The Penguins are Psychotic.....

Today I finally got to go see the new Star Wars movie... And I have to say... Wow! Revenge of the Sith was great. It tied this set of movies to the 'original' trilogy very well. I'm glad I saw it on the big screen as this is one of those movies that, although it will be enjoyable on DVD, was meant to be seen at the theatre. Some of those scenes just won't seem so magnificent seen on your TV screen at home. Asked afterward what my favorite part was... Well, if I have to pick one, I like the CGI 'lizard' that Obi-Wan rode/fought off of. That thing was sooo cool!  I have to say that over all I liked it all...

But, what does that have to do with the title of this entry you ask?? After going to see Revenge of the Sith at the 12:45pm showing, we still had all afternoon and evening to spend together. Days off together are becoming a rare commodity, so we tried to make the most of it. After the movie we went and did a little shopping, and still found ourselves back at the house at 6:30pm. What to do with the evening? Well, we decided to catch a second movie <g>. The movie we picked was Madagascar... And, we loved it. It was sooo cute. My favorites where Marty, the zebra and.... The Penguins!

Armed Forces Day

Today is Armed Forces Day... Please take a few moments today to think about and thank the brave men and women, both past and present, of our Armed Forces for their service to us and our Country!

A Visit to the Aquarium

A couple of weeks ago, early on a Saturday morning, I received a phone call.... It was my brother. Seems my nephew, who is in the Navy, had come home on a weekend pass and brought along his girlfriend and a fellow sailor.

"Hey, Sis.... You still a member of the Aquarium?"

Me, wiping sleep out of my eyes, "Uh... huh.. Yeah... What TIME is it???"

"Geez, it must be at least 7:30 am"

Sighing and continuing to fumble around trying to get at least semi-awake.. "Yeah... Aquarium.. What?"

"Well, the kids are looking for something to do today, and I thought maybe we would come and get you guys and go to the Aquarium...."

Pulling myself together, I assured him that any opportunity to spend some time with my nephew (and the rest of the family, of course) was always welcome, and within a few minutes we had solidified  some plans.

That is how I came to spend most of the day at the Florida Aquarium with my brother, my nephew, my nephew's girlfriend, my niece, G., and the friend my nephew brought home with him. After finishing at the aquarium we went out to eat. All in all, a very nice day!

It's a really nice aquarium, and despite taking pictures thru glass, I managed to get a few nice ones. So, I decided to share some of them here with you! I would love to share the ones of my family and their guests, but I haven't asked permission to broadcast their faces over the internet<g>... Oh, and I've been working on my 'presentation' and I'm finding a lot of cool effects and tools in my Photoshop Elements.. Now if I can just remember how I did them.... <LOL> If you would like to see some professionally done pictures, click here to see some of the photos on the Florida Aquarium website.

 

My Banner above is actually part of the sign out front of the aquarium. It has this huge Manta Ray over it and we all stood under it to get our picture taken... Unfortunately, the picture I took of it without people, I got the angle wrong and a tree was blocking part of it... So, I improvised ;)

 

This picture is of a very co-operative turtle, and the other one of an equally co-operative lizard!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This picture was taken thru glass (and of course, since the pictures  are all of animals, no flash!). Not too bad...

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, on our way out I saw this fountain and had to have a picture...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too Cute!

Have you seen this commercial on TV?? If not, follow this link to the GE (General Electric) Site. It will give you a couple of choices on how you would like to see the clip. You have a choice of Windows Media or Real Media and also on file size. It is really Cute! Enjoy!

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Significant Others

Well, It's time for another 'assignment' from John Scalzi over at By the Way

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Take a picture of your significant other, or show off a picture of your significant other that you particularly like. If you are currently between significant others (hey, it happens), you can use a picture of a former significant other, or a picture of a really good friend, since really good friends, in their way, are just as important as a significant other.

Why this photo assignment? Well, you know. Significant Others are cool.

Wow..... This was a hard one... I have soooo many great pictures of G. But, I was able to hold myself down to just 2 favorites.

First picture has me in it because I'm not good enough with Photoshop to take me out <LOL> This picture was taken at one of the 'Opening Parties' for the first tour I was on with the Circus. Although we had been presenting this show to audiences for 3 months, the 'official' opening is always at Madison Square Gardens in New York City. And, after the official opening show (which is not the first show we do in NYC <LOL>) Ringling throws a huge blacktie type dinner for everyone, including all of the help... with an open bar <eg> Gee, don't we clean up good??

 

This second picture is more 'my' G. It shows him with one of his favorite elephants just having a moment of quiet time. Her name is Minyake and she was the biggest 'girl' on the tour. In this picture she weighs about 11,000 pounds. But, since she stands 9 feet at the shoulder I guess she can get away with weighing that much! It's hard to tell in this picture just how large she is, but just consider that she is dropping her head to smooze with G.....