Crawling Towards December 31st; Battered, Beaten and Bloody

Like most people, I try to look at January 1st as a chance to turn things around.  Finally gonna do this or that.  I make a half hearted attempt and usually abandon my quests by early spring.  That's why I don't make resolutions.  I try to start the new year off with a positive outlook with high hopes that maybe this is the year

Bran will get work, maybe this will be the year our country turns itself around, maybe humanity will start working together.  Call it the 60's/Deadhead in me.

Unfortunately, these days, by the time late December rolls around, I feel like I've been beaten, mentally, emotionally and physically, into an exhausted, apathetic pulp, as I crawl towards another new year.  That said, I do try to project a positive attitude and spin on things because, let's face it, if I didn't, I would be huddled in a corner, completely catatonic.  If I let all the stressors in my life, all those really annoying "what ifs" that can drive me into a panic attack, get to me, I'll be in a bad way.  2009 is proof positive of that.  Worst. Year. Ever.  Compared to 2009, 2010 was a way better year, even if finances are getting very tight and work is 100x more intense and crazy.  But that's a sign of the times too.  Life just sucks right now, for everyone, everywhere.  People are pissed off and taking it out on everyone around them.  

I'm going back over my post from this time last year, with all the things I wanted to accomplish in 2010.  I actually did get my business started and have made a few sales on Etsy, which is cool.  I consider that one a huge accomplishment...for me anyway.  I said I wanted to start cooking more, and I guess I have but not like I used to back in California.  The bottom line is that I'm just too damn tired when I get home from work to bother.  Didn't really take many walks like I wanted to, but as I recall the weather this year wasn't actually conducive to it either.  I did spend a ton of time making stuff this year, both during lunch at work and on the weekends.  

I also wanted to get out more and see people.  That one didn't work out as well as I wanted but only because everyone, including myself, has a schedule and they don't all jibe.  And on the weekends I just don't feel like getting in the car and driving long distances.  I'm so tired by week's end.  I did get to see my dear friend Joe, from high school, in July up in Seattle, which also gave me the opportunity to finally play tourist.  And I got Victoria out of my system (for now) and had a great time with Moriah at dinner & Ghostly Walks.  Plus I went to Mt. Rainier in the summer and that was well worth it.  

I did way more blogging this year and that's been a great outlet for me.  My muse left me in 2009, but it returned last year.  I'd like to thank my photographer blogging friends for showing me new ways to view the world, and my photography has started to transform.  It amazes me the new frontiers that digital photography has opened.  I resisted it at first, big time.  I swore I would never stop shooting film.  I was too much of a film snob purist to use digital.  Unfortunately with film, you only have a set number of pictures you can take, so you really only get one opportunity to take a decent photo, and you can't take a ton of photos of just one thing either.  Digital has made it so that I can spend a couple of hours window shopping in Sumner, but take more than 90 photographs.  That'd be like shooting 3 rolls of 36 exposure film, which is something I've never done, nor would it have ever occurred to me to do on a short shopping trip.  Back in the 80's, when I was still vacationing in San Francisco before moving there, I marveled at the time I shot 6+ rolls of film in a week!  SIX!!!!  This year I went to Victoria and shot nearly 500 photos in less than 36 hours.

And then there's the whole 'instant gratification' factor, which is a huge plus, because I am an instant gratification kind of gal.  Gone are the days of filling out your film envelope, dropping it off, and picking up the pictures later on. often days later.  Now I shoot them and have them uploaded and on line like that *snaps fingers*, in less than an hour.  I can tweak them if the colour is off or the exposure is too light/dark.  I can look at them whenever I want.  I just had the Victoria photos processed and am finding that putting them into a hard-copy photo album is a real chore.  Of course I can't just put pictures in an album like normal people.  No no no.  My Craft OCD dictates that each page be a work of art.  So I'm over there cropping pics, working up a layout, seeing what stickers and travel-related doo dads I can add, whilst grumbling about all the other craft projects I want to start and get to.  It's freakin WORK, you guys!  Seriously!  I have scads photos to go through and put into that album, and I'm only about 100 in.  As Dorothy Gale once said, "I'm frightened, Auntie Em!!!"  I just got some really cool new ephemera, plus my new beads, and want to get to another altered book.  Not sure what it will be yet, but they always manage to evolve on their own.  So many crafts!  So little time!!

