Spring Is In The Air

Epcot is especially beautiful this time of year during the International Flower & Garden Festival. So we thought we’d start this post by sharing a few photos from there, but of course, they really don’t do justice to the real thing.

On Sat I met Paul and Anne at Epcot to see Tony Orlando in the concert series. They like to go over early to just putter around and people watch while Anne scours the lanyards of cast members for pins to trade (she has a huge collection!) Russ didn’t feel like going so I got there about 2pm, stopped at a couple exhibits, then met up with them. We wandered over to the Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden and Fawn’s Butterfly House where hundreds of butterflies flit among the foliage and people. One lady got a butterfly to climb onto her finger, placed it on her shoulder (had her mom take a picture), and then placed it on Anne’s shoulder! From there we ventured towards the American Pavilion, arriving just in time for a Voices of Liberty performance. Afterwards I got a bite to eat (they had already eaten), then met them in line for the first show. Surprisingly they started letting us in about an hour early so we got good seats but had to sit in the sun for an hour. Finally it was time for Tony Orlando to hit the stage starting with Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree, and you can tell he really enjoys interacting with the audience. There was a large group behind us, all in matching purple t-shirts (with yellow ribbons pinned on), celebrating the birthday of “Aunt Nancy”. He acknowledged them first thing and mentioned that it was also his birthday. A couple songs later while he was singing, he motioned for them to come up onstage. One guy finally got up his nerve and joined Tony onstage, singing along, and then Tony turned the mike over to him to sing by himself! Actually the guy was pretty good! While he was up there, another one from the group came up but said he didn’t sing, only danced, and boogie he did! What a riot!

As it turns out, Tony’s younger brother, David, is one of the keyboardists in the band and Tony “talked him into” singing, Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose? (it’s obviously part of the act). He’s got quite a good voice and really played to the audience. While he sang, Tony played the keyboards (and mugged to the audience), and then joined David for the end of the song. Tony closed the show by singing his version of America, the song made famous by Neil Diamond, and dedicated it to all the troops and veterans. He had members from each war stand and be recognized…very moving.

Also, last week Russ took on the challenge of changing the RV’s air filter…not an easy task. The filter comes already inside a metal casing that is about 24” long x 12” in diameter and needs to be connected in two spots. Paul (and Ed) came over to “supervise” while

Russ first removed the old one. The work area is very tight, and whoever at the factory installed the original filter, placed most of the clamp screws in hard to reach places instead of towards the top. This was the first time it had been changed and proved to be quite difficult to get out. In fact, Paul switched from supervisor to mechanic mode to help get it out! It took a couple hours but probably saved us about $100.

Next week our friends from Denmark arrive at the campground, and we’re looking forward to some fun-filled days!