Gladiators Star Wars Night

Tonight was the yearly "Star Wars Night" at the Atlanta Gladiators game, and this time Nate came along with us.  I had the Star Wars music playing in the car, and we got there about an hour early, because as always, there were plenty of characters from the Star Wars universe here.  One interesting section of the 501st were the Mandalorians, who seem to be increasing in number.  I think one attraction to that group is the costuming, which isn't quite as strict as the other uniforms and costuming that exist.  For example, check out the precise nature of this Boba Fett that I met just inside.

Amazing!  This was my favorite costume of the night.  But we met a lot of costumed characters walking about the lobby, posing for pictures with visitors, and stopping to talk with us.  We had a lot of conversations, actually.  Pretty cool!

Here we are on the escalator - we usually get the club level seating, front row at the center - it's easier to see things below, a great view of the action and not too far away.  Before we really got to our seats though, we were out there meeting with a lot of those characters and posing for pictures too.

Oh, here's a different character.  It's Maximus, the dog mascot for the Gladiators, usually in a gladiator costume, but today dressed as Han Solo.  

And here's Maddie and Nate interacting with a Mandalorian with a fairly large weapon.  And below:  Bo Katan, Jango Fett and little Grogu.

We had dinner at the club level restaurant up top, which is great because it's not so crowded up there.  Also, the food choices were good, plus you could see everyone warming up on the ice from there.  Maddie's got her Mighty Ducks jersey on, ready for some hockey action, which was about to get going!

What a night, and what a game.  This was the first time the Atlanta Gladiators ever faced the Greensboro Gargoyles.  The first period was a scoreless affair, but our goalie was unquestionably the star of the entire night.  I think the other team doubled our shots on goal, something like 36 to 18 shots.  And they never scored once.  

This guy was incredible.  What a fantastic night by our goalies, this one above in the net for most of the night.  As far as offense goes, we finally broke free a little into the second period and although we didn't look anywhere near as organized, man what a shot.  Might be my favorite of the night:  it was a hard slap shot off the backboard that rebounded back so quickly that it might as well have been a pass to the one who was coming in to slap it into the goal.  Huge moment, and a huge shift in momentum.  Later on, there was this shot here.

 

Through all those defenders and up and into the net from above.  Wow.  It was 2-0 at the second period, and the other team, the Gargoyles, had some catching up to do.  Meanwhile, there was the usual Star Wars fun for the entire night.  There was Star Wars music playing, all kinds of lightsabers in the crowd, and even the hockey jerseys were customized to look somewhat like stormtrooper uniforms.  And in between periods, there were girls' ice skating teams doing a fun little routine:

It was super fun as always, and our seats were perfect for seeing the entire game.  We had a lot of fun!

Nice Stormtrooper Jerseys!

The bonus was that we won tonight, 3-0.  Everyone had a great time, and it was just nice to finally see a victory.  We've had a bit of a drought with watching a winning game - so tonight came as a really pleasant surprise.  It was Nate's first hockey game too - he really enjoyed it.

It took us a while to get out of the parking lot, but getting home was easy tonight.  We had fun!

Get Back to Work!

Back to work we went this morning - I had dropped by the print shop earlier this week and had to distribute January's booklets to all the campuses.  These are the books we wrote up and made the activities and artwork for.  They turned out well!  Another task:  decorating the new stage and taking all the Christmas material down.  Always a depressing sort of thing, but we managed.   

Maddie was at Nate's house today, and she had a good day hanging out with the family.  They ate food from Longhorn's and just basically enjoyed the vacation time before these two have to go back to school today.

I was on that treadmill some, watching a Discovery Channel special on the Forbidden City, this to go along with the virtual path I'm on, walking towards that destination.  I'm over 80% done by this point, moving right along!

Mom and I were back in Oz tonight to finish up the Wicked movies.  We watched the second one for the first time, "Wicked for Good."  The were pretty good movies, although we both enjoyed the first one more.  Maddie got home and we all read some more from our latest book, and we said our prayers after that.  Time to get a good nights' rest!