Overall 2010 was a more productive year, but we are still in a precarious financial situation right now.  I'm using my Christmas & b-day money to buy the craft supplies I want since it's not in the budget at all for next year.  And I also finally sucked it up and got a medicine cabinet at Home Depot, a store that really intimidates me.  I have always found the floor help to not be quite as helpful as the commercials portray, if you can even find anyone to help you at all.

New Years Eve has always made me feel melancholy.  I used to weep at midnight whenever they'd show Guy Lombardo leading his orchestra through Auld Lang Syne.  It makes me cry at the end of "It's a Wonderful Life" too.  Midnight on NYE , for me, was somewhat depressing and lonely because I was usually alone, as my parents always went out with their friends, leaving me in the care of a babysitter.  When I got older my cousin Diane used to spend the night and we'd tape the Top 100 hits of the year off WRKO and have Dick Clark's New Years Rockin' Eve on the TV downstairs.  We'd watch the ball drop in NYC and I would choke back tears.  I hated it that time was marching on, and the fun holidays were over and now it was just another slog through another depressing January.  It was even worse once I was home from college on break.  The loneliness was crushing.   Only once I went to a party during those college years.  NYE was way more fun and less lonely after college when I was out on my own and especially after I moved to California.

I continue to hope that 2011 will be a better year, but it's getting really hard to psyche myself up for it and be hopeful. I am reluctant to list things I'd like to accomplish in 2011, because at this point, I'm just taking each day as it comes.  Thinking about the future is impossible because life is throwing way too many curve balls.  I'm afraid to hope for anything because I'm tired of having them dashed.  All I can do is just keep playing everything by ear, hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.  That's life in the 21st century, I guess.

So I leave you with one of the few New Years pop songs that I can remember, one I love:  George Harrison's "Ding Dong Ding Dong".  Happy New Year everyone!  Ring out the old, ring in the new!

Please Make "Text Speak" STOP!

I don't send or receive text messages.  I don't know how.  I don't use my cell phone hardly at all.  When Joe was here last summer, he was showing me his iPhone.  It does everything but make toast.  He took one look at my phone and quipped, "I think I saw that in the Smithsonian".  

I can understand the need to abbreviate words when texting, even when emailing.  But I am so, so, SO sick of seeing Text Speak in Facebook statuses and comments. I admit that I use abbreviations as well, but not a lot.  However, some of it has been getting on my nerves, especially when the text speak goes on and on within a sentence. Or two. 

The comment I saw that finally pushed me over the edge was:  "Thank u 4 mine.  I was terrible and didn't send ne out this yr. I hope u had a good xmas".  OK first off, I'm sitting there, puzzling over 'ne'.  It finally occurred to me that it's an abbreviation for 'any'.  She didn't send N E cards out.  But this is what kills me:  The person went to the trouble of typing out the entire word 'terrible', but felt the need to abbreviate a 3 letter word into 2 letters????  'Thank' is typed out but 'you' has to be cut down to one letter?  Who makes these arbitrary decisions on what to abbreviate?

Some of my younger friends will respond to me 'ty' for Thank You, and 'yw' for You're Welcome.  That annoys the ever loving crap out of me.  Does it really take THAT much extra effort to type out the entire words?   I mean srsly, WTF?   ;o)

Narnia Purist

This is going to be a rant about the new "Voyage of the Dawn Treader Movie", and I'm sad to say that.  I was looking forward to blogging about the movie, gushing over it, giving it a glowing review.  How true to the book it was, just like "The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe" and "Prince Caspian" were (hereinafter "LWW" and "PC", respectively).  I cannot say that about this movie.

