Greetings from Anaheim, California, USA!
Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland on Tuesday, June 30, 2009
With many friends having babies this year, perhaps the Powers That Be asked the Grim Reaper to work overtime keeping our population in check. Morbid, I know. June was deadly. Entertainment industry alone lost David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. This Wednesday veteran actor Karl Malden joined them. Though he died on July 1, I hope that Malden was a belated addition to an atypical ultra-gloomy June and Death takes a holiday soon.
I knew none of the recently deceased personally but the memoriams almost included a familiar face. In early June a friend had a stroke. Her carotid artery, a major blood vessel to the brain, had 90% blockage. Because she had trouble speaking, the stroke was detected and treated early. The friend is my age and highly active so I was stunned by the news. Extremely lucky, she made a full recovery, not even partial paralysis – a common side effect, and was quickly back on her feet.
In far lighter news, last week I moved again, sort of. Soon after emptying the final box and settling into my bedroom, I did a partial repack and temporarily relocated to the guest bedroom downstairs. Last month my dad began replacing the carpet with bamboo slats in most of our house’s second floor. Only the closets and bathrooms stayed untouched.
The situation had a silver (or is it blue?) lining. With furniture out of the way and carpeting on its way out, the timing was perfect to paint over 20 years of wear and tear. The bedroom was ready for a new coat and a new color. According to my Frazee Paint flipbook, my walls were bright “Robin”, as in the bird’s blue-green egg, that matched the window blinds. I narrowed my choice to two blues – Tropical Wind and Surf’s Up.
The home improvement store stocked Behr Paint and could not guarantee an exact match to the Frazee color. Ultimately I chose Tropical Wind but once it was on the walls and dry, the paint leaned towards Surf’s Up, as the two were only a shade different. I am content with the new blue hue.
On Independence Day weekend I settled into my room again and did not watch fireworks on Fourth of July evening. Instead I saw those four days sooner at Disneyland, the home of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, this week’s photo. Amidst the home renovations I took a break and used my bonus pass from Disney’s birthday offer of free park admission.
From staring down death and celebrating a nation’s birth to creating a sleeping sanctuary and enjoying the “Happiest Place on Earth”, some moments of life we must do and others we choose to do. Relaxing in my blue bedroom right now is my choice. Surf’s up, dude!
Angelo