2026

For some reason I keep writing 2027, instead of 2026.  Maybe that's because I'm sort of getting lost with all these years, ya know?  They just keep coming at us, one after the other.  Time is relentless!

This morning we woke up and Mom was prepping the house for a visit from Nana and Ye-Ye.  We had the Rose Bowl Parade on the television, and as a reminder to myself next year:  the footage from the "Tournament of Roses" channel is much, much better than the one on NBC.  We watched the two, and of course NBC has commercials and so forth, the end result being that you can see a whole lot more on the other channel.  Anyway, moving on, we saw the parade, by gum!  Nana and Ye-Ye were here, and we had all kinds of good coffee, and there was light eating over on the counter - sliders, shrimp cocktail, and bowls for Mom's excellent potato soup, with all the toppings nearby.  It made for a really nice morning together.  We sat and relaxed and talked about their recent trip to Louisville to see this incredible underground light show, and their viewing of a huge bird migration up that way.  

Eventually, Nate came over to say hello and stayed for a while.  The two of them were doing puzzles and playing games of course, starting the New Year off with fun.  It was a quiet day.  We're still taking down decorations and so forth, getting things cleaned up for the new year.  It's going to be a good one, I hear!

We got some new ornaments for the tree!  I know that sounds ridiculous after the fact, but the sale was pretty good and there was this one ornament I really wanted to add.  Mom and I are big fans of the Disney's Electrical Parade, and so we were pretty excited to see another part of the parade, this one being Goofy on a locomotive engine all decked out in lights.  I have it plugged in right next to the one with Mickey and Minnie on it.  Press the buttons on both of these and Mom and I start tapping our toes to the theme song.

We also got a Guardians of the Galaxy ornament, as that's been a small theme this holiday season - this one is Cosmo and Groot.  Groot is about to throw a stick, which is funny because... he's a stick.  Anyway, we wound up with a lot of new ornaments this year, some patriotic ones, a few new "Emperor's New Groove" ornaments, a cruise ornament, the yearly KidPak ornament, a handmade one from Emma, and a Dollywood one courtesy of Maddie.  

Lots of memories!  And looking back on the holiday season, it's been a good one with plenty of happy occasions.  2026 will be filled with even more.  We're looking forward to adding another cruise ornament to the tree this year, but we're starting things out quietly today.  I think our next outing is Saturday with something fun that night.  We were worried that the hockey league's strike would last into this week, but fortunately it got resolved and we'll be heading to a Gladiators game this weekend.  Tomorrow, we're back to work, gearing up for a new series at KidPak.  In fact, we were working on that some today, getting music together, getting slides and costumes together, and just getting our act together! 

Tonight we watched "Wicked" again, mainly because we'll be seeing the sequel probably tomorrow night.  The last time we saw this movie was New Year's Eve about a year ago.  But technically, it was two years ago, right?  2024-2026?  Anyway, it's a good movie, and very well may start out our Oz-fest this year.  Ever since that museum, I've been wanting to see the Oz movies again, and starting out with the two-part "Wicked" series is a good way to start.   

We've had more birds on the feeder out there, more pictures of visiting friends.  It's a fun little device, snapping pictures of bluebirds, mourning doves, and many others.  It does short videos of them as well, which is pretty fun.  You can check in on the camera from time to time and watch it live, although it's a bit choppy at the moment.

We closed out the night with some reading and of course prayers.  It's a soft-opening for 2026, a quiet day for us, and a slightly restful one.  Slightly!

New Year's Eve

We got to check out one of our Christmas toys today, a bird feeder/camera that took a moment or two to set up, but already we're getting some visits and some fun little pictures of our usual visitors.  Some of these aren't the sort of pictures you'd publish in an ornithology book, but they are still fun nonetheless.  What's interesting is that the camera senses when something interesting is there at the feeder and then records that visit, and then lets you know either as it is happening or perhaps later.  So the app on the phone tells you this or that bird arrived, and in some cases correctly identifies it too.

Pretty fun!  Today was the last day of the year, and we had an unexpected visitor for a good bit - Nate came by to visit, and stayed here for a good bit with Maddie.  They were playing Mario games and Battlefront as well.  