I am a Narnia Nerd.  If you need a question answered about Narnia, I'm your girl.  I was hooked on the Narnia books from the first page of "Magician's Nephew", which was the first one I read, in 8th grade.  Dawn Treader was my absolute fave book of the 7.  There was a time when I had it memorized from reading it so often.  I longed for a movie to be made and when I found out one was being filmed, I was ecstatic.  I have been waiting for this day for THIRTY TWO YEARS.  I never go to the movies unless it's something I must see, like Harry Potter or LWW.  I missed out on PC because it was in and out of the theatres very quickly, but I do have the DVD and it was great.  So I decided I was going to treat myself to Dawn Treader during my holiday vacation.  I went to the 1:00 p.m. matinee on a Wednesday afternoon and it was pretty empty.  It was the 3D version of the movie and I did think that those effects were cool.  Much better than the red & blue glasses we used to get "back in the day".  

I waited somewhat impatiently through scads of previews for really crappy looking movies with really crappy acting and/or animation.  I suppose their target demographic audience was 11-18 year olds, which would explain the vacuous, sophomoric stories full of bathroom humour.  

Dawn Treader started out like I'd imagined it.  The boy who played Eustace, Will Poulter, absolutely nailed the character and I thought his performance was great, esp. the way his character interacted with Reepicheep, and how he changed into a better person.  Actually, my problems with Dawn Treader don't relate to the performances at all, except that Caspian's Spanish accent from the last film disappeared into the actor's normal British one.  It was well acted, and let's face it, Ben Barnes who plays King Caspian is really, really, REALLY cute.  I'm also old enough to be his mom, much to my chagrin.....But I digress....

So the movie starts out pretty much the same as the book.  The 3 kids go through the painting and end up in the Great Eastern Ocean next to the ship.  They are brought on board and thus far, I was pleased to see how true it was to the book.  Unfortunately, that's where the two plots diverged.  I now understand how angry Stephen King was when he saw Stanley Kubrick's interpretation of "The Shining".  It's not like the book either.  Jack Torrance was a good guy who slowly went mad.  In the movie, Jack's already unhinged from the first scene.

So in the book, Caspian is sailing east to try and find the fate of the seven lords, and friends of his father, who were sent east by Caspian's evil uncle, King Miraz.  Along the way, they pick up Lucy, Edmund & their insufferably boring, snotty and prim cousin, Eustace.  The first stop for the Dawn Treader is the Lone Islands.  Some of them disembark on Felimath, because it's a nice, lonely island.  It is there that they are captured by slave traders.  But Caspian is purchased by a man who owns a small farm on Avra, b/c Caspian reminds him of his old friend.  Turns out it's the first of the 7 men, Lord Bern.  Together they conspire to march into the main town, Narrowhaven, put an end to the slave trade, get the kids and crew back, and unseat the Governor of the Islands.  Lord Bern is made Duke of the Lone Islands, a huge, happy feast is held in the travelers' honour, the Dawn Treader is repaired, watered and victualed, and sent on it's way.  

In the movie, however, Caspian is looking for the 7 swords that belonged to the 7 Lords.  When they arrive at the Lone Islands, they disembark at a deserted Narrowhaven, and then captured by the slave traders.  There is this weird smoky green mist in the water, and the Narnians witness the slavers sending Lone Islanders into this green mist in row boats.  The mist swallows them up and thus, they are sacrificed to this green mist.  A husband and his young daughter are screaming for his wife/her mom, who is sent away on the boat.  

Caspian & Edmund are tossed into the dungeon, where they discover a very old, hairy, mad Lord Bern who has been there for ages.  Meanwhile Lucy and Eustace are sold to the slavers.  Of course there's a huge battle and Caspian, Edmund, Lucy, et al, win.  Lord Bern presents Caspian with his sword, that's been hidden away in a cave.  The man, Rhince, who saw his wife sent into the mist begs Caspian to let him come with him and crew on the ship, so he can find his wife.  Once the ship is out to sea again, they discover that the man's daughter has stowed away on board as well.  

