Cirque de Soleil in Del Mar

I had the priviledge of attending the "Corteo" performance by the Cirque de Soleil troupe in Del Mar last Tuesday. It is performed under le grand chapiteau with two entrances to house the circular stage. The stage is divided in half by curtains which also allow scenes to be performed in a dream-like state. The stage itself has a trap door in the center for appearing/disappearing acts. Concentric circles of the stage rotate to give the audience a full view of this performance in the round.

No photography is allowed; see the NY Times review for photos of the acrobatics. I was gasping and dropping my jaw at some of the surprising performances. The supported cartwheels in the giant hula-hoop were more amazing than my simplified naming. Acrobatics, juggling, high-wire walking, tumbling, musical performance, a great treat for the eyes and ears and all the more appreciated by me from attending yoga and stretch classes.

Haven't you always wanted a monkey?

Seeing the tree trimmer work, I'm reminded of lyrics from "If I had a million dollars" by BNL. Well, he did have climbing boots and was strapped in good, but he also looked like a monkey up in these palm trees. He climbed two trees and swung or rapelled to the other three. The front palm tree was trimmed by a man in a bucket truck. Hey! That's cheating! I was more impressed with this man's climbing talents, but the owner says because the other guy can operate the machinery, he gets more money.

We had the trees trimmed just in time as that following weekend was a monsoon of a rainstorm for San Diego. Rinsed things off nicely. The neighbor said it was good timing too. The fruits on the palm would have rained down like hail.

New Years Day Spa

Happy New Year! The filter was running. It was a sunny day and fairly mild in San diego. I thought I'd see how long it would take to heat up the spa. It started at 55 degrees. I turned on the heater to high. I waited. some more. Actually, people are surprised to hear that it heated up to 90 degrees in about an hour. We'll be looking into a solar cover for the pool which will extending the swimming season from March to November, our pool man estimates. That, and it helps with evaporation, preventing it.

We took down the fencing that was around the patio. You see just the poles here. It really opens up the backyard. There's lots to do if we want to and a little bit each weekend makes it managable.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! I managed to forget my camera as we were on our way to the San Diego Zoo. Larry said he didn't get any good still pictures but did get this video of the new panda cub, Zhen Zhen. She's almost 5 weeks old now and weighs 18 pounds. Hmm, she looked a little bigger than our 20-pound petite baby Puffin. Must be all that fur that the keeper says is 20-times more wiry than sheep wool and 50-times more smelly.


San Diego Zoo Panda Cub Zhen Zhen

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