I'm walking down the virtual path and am at another place I remember visiting in reality.  There was a virtual post card for me (above), and some pictures from a temple I remember visiting with Mom and Nana and Ye-Ye back in 2008, just before going forward and into the Forbidden City.  

But ultimately, we all got engaged in a Dominoes countdown!  

We went through twelve rounds of this as the clock counted down to midnight.  We had on the television a couple of live feeds from people down at the Magic Kingdom's New Year's party - they were riding rides, listening to concerts, and of course there was the big fireworks celebration at midnight.

Yes, there was the sparkling apple cider too!  Maddie loves this so much.  We each had a glass, and basically Maddie had the rest of the bottle!  We gave a little toast for the new year before Nate had to get going.

If you're wondering what this is, it's a possum in a glowing sphere.  Each year in Tallapoosa, Georgia, they lower a possum, just like they lower that ball at Times Square in New York City.  And of course there's a big list of other odd things that are lowered from great heights at midnight, like giant fish, a beach ball, a lobster, a giant pickle and more.  But this one is something my sister and her kids had to go and see for themselves:

This was pretty much exactly everything they thought it would be, which wasn't a spectacular event by any means.  In fact, in this case they made it sound like I was glad not to go.  Which is one of those I seem to be okay with - going off to stand around in the freezing cold for hours to watch a ball or any other random object drop doesn't sound like a huge amount of fun, no matter how much loud music is playing!

We were not out and about tonight, but we were together at home to kick off 2026.  It was a nice quiet way to finish a really great year together.  So much happened in 2025, and it's amazing to look back on - this blog helps.  It was a good year, but I hear that 2026 is going to be even better.

Happy New Year!

David and the Mellow Mushroom

It sure is cold outside!  We woke up with a pretty solid reminder that it is still in fact winter out there, yesterday's cold front pushing some rather dramatic changes into the region.  In other words, "Baby it's Cold Outside."  We stayed indoors for the most part today, although we did go out at one point for dinner and a movie.  The dinner?

Mellow Mushroom!  This is the last time I'm going there this year, by gum.  We picked up Nate and drove over first to Matthews Printing to pick up our new booklets, and then go get some lunch/dinner at Mellow Mushroom.  That was nice, of course.  Maddie and Nate got wings, while Mom and I shared our gluten free Pacific Rim (minus the jalapeño peppers!).  

Afterwards, we went over to the theater to see the animated motion picture, "David," a new movie for this season.  It was pretty good, covering a lot of ground from the Bible over the course of a short movie.  We enjoyed it!

We got some work done today with the service on Sunday, getting some keynote slides made.  Mom was working on bills and we were both cleaning up a little bit inside.  I walked another three miles or so on the treadmill, all while finishing up with the latest movie from the Rocky-verse, "Creed."  I really, really enjoyed that one.  Can't wait to start on "Creed II" next, and hopefully finish up with "Creed III" right after, finally finishing up the Rocky marathon.  It's been a great visit in the boxing ring.  It's the characters that keep you coming back, and these are so good.  Speaking of "so good," Mom got me some new sneakers for the treadmill and these are so comfortable and really add some bounce to my steps.  They were a great Christmas preset that I got to try out today.

Tonight Maddie and I read from our "Monk" book another couple chapters, and after that it was time for prayers.  Mom and I saw a version of "A Christmas Carol" that we'd never seen before, a musical one from 2004 with some great songs.  But it's late now, and time for some sleep.  Tomorrow's a big day, the last day of 2025!

Gainesville Glows: Lights and Lanterns

We went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in Gainesville tonight, visiting their Christmas light display for the first time.  This year is their first time doing the lights, as they usually do a Christmas tree trail where different people and groups decorate trees in a certain way along the path.  We've done that in the past, of course, but this year they're doing the lights, and it actually looks pretty good.  One new thing is the parking lot - we're suddenly turning a different way, and now having to pay five dollars to park.  Hopefully that won't continue, as it would put somewhat of a damper on the ol' season pass.