It was at this point when I really had to fight a huge urge to walk out.  I was so angry.  It was so hard not to completely flip out at this gross misinterpretation of the book.  There were no child stowaways on the Dawn Treader, and certainly no girls other than Lucy!!!  Rhince was a sailor on the ship and he wasn't searching for his wife.  There was no evil green mist that needed to be sated with boatloads of humans!!!

I decided OK, I'm gonna try to stick it out and see where this is going and how badly they veered off the plot of the book.  It only went downhill from there.

The next island in the book is Dragon Island.  The Dawn Treader had been through a 2 week storm and was battered when it limped into the harbour.  Eustace steals away from the others in order to avoid doing any work on the ship.  He climbs into the mountains where he finds tons of treasure.  He's a greedy little boy and begins to stuff his pockets with coins and jewels.  He slips a gold cuff on his arm, curls up and goes to sleep.  When he wakes up, he is horrified and realizes that his greedy acts in this magical land have made him turn into a dragon.  He flies down to the beach where the Narnians are camping, and manages to convey to them that he's Eustace.  All during the trip, up to this point, he and Reepicheep the valiant mouse had been arguing and sparring.  After Eustace turns into the dragon, Reep spends time with him, and tries to keep him from despair.  Eustace the dragon tries to help the others by lighting fires for them, and felling a new mast for the ship.  Finally one night Aslan comes to him, and strips him of his dragonish skin.  Gives the boy a fresh start as a boy.  And from that point forward, Eustace does try to be a better person.  He was a dragon for 6 days.

Instead, in the movie, the second island was the Magician's Island, with the one footed "Dufflepuds" who were invisible until they sent Lucy inside to find the spell to make them visible again.  This island was my fave in the book, and it came much later in their adventures.  It was a sunny place, with cool green trees on the lanes, and the Magician's home wasn't sinister at all.  Lucy reads the book and tries out a spell to find out what other people think of her and she overhears a conversation b/t 2 of her friends, which hurts her feelings.  Aslan comes to her and rebukes her for eavesdropping.  Instead the movie used Magician Island to explain to the others that they had to follow a Blue Star (??) to get to Ramandu's Island, where all 7 swords of the 7 Lords would have to be laid at Aslan's Table, in order to banish the evil green mist from Dark Island, or else all was doomed b/c the island would get stronger.  Lucy is also obsessed with being beautiful, so she steals a page out of the Magician's Book and stuffs it into her clothes to use later, which she does and then has a bizarre 'vision' of what happens once she's become beautiful.    

WTF?????????????  That's not even remotely like the original story!  They did touch on the beauty spell in the book, but the longer she looked at the page, the larger Aslan's snarling face got, so she turned the page.

They then combined Goldwater/Deathwater Island with Dragon Island, where Eustace becomes the dragon, and stays a dragon, for a good long time.  It's ridiculous.  There was indeed a Dark Island in the book, but it was only another place that the voyagers visited. It was the place where your dreams came true.....the dreams you have at night, including all the scary ones.  They rescued one of the 7 Lords from Dark Island.  As they try to sail away, Lord Drinian and Caspian can't navigate out.  Lucy was up in the crow's nest and whispers to Aslan to please send help.  An albatross appears and guides the ship out of the darkness.  They continued on.

The last island in the book is Ramandu's Island, where they discover the last 3 of the 7 Lords, in an enchanted sleep at a banquet table full of food, Aslan's Table.  Ramandu is an old man, who used to be a star.  Like a star in the sky.  He retired to the island and explains that they are at the end of their journey.  The last of the 7 are there and in an enchanted sleep b/c they tried to attack each other, and no violence can be committed at Aslan's Table.  They invite the Narnians to eat, and explain that they are to go further to Aslan's Country and leave one behind in order to break the enchanted sleep.  As that is Reepicheep's dream, to see Aslan's Country, he is the one who will be left behind.  Ramandu's daughter is also a star, and at dawn, the 2 of them sing the sunrise up, and from the sun flow hundreds of white birds who eat the remains of the feast.  One bird drops a red hot fireberry from the sun into Ramandu's mouth.  It makes him younger each day until he can be reborn again as a star.  Ramandu's daughter and Caspian take a liking to each other and he promises to return.

