I think it's safe to classify both of today's photos as "standard Disneyland views". Nice enough, sure, but you probably won't call Aunt Marge to tell her all about them. (Call her anyway, she's lonely).
Yep, it's no surprise that it's a photo of the Mark Twain. It looks pretty against that deep-blue sky. Daredevil ducks wait until the last possible second to scoot out of its way (while other less-brave ducks stayed safely out of harm's way). I'd say that this behavior does not set a good example for ducklings. You can tell that there is a slight chill in the air based on the long sleeves and sweaters.
I think I read that the Pirate Ship was almost sponsored by Mongo's Liverwurst, but negotiations fell through when they insisted on pumping the aroma of liverwurst through the cannon's bores. But it's fun to imagine "what might have been"!
Major-
ReplyDeleteDoes the Mark Twain have a 'bad side'-? Unlike egotistical actors, it clearly does NOT. It's always lovely.
As for the 2nd image, clearly only the gray-haired woman at the far left received the memo announcing today was 'match your sweater to the nearest trash can' day. She passed with flying colors-!
Thanks, Major.
Looks like SoCal has the prettiest skies in December! A rather striking picture of the MT taken from a head-on angle. Is it just coming back from its voyage or just departing? Up in the nose-bleed section, a dad/grandpa is dangling his little son/grandson over the railing! Yes, he's got his arm around the toddler, but kids can squirm unexpectedly!
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting angle! Very kinetic-looking. Where are the sails?!? I wonder if CMs climb up into the crow's nests to remove/replace the sails and whatnot? I'm sure I won't be the only person to point this out but, the lady on the extreme left perfectly matches the trashcan that she's walking by! This is probably the only time we'll see that happening!
Ha! I knew I wouldn't be the first to point out the lady/trashcan similarity! Thanks Nanook. The early bird gets the worm... Let us know what it tastes like! :-D
Familiar subjects, but very nice photos! Thanks, Major.
@ JB-
ReplyDelete"The early bird gets the worm... Let us know what it tastes like!"
Predictably, it tastes just like chicken-!
Both pics are nice. I especially like the head on shot of the Mark Twain with the deep blue sky. What would Rivers of America be without its ducklings.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Major.
I think I read that the Pirate Ship was almost sponsored by Mongo's Liverwurst.....
ReplyDeleteMajor.....Underwood makes/made a canned liverwurst. Just imagine if they had been the sponsors. They could have have had the Underwood Devil on the bow of the ship, instead of that goody-goody Chicken of the Sea Mermaid!
Thanks, Major!
Great shot of the MT, I almost feel like we are on a raft about to get run down. Clearly those ducks aren’t worried.
ReplyDeleteLots of cordage on the Pirate Ship. I remember reading Two Years Before the Mast, if the crew found there was nothing else to do, then make rope, or mend rope since more was always needed aboard. I used to teach rope-making at Scout Camp, but even then, we had a mechanical widget to weave twine into rope. Skills now lost to time.
What if Starkist landed the concession? We might have had Charlie the Tuna as the mascot. I still think CotS had an “in” since the mermaid was Tinkerbelle’s cousin.
Thanks Major!
JG
I thought the people in the first picture were going to be too far away and small for a Vintage Fashion Award, but then I saw the lady in the colorful stripes in front of the right-hand smokestack on the upper deck and said, "Yipes!" The cool dude with the folded arms in front of the other stack is pretending to be Steve McQueen on Wanted: Dead or Alive.
ReplyDeleteI think I read that the Pirate Ship was almost sponsored by Mongo's Liverwurst.....
Most people don't remember that Mongo's briefly expanded to a line of canned shrimp. Their ad slogan was, "Mongo's only prawns in game of life."
I really love the Pirate Ship picture - sharp, clear, and colorful, even without the sails. Let's go there for lunch today.
"I used to teach rope-making at Scout Camp, but even then, we had a mechanical widget to weave twine into rope. Skills now lost to time."
ReplyDeleteYou brought back a memory - in the same book I mentioned in this post, where the little girl is warned not to drink the pink lemonade at the county fair, her old aunt laments losing the skill to read a sundial and start a fire with a tinderbox. Again, I had to go back and look up the exact words:
"I declare! Sometimes it seems to me that every time a new piece of machinery comes into the door some of our wits fly out at the window! Now I couldn't any more live without matches than I could fly! And yet they all used to get along all right before they had matches. Makes me feel foolish to think I'm not smart enough to get along, if I wanted to, without those little snips of pine and brimstone."
Nanook, I will not stand for any Claudette Colbert slander! Ha ha, that lady met her soul mate, unfortunately it was a trashcan.
ReplyDeleteJB, it’s true, winter is often a good time for pretty skies in SoCal. If we ever get nice clouds it will probably be between December and March. I think the Mark Twain was just leavingthe dock, you can sort of see it in the background. I wonder if the photographer was standing in the old riverside bandstand that was removed shortly afterwards? I feel like the sails on the Pirate Ship and the Columbia must have been a maintenance nightmare, constantly needing replacements, etc. Which is why we see them without sails so often.
Nanook, if you slather worms with Alfredo sauce, they go down easy!
K. Martinez, I feel like ducks who live in Disneyland have found “heaven on Earth”, with never-ending food, plenty of like-minded friends, and humans who love you. Maybe the feral cats are a problem though.
TokyoMagic!, canned liverwurst, I had no idea. I do love the idea of the Underwood Devil as the figurehead, even though I adore the Chicken of the Sea Mermaid!
JG, ah, maybe the photographer was on a raft! I didn’t think of that. I would imagine that making a rope of any length would be a difficult task, not that I’ve ever tried it. I really do wonder how they made long ropes in those olden days! I sort of think that Starkist came along a few years after Chicken of the Sea, but I like Charlie the Tuna, and even have a few old advertising figures of him.
Melissa, boy, that striped sweater (?) looks like something from the 1980s. I guess there will always be people who love bold patterns. The story about Mongo’s Liverwurst has been floating around the Internet for years, kind of like the story that Doritos were invented at Casa de Fritos (a claim I still doubt). The Pirate Ship photo is nice, but I think it looks better a bit earlier in the day when less of it is in shadow.
Melissa, I think it’s cool that you could find “Understood Betsy” on the Internet Archive! Very useful. It is true that useful skills become outdated, but that’s been going on for as long as people have been alive. I hardly know how to field-dress a mastodon! :-) Starting a fire without matches is always good to know, there’s a guy on YouTube (“Primitive Technology”) who can do it, and it fascinates me every time.
And then picking apart used rope back into hemp fiber was one of the jobs they had men do in prison, although what they did with the fiber after that I don't know. Made it back into more new rope? I guess it was all about the cycle of rope in the olden days.
ReplyDeleteAED Armada!
ReplyDeleteThe sweater-trash-can-twin picture is amazing! I’m sure the photographer never realized that if s/he snapped that picture one second later, it would’ve just been another picture of the boat.
Thanks, Major.
I think the person in that second pic was actually wearing a sweater in a solid color. Unfortunately, maintenance had just painted that trash can, but forgot to "rope it off" and post "Wet Paint" signs.
ReplyDelete