid of it.

So I have downsized.


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Annual Reviews

Philip Gulley has written a column in my Indianapolis Monthly magazine for 13 years.  It's my favorite part of the magazine.  He also writes for other publications, has published a series of books and is a popular speaker.  He's sort of the folksy voice of small town America.

In addition to that Philip Gulley has been the pastor of a Quaker Meeting for 23 years.  And in that position he's been subjected to 23 annual reviews.

So in this month's column Philip writes about that process and how he decided to give various family members a long overdue review, starting with his wife of 35 years, who did not respond well. So he had to put a note in her permanent file that will now follow her the rest of her life.  She did not seem concerned.

Next he reviewed his four year old granddaughter.  He discovered her work habits were somewhat checkered and if this carried over to kindergarten she might not get into her college of choice.  But she also wasn't concerned and wanted them to play together with her Barbies.  But this, however, was problematic because Barbie does not wear underwear.  She too (Barbi) got a bad review.

A while back, Scott Maxwell, a popular columnist with The Orlando Sentinel, did his own take on reviews.  Several people, in response to an issue he'd taken on, told him he was an a-hole.  (Please, not my word and I've cleaned it up.)

So, Scott decided to go home and get an unbiased answer as to whether or not he was an a-hole.  His wife and daughter assured him he was not.  His teenage son, however, had a different take.  Let's just say two out of three isn't bad.

Both Philip and Scott had funny, insightful columns about being evaluated.    Here's the reality about reviews for people who write and speak for a living.  You are constantly being evaluated.  Every piece of work is an audition for the next.

I'm glad that part's over for me.

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