In the movie, I can't recall seeing Ramandu, but his daughter showed up as the glowing blue star and points to Dark Island, which is apparently right off the coast, and tells Caspian that the last of the 7 swords must be retrieved and brought back to Aslan's Table.  There was a huge battle at Dark Island with a sea monster, and Eustace is still a dragon during this epic scene.  He ends up taking the last sword in the back, crashing onto Ramadu's Island, being changed back into a boy by Aslan, and placing the last sword at the Table which banishes the evil and Dark Island and the sacrificed boatloads of people reappear on the water.  Again, I say, WTF??????????????????????

I re-read the book in about 3 hours after I got home.  I am just stunned at how different the movie was.  I guess because the voyage in the book didn't contain the epic battles that LWW and PC did, they had to create some kind of evil menace with whom they could battle, to inject some excitement into the plot.  Because the book really is the most pleasant of the series.  Except for the minor skirmish in Narrowhaven, their initial apprehension on Magician's Island before the Dufflepuds became visible and the nightmares at Dark Island, there are no battles, no conflicts, no need for sword fights and swinging on ropes and no real danger.  OK there was the sea serpent, but even that was changed in the movie to be WAY more destructive & terrifying than the one in the book, and it was also depicted as happening at Dark Island.

On one hand I'm sorry I saw it.  I'm so pissed that I wish I had the money to remake it to be true to the book.  That said, I am still hoping that the last 4 books are made into movies, just for the special effects.  I would like to see how Eustace evolves in The Silver Chair.  On the other hand, I am afraid they might ruin the stories that I hold sacred.

So as a Narnia purist, I cannot recommend seeing this movie.  If you've read the books, and you loved Dawn Treader, this movie will be a huge let down.  

Merry Christmas, Happy Crimbo, Have a Cool Yule, Io Saturnalia! etcetera

I just want to wish my friends a very Merry Christmas or whatever you all prefer to say.  Personally I think it's gotten out of hand.  You can wish me a Merry Christmas because I won't take offense.   I hear that the new secular greeting is "Happy Crimbo".  I'm not entirely sure of the origin but.I like the word.

You all mean the world to me and I appreciate the support of everyone who stops by, whether or not you leave comments.  I hope Santa is good to each and every one of you. Enjoy the time off with your family, pets and loved ones.  Do some fun things for yourself.  Make some memories.   Love you all!!!!!

Being Bad in Sumner

It's been a long time since I visited downtown Sumner, due in part because of the economy and also because I kind of burned out on the stores.  It's only a few blocks long and there aren't that many places.  It doesn't take long to do both sides of the street, hitting every shop.  I haven't been down there in well over 2 years.

I figured since I took the time to visit the Old Cannery, and since it wasn't raining, I'd browse through the stores.  First I took a quick walk over the Stuck River Bridge.  The lights look very pretty at night and I'll try to get pictures before the end of the season.

"This third Stuck River Bridge was built here in 1927.  The first bridge was built in 1863 just down stream at a cost of $495.  It was rebuilt in 1884.  In 1904 the White River was diverted in Auburn into Stuck Creek to make it a permanent tributary of the Puyallup River.  The original lights on this bridge were removed during World War II.  The lights were replaced in 1991 to celebrate Sumner's Centennial.  City of Sumner 1891-1991."

I parked behind Main Street, at the back of some of the stores.  This one was called, appropriately, Picket Fence.

I do love bric-a-brac gardens.  I've always wanted to do one myself.

Out front on Main Street.

I never noticed this mailbox before.

Sumner Centennial mural, showing quite a bit of wear over the past 20 years since the Centennial was celebrated.

