Thursday, May 05, 2011

It's MAY!

1.  Yes, Disneyland and California Adventure are certainly happy places.  At least, we were very happy while we were there.  Mickey looked down benevolently at us from many vantage points.


These swings reminded me of my childhood summer days spent swinging, pumping as hard as I could and flying as high as possible.


Undoubtedly, my favorite California Adventure ride was Soarin' Over California.  What an exhilirating way to view the beauty of my adopted state~in a simulated hang glider.  No photos of that since, you know, I was holding on to the safety bar on my seat.  All the usual rides were still great: Space Mountain, Grizzly Rapids, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, Jungle Cruise...
The best part was still being with my boy and his lovely wife.  Whatever they did, we wanted to do it, too.

2.  Another activity we shared with them was the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books which was held this year at USC. That's University of Southern California, not University of South Carolina.  When my parents were living in Columbia, SC, I visited them, saw all those USC shirts and marveled at the number of University of Southern California fans there were on the East Coast until my father smirkingly pointed out that SC meant South Carolina.  Anyway. We reveled in the piles and piles of books on any and every subject we could imagine.  All of those books! 

3. But that's not all, no, that's not all!  Our Grad Student son happened to be in LA for the weekend and joined us for the day and for dinner at a local Indonesian restaurant in Culver City.  There is no better cuisine in the whole world than Indonesian!

4.  All wonderful Spring Breaks must come to an end, and so it was back to classes this week; but that's OK because I love my job!  I love it when the students waltz in saying, "Hi, Mrs. Willow! We missed coming to class!"

4. Spring gardening is underway.  We've been eating our homegrown lettuce for two weeks now.  The lavender is outdoing itself in bloom production.  I. Love. Lavender.  Sadly, lavender doesn't love The Professor.  So all the lavender lives outside.  But it's beautiful, isn't it?


Well, that was Willow's Week this frist week of May, another edition of Friday Fave Five.  These five expressions of gratitude are just the highlights of my week; it's how I choose to focus my memories--on being thankful.  If you want, you can join Friday Fave Five at Susanne's blog.

17 comments:

Tracy said...

WOW...what a great string of days & happenings, Willow! I was 15 the last time I was at Disney World in Florida... that seems like a lifetime ago. Never too old for Mickey, huh? ;o) Glad you've been having such great times with your family. This week the greatest joy has been spring unfolding--fruit trees in bloom, tulips bobbling their pretty heads in the breeze... it's wonderful! Happy Days ((HUGS))

ellen b. said...

Ahh so one of my questions was answered here and another question I had in my head was answered, too. I'm glad you had a good week and that you are happy to be back to work! Enjoy!

nikkipolani said...

Your lavenders are way ahead of mine that are just thin little wisps. How fun to meet up with your son for your favorite foods. Will you write about that some day? I've had some Indonesian foods, but not many.

Anonymous said...

I, too, love that it's May! My tulips are blooming, and although the lavendar is still just tiny leaves, yours reminds me what I am looking forward to. So happy you could spend time with your boys...Mary P

Faith said...

What a wonderful week you were blessed with! So nice.....and it's even nicer when spent with family....Happy Mother's Day to you!

Barbara H. said...

Wow, your spring break was late compared to ours. But it's great whenever it comes. :-) We've never been to Disney...maybe some day! Glad your son got to spend some times with you.

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

I recognized that first shot at a glance! Glad you had an enjoyable day there...your favorite ride is also mine. I do love all that Soarin' over California!

I envy you all that lovely lavender.

Well, you are now on the down slope of the school year....soon it will be time for summer vacation. Yippee!

Brenda said...

I've had Indonesian food and it is quite good, we always get the fried bread, so yummy! Sounds like a great week.

Catherine said...

What a wonderful week you had! I smiled through your whole post!

Bethany said...

Your posting about Disney made me smile! I think the kid in all of us loves to go! It sounds like you had lots of family time and that is wonderful! Nothing is better than great family memories!

Elizabeth said...

Funfairs seem to be the order of the day!
Hope you celebrate tomorrow!

Caroline said...

What a fun-sounding week! ..I seem to say that a lot on your blog, ha, ha. I've taken several cooking class in Culver City. We'll have to look for Indonesian restaurants when we next go there. What was some of your favorite dishes. I imagine it being similar to Thai??

Isn't it great to have kids show appreciation for your efforts? You're very fortunate. I was telling a friend this week, that I think I've gotten so spoiled with having a large number of nice students that I don't thick I could go back to having a classroom of recalcitrant ones!

Anonymous said...

i've been to disneyland 40 times but never to ca adventure, however, i am hoping to go to both in december. your post amped me up for that coming adventure.

how wonderful to be around all those books. were they for sale? i am afraid i would have gone completely broke if yes.

so glad your students missed class. you must be doing something so right. wtg!

have a blessed mother's day tomorrow.

XUE said...

I love lavender too & so did my father-in-law so each time we smell lavender, we remember him. The only thing I liked in a theme park is "It's a Small World" in Disneyland as I'm terrified of exciting rides. You are brave!! Happy Mother's Day!

Susanne said...

Looks like much fun was had at Disneyland.

A book festival sounds like it would be right up my alley!

aspiritofsimplicity said...

I love your picture of the swings. Fantastic. I love lavender also but it doesn't grow very well for me.

Barbara said...

Hi! there, good to catch up. Went to an Indonesian restaurant once in London and had a delicious starter. was surprised afterwards to find out that it was raw minced lamb. I am glad I did not know before hand.