Tiny Pineapple

ananas comosus (L.) minimus

Fraenkinstine(s)

Zoë's Fraenkinstine
Zoë’s Fraenkinstine Halloween, 2004
Emma's Fraenkinstine
Emma’s Fraenkinstine Halloween, 2004

Surgical Nurse

by Ruth Dorset (1970)
Surgical Nurse

St. Paul’s Hospital

Nurse Kathy Hogan was an operating room nurse at large, modern St. Paul’s. She participated in the daily drama of life and death at the side of the brilliant surgeon, Gregory Martin. She was his trusted assistant, the nurse he called for in the most hazardous operations. A widower, Dr. Martin seemed to have no private life — he was dedicated to his profession.

Kathy wondered if the respect and admiration she felt for him was only that — or did it cover deeper emotions? She had to decide because young Bill Regan wanted to give her an engagement ring.

Disneyland 2004, Days 4 & 5: Semi-Coherent Photos

This entry is a week late…

We ended up staying at the park until 9:30 on Saturday night to watch the fireworks and by the time we got back to the hotel I was too exhausted to put together two coherent sentences. So I collapsed into bed and thought, “That’s OK, I’ll have plenty of time after we drive home tomorrow night to write about both days.”

Then, at 2:30 in the morning I awoke to find myself on the phone, probably five sentences into a conversation:

“What port are they using?” I asked. “Do we know what IP address they’re trying to get to?”

I honestly had no idea what had taken place before that, but I must have been at least semi-coherent because the gentleman on the other end of the line didn’t appear to be overly alarmed or amused by anything I’d said up to that point.

This is quite a change from when I was an adolescent. Members of my family used to vie for the opportunity to wake me up because I was always good for some bizarre, out-of-context quote while emerging from my early morning dreamfest:

“Grettir, it’s time to wake up.”

“Wha…? I…I…can’t. The watermelon is too expensive.”

…or…

“Grettir, you need to get up. You’re going to be late for school.”

“Could you let Cookie Monster know that his shoes won’t be ready until next Tuesday.”

However, now that I’m an adult, I seem to be capable of emerging from the soundest of slumbers and carrying on lengthy technical discussions without actually knowing what I’m doing. But these middle-of-the-night phone calls are never good news. They don’t come very often, but when they do I know that the next few days will be consumed with work. (Two weeks before we left for Disneyland I went 3 days with only 7 hours of sleep.) I was able to put off the emergency for a while, but I got a follow-up call about a half-hour north of Cedar City on the drive home and here we are seven days later and I’m still incapable of putting together two coherent sentences. (Exhibit A: That last paragraph.)

So, here are some semi-coherent photos of our trip instead:

With Koda and Kenai
With Koda and Kenai
R
R
In Wonderland
In Wonderland
A Jolly Holiday with Mary
A Jolly Holiday with Mary
Cup o' Henry (and Sam)
Cup o’ Henry (and Sam)
 Pocahontas in Tennis Shoes
Pocahontas in Tennis Shoes
A Diversity of Opinions on Splash Mountain
A Diversity of Opinions on Splash Mountain

Disneyland 2004, Day 3: An Electro-Syntho-Magnetic Night

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls… Disney proudly presents our spectacular festival pageant of nighttime magic and imagination in thousands of sparkling lights and electro-syntho-magnetic musical sounds — Disney’s Electrical Parade!”

Hippo Pulling Calliope
Hippo Pulling Calliope
Turtle with Sombrero
Turtle with Sombrero
Monochromatic Colonial Dancing Mice
Monochromatic Colonial Dancing Mice
Hyperactive Bee
Hyperactive Bee
Elliott the Dragon
Elliott the Dragon
Maniacal Spinning Turtle With Glasses
Maniacal Spinning Turtle With Glasses
Taking It All In
Taking It All In

Disneyland 2004, Day 2: Sea-Dwelling Princesses Really Know Their Swimwear

The day began with breakfast at the Carnation Cafe, which is tucked away in a little alcove about half way down Main Street USA. The Carnation Cafe is one of the best places to eat in the park and yet, surprisingly, given its heavily-trafficked location, you can almost always get a table. I had Oscar’s Scramble (with Oscar himself visiting our table just as we were leaving to make sure that everything was up to snuff) while my sister Amy and her husband Sam had the Croissant Benedict.

(Like last year, we’re here with my sister Amy, her husband Sam, and their kids, Isabel and Henry.)

Our first princess of the day was Ariel, who maintains a grotto adjacent to the Matterhorn. (Which, geographically speaking, isn’t really feasible, but at Disneyland you tend to let things like that slide.)

Zoë, Ariel, Isabel, and Emma
Zoë, Ariel, Isabel, and Emma

When you have kids, one of the things you really come to appreciate about Disneyland is the tremendous job the Disney “characters” do. No matter how long they’ve been there signing autographs and having their picture taken, they always take time and really focus on each child. All of them are great, but occasionally you’ll get someone who’s especially “on.”

I still remember a Cruella DeVille we met at Disney’s California Adventure two years ago. Our brief little photo/autograph interaction lasted maybe two minutes, but it was a masterpiece of villainous sneers, raised eyebrows, and snide asides. It wasn’t until we looked at her autograph later that we saw the little bonus she’d left us. On each page of the girls princess autograph books there were line drawings of various Disney princesses and Cruella had taken the liberty of “decorating” the princesses on the page she’d signed by drawing a handlebar mustache on Snow White, giving Belle a pair of glasses and a goatee, and adding a big scar to Sleeping Beauty’s forehead.

Well, when we visited with Ariel this morning, she asked each of the girls their name and then referred to each of them by name at least once during the rest of the conversation. As she signed each autograph book, she took the time to ask each girl a couple of questions (“What kingdom are you from?” What ride are you most looking forward to going on?”), listened attentively to their answers, and responded with sometimes lengthy answers of her own. All of it perfectly in character.

But halfway through signing Zoë’s book Ariel looked up and noticed that Zoë was wearing a T-shirt that featured Hello Kitty riding atop a leaping dolphin. Then, without skipping a beat, she said:

“You know, I have many dolphin friends, and yet I don’t think I’ve ever seen Hello Kitty riding one in a two-piece.”

Perhaps you had to be there but, in context, it was the funniest line of the day. Leave it to a fashion-conscious, adolescent, sea-dwelling princess to notice Hello Kitty’s swimwear.