I think this is the Sumner Historical Society.  They have a really pretty lit tree as well, which is the City's official tree, but it didn't photograph well at all in the daylight.  

Another mural depicting 1800's life on Elhi Hill, which is above Sumner, where I live in Bonney Lake.

When I was on my way to the Old Cannery, I was blasting one of my tapes.  The song that was playing was my favourite Ultravox tune, "Sleepwalk".  I had it turned up to 11 and I was singing at the top of my lungs.  In the middle of the song, I saw this sign and in the middle of the song I screamed, "NO WAY!!!!"  I was to be a very bad girl....I swear I went in just to look.  But like any other junkie, being around all those sparkling, saturated colours, the endorphins kicked in and I found myself heaping strands onto my wrists.  Before I knew it, I was in too deep.  lol

KC's Caboose burned down a couple of years ago.  It was very sad to see it go as it had been a part of Sumner time out of mind.  It was perched at the end of the block, a few feet from the railroad tracks.  It even had a fairly large-size (about 4' long) replica of an Amtrak car on an overhang below the roof.  

This used to be a small German restaurant and bakery the last time I was downtown, and now it appears KC's has taken over the space.

I walked up one side of the street and down the other.  At least 3 trains came through town while I was there too!!!  And no trip to Sumner would be complete without a trip to the Whistle Stop Antique Mall.  I love to look at all the old Christmas decorations that are for sale.  Those old glass balls with the painted and glittered stripes are my fave and I have to force myself not to buy them.  So I go and look at them instead.  I ended up finding some amazing deals while I was there.  And no trip to Whistle Stop is complete without a few greeting barks from Kat, the owner's wirehair Doxie.  

Finally, on my way back to the car, I had to shoot Nicholson's Drugs, because I just dig the retro sign.  I went in a couple of times and it's as retro inside as it is outside.  It's like stepping back in time to a 1970's era drug store.

I liked the look of this old white gate.

This arch is a smaller version of the one I saw in Confederation Park in Victoria.  I love it.  I was able to get inside this one and see up close how they brace the trees to train them to grow this way.

Here are my purchases, except for the small wooden shadow box shelf that screams out to be painted and ephemera'ed.  So I snagged me an end-of-day glass tumbler, a green insulator (this shade is more green than the normal teal ones), 2 books of vintage linen Victoria postcards, gorgeous flowered paper, a mint condition Peter Max Design Paper Airplane book (copyright 1971), and a pile-o-beads.

Every paper airplane is intact in the book.  I bought it for $12.00, and when I got home, I checked out eBay, where bids were upwards of $80.  I got a freakin DEAL on this.  As soon as I saw the price, I knew that the seller had absolutely no idea what he had.  I'm so glad that my eyes are trained to spot psychedelic art because this book was on a bottom shelf, half buried and at the back of a very dark case.  All I could see was the bottom of the face, and I thought it was John Lennon at first, till I peered in and finally saw the "Peter Max".  The pretty papers come from The Paper Muse.  I got a few things in there as well, as she has a great selection of vintage and steam punk altered art items.  

This glass is actually worthy of it's own blog post.  And I dig the green insulator.  I'm still looking for the elusive and rare amber.

This photo doesn't do these beads justice.  I've never seen anything like them, nor did the owner of Blue Iris.  She said they've been flying off the board.  They are so unique.  Never seen them at Shipwreck or in the colossal Fire Mtn Gems catalog either.  I think she said they are Czech.  

I'm actually glad I went down there and I'm glad I treated myself.  I used some of my Christmas bonus money so it didn't have to come out of the bank account.  I will be off work starting on Dec. 22 and I'm looking forward to having a crafty holiday, in addition to going to see "Voyage of the Dawn Treader".  I may not have decorated, but making things is what makes me happy, so if I'm gonna salvage this season, it might as well be by doing the things I love to do.  I was also able to use my bonus to get my Victoria photos processed, and I picked them up on Monday, so that means I get to create a new photo album as well!!  Next week should be fairly quiet, and then I'll be off again on Friday the 31st.  