One thing about tonight:  it was so cold.  We had a plunge in temperatures overnight, and a lot of wind blowing in too.  We layered up anyway, picking up Nate and heading over there for a quick visit.  It is a quick visit.  There's the one trail, and there are plenty of decorations along the way.  There's also the grassy lawn area where the hummingbirds hang out in the summer, and that's where you can make s'mores and have hot chocolate.  I got hot chocolate for the four of us, and Maddie and Nate roasted some marshmallows by the fire.  There are some light displays there that are pretty cool, but soon enough, we were on our way off onto the trail.

There were plenty of things to see along the trail, including the usual light tunnel that you see at these sort of things.  It's still pretty neat, and it wasn't so crowded tonight so I could snap a picture of Mom in the tunnel.  There was a large light tree, and a lot of snowflakes hanging very high up in the trees.  There were orbs of light hovering over the descending waterfall, and large insects like bees and grasshoppers made from the lights as well.  Our favorite was the one labeled Santa Mantis early on.  

There was plenty to see along the way, and we really did enjoy it.  The weather was pretty chilly, but we were dressed appropriately and besides, all this warm weather just doesn't feel like the sort of weather to go out and see Christmas lights in.  Nate and Maddie were off walking along on their own for a bit, but we all met up by the end of the trail, just in time to get back inside.  We looked around the shop for a bit again, warmed up, and were on our way home soon after that.  Here are some more pictures I took tonight of Gainesville Glows:  Lights and Lanterns

It was a good day.  Once again, this blog has devoured all the words that I wrote about this day - you spend all this time writing and this blog decides to erase all of it for no apparent reason.  Just imagine the most wonderful creative writing you can, all wiped away.

Let's try again.  Obviously shorter, and in more frustrated tones.  Let's see, we woke up.  It was windy.  Yep, lots of wind.  How's that?  I had a bit written in there about powerful arctic gales, but we'll leave it at:  it was super super windy today.  Our little front porch trees toppled a few times, but I got them righted.  Can't imagine all the other Christmas decorations out there.  It probably looks like that opening scene from the animated "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" with stuff blowing around.

Maddie learned to make her own dang quesadillas this morning.  Mom gave her a lesson, and sure enough, later on tonight she was cooking them up.  

She was wanting to have some of that hot sauce with those quesadillas, those bottles of fire she got for Christmas from Nate and from us as well.  Hot sauce is a quick and easy gift for Maddie.  Also one that's quickly consumed!

Here's some more imagery I'm uploading a second time:  our amaryllis!  It's in full bloom now, looking perfect for the holidays.  I'm glad we were able to find this one.

Today I was on that treadmill a good bit more, continuing with "Creed," the next movie in the Rocky-verse.  I'm not sure if I can get to all of them by the end of the year, but "Creed" is the seventh movie of nine, I think.  They've been good!  

The virtual journey I'm on with the latest medallion on the way is one that goes to the Forbidden City.  It's been okay - not too many post cards on this one, and the map is an actual street map, so it's not much to look at.  The distance is something that is real, as you're moving from one point to another along that actual map.  The post card above is of a place we actually were a few years ago, and now we're walking pretty quickly towards that endpoint, the Forbidden City itself.  

It was a quiet day today, and a cold one!  We got a few things done.  Mom did bills all day, largely, and I was moving books off the shelves.  I had a thought about reselling them, but these online services only give you about twenty eight cents for a big book, and that might not be worth the effort.  I did make an appointment for our car to get looked at - we're down to one car at the moment, and it'll be good to have two.  We're packing up things and all at a relaxed pace, and we're also still getting things set up for this weekend's KidPak service.  Yes, that's still on, of course, where we're starting our new "bug themed" series, "World of Wonder."  I finished the script today, and I think it'll be fun.

We closed out tonight with our usual reading.  We're basically reading an episode of a "Monk" show, a novel that revisits the characters, and it's not too bad.  Maddie and I are enjoying it so far.  We'll see how things go as we continue reading.  We said our prayers after that, and then it was time to get under a huge pile of blankets.  Baby it's cold outside!