I hope everyone has a safe, peaceful and quiet holiday, Yule, solstice and/or Christmas.  

Sumner's Old Cannery: Coolest Furniture Store on the Planet

I finally got a break in the weather enough for me to spend some time in Sumner, on Saturday morning and early afternoon.  It's been a real long time since I went down there.  The Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse occupies a small spit of land between the railroad tracks and highway 167 on one side, and the Stuck River on the other.

It's the coolest furniture store on the planet.  I find myself wanting to replace our furniture, just so I can shop there.  

This time of year, they go all out.  I am hoping to return there some night this week to take pictures of the lights.

They offer carriage rides to the far parking lots...

...because the store occupies 10 acres.

A little motorized train for the kiddies.

The front doors and the inside supports and counters are made with the most magnificent gigantic wooden logs.

This is the main entrance.  There is a whole other room, the same size (but more industrial looking) on the other side of the left hand wall from this room.

The store was pretty crowded when I was there, so I was unable to get a good photo of the Fudge Shoppe.  It's tucked away on the left aisle and created with the huge old logs.  Their counter is stuffed with jars of all kinds of candy.  And they make their fudge on site.  I have chocolate and nut allergies, so I can't take the chance on it, but it's extremely popular, as evidenced by the fact that it was packed with people the entire time I was there!

Can you guess what this is?  It's the entrance to the Ladies Room!!!  I've been inside and it looks like a beautiful old Victoria-era bathroom. 

Lots and lots of trains whizz by overhead, their different whistles happily singing out.  There are Christmas trains like this one.  Freight.  Modern silver-car trains too.  The Old Cannery is very train-themed.  

Above the beautiful brick archways between the rooms are vintage room displays.

The store straddles the border between Sumner and Puyallup (pronunciation reminder:  pew-ALL-up).  Crossing into the back of the store, you enter Puyallup.

I went into the other side of the store and found it crowded with a long line of parents and children.  I didn't realize that Santa was there.  So this room was full of all the recliners for sale, and loads of exhausted looking family members draped in them as their over excited children shrilly chattered in line, waiting to see Da Big Man.  

This hangs from the ceiling, in homage to our aviation history.

Reindeer.

I wanted to try and shoot this w/o my flash, but it was so crowded.  Parents brought their children in their holiday finery to shoot pictures of them in this scene, so I only had to time to get off one shot.  This area was actually very dark and with the holiday lights and cottony snow, it was quite magical.

If I'd known they were doing canned food drive I would've brought something to donate.

This creepy looking chap is flying above the rug department.

Lots of animated animal heads on the walls as well.  They move their heads, blink their eyes, and recite a bit of quick trivia about the store (I think....maybe it was about the valley's history....).

I do love these giant tree trunks and brick arches.  I swear I could live in this shop.  It's fun to just go and walk around, and damn hard to keep from buying something, even if just a lamp or a vintage picture!

It's hard to tell, but all those icicles were lit up in white and pale blue.

Nautical themed furniture and accessories department

All of the train bridges on the suspended tracks had lights covering them.

This is the front of a very large, wooden train engine that little kids can climb into.  There's also a really neat wooden train whistle that kids operate by pulling on a rope.  This boiler is internally lit as if aglow with a real coal fire.

Player piano

The posters behind Betty include my beloved Jimmy Dean, and those nostalgia posters that always show Elvis, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart in a diner or drive in.

I shot these pics with and without flash.  The flash really washed out the posters and reflected off the pinball machine so I went with the pics w/o flash.

Brian wants this sign but we don't have anywhere to hang it (and it's a big spendy).

A happy little caboose crossing another bridge.

The Old Cannery really was a cannery.

These guys are actually near the entrance, and they, too, are motion activated.  They talk and move.  I find these things kind of creepy actually, ever since being a little unnerved by the animated Pilgrims at the museum in Plymouth, MA when I was a kid.