My Mobile Adventures *~*~*

© Copyright 2010 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com

The black-necked swan hails from South America and is considered the prettiest of all the varieties of swans in the world.

Click the photos to see if a larger version is available in Flickr
CLICK for my previous Ruby Tuesday posts
Visit other Ruby Tuesday participants

Subscribe to My Mobile Adventures *~*~*
That way, you’ll never miss a post.

Click to Subscribe by email
CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

© Copyright 2010 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com

I love this sign because it is so colorful and because it has a “hidden” Mickey. The EPCOT Character spot is located just across the breezeway from Innoventions West in Walt Disney World’s EPCOT theme park. You’ll be able to find all the most beloved classic Disney characters there – Mickey and Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Chip ‘n’ Dale are all waiting to meet you! So, when you get to EPCOT, hang a right when you get to the fountain that dances to fabulous music and you’re there. Everybody neat and pretty? Don’t forget your autograph book!

Click the photos to see if a larger version is available in Flickr
RELATED POSTS:
My previous Ruby Tuesday posts
Visit other Ruby Tuesday participants

Subscribe to My Mobile Adventures *~*~*
That way, you’ll never miss a post.

Click to Subscribe by email
CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com

“I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way”
Jessica Rabbit – the “forgotten” Disney character in red!
Window display at The Screen Door, Disney’s Boardwalk

Click the photos to see if a larger version is available in Flickr
RELATED POSTS:
My previous Ruby Tuesday posts
Visit other Ruby Tuesday participants

Subscribe to My Mobile Adventures *~*~*
That way, you’ll never miss a post.

Click to Subscribe by email
CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com

I went to dinner with some friends on Saturday night – they gave me the choice of venue, so I selected the newly-opened Sea Star Cafe on Sanibel Island. It’s located where Ellington’s used to be, at the Sanibel Inn. When we first arrived, it was after 6:00 PM and there weren’t any other cars in the parking lot. We thought perhaps it was an indicator that the restaurant was not being kindly received, but later on, our waitress reminded us that it’s off season and what few tourists do make it to the island in the summer want to be on the beach as long as there’s daylight. Sunset doesn’t really occur until after 8:00 PM – and the sunsets are amazing down here in the summer time, so I don’t blame those tourists one bit for delaying the dinner hour! There’s a sample menu posted here, but it doesn’t show the wine list or mixed drinks. If memory serves, I ordered a Sanibel Iced Tea, pictured at left, but I don’t remember what was in it – clearly, something that makes it look like a sunset! It was cold and fruity and delicious.

ATMOSPHERE
I like the ambiance of the restaurant – exposed beams in a rotunda, lots of clean wood surfaces and just an airy feel to the place. The booths are very roomy too, but ours looked out over the garbage dumpster in the parking lot. Get one toward the back of the restaurant along the road if you want a better view.


APPETIZER
I started my meal with the house salad and citrus vinaigrette on the side. The salad was fresh, the dressing was a little on the peppery side but overall good, and the bowl was a fail. You cannot tell from the photo, but the square salad bowl is sort of a wedge shape, with the bottom of the bowl being MUCH narrower than the opening at the top. Consequently, when you stab into your salad with your fork, lettuce and stuff erupts onto the table. Maybe if they filled the bowl a little less…??? Honestly, if I were the manager of the restaurant, I’d just ditch these bowls and get something a bit less adventurous.


ENTREES aka THE GREAT LOBSTER TAIL FAIL
Gary and I both ordered the grilled lobster tail. You will notice it was sliced in half lengthwise. This probably worked well in getting a lot of contact with the grill, but it was a fail logistically in terms of trying to pry the meat out of the shell. At some point, you have to pick the meat out with your fingers or just miss out on half your lobster tail. And honestly, if I’d wanted to pick at something with my fingers, I would have ordered an entire lobster or a crab or something. The whole point of ordering just the tail is that you can eat it with your fork and keep your hands clean. We didn’t have extra napkins or wet naps on the table, so things got messy fast. I also have to mention that the lobster tasted like steak. Oh I liked it, but it suggests that fish and meat are cooked on the same grill here. If you are allergic to seafood, then you should probably specifically mention that to the staff here so they will cook your steak separately.


Tootie ordered the shrimp basket and was overall pleased, I believe. I haven’t been over to her blog yet to see! I sampled one of her shrimp – it was a huge portion and they were pretty big shrimp, too. I love how the tail comes RIGHT off when you pull – A+ for that! Tootie said her fries were really good, too.


DESSERT and SERVICE
No, there’s nothing floating in my coffee – it’s the reflection from the overhead light fixture. But it does look like I’ve got “clouds in my coffee, clouds in my coffee”, doesn’t it? We did receive a fair amount of attention from the staff – probably there were two reasons for this. One, there weren’t a lot of people there so their attention was not divided much. Two, when patrons whip out cameras and start taking pictures of the food, chances are pretty good a review is on the horizon Well, maybe they didn’t notice the photo-taking, not sure. We did let the manager know about the lobster tail fail and made him pinky-swear that he would never let the chef do that again! For our trouble, we received these humongous double portions of dessert! I had to ask for a box to take half of it home (which I demolished last night after dinner – the cheesecake is totally wicked good!).

OVERALL IMPRESSION
I really did like the atmosphere and the friendliness of the staff at the Sea Star Cafe. I would like to come back at some point in the future and see how they are maturing. Also noted – there’s a bar, and the place is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, which means this is a potential new stop on the Sunday Sanibel Bar Crawl. Well, we’ll see if we can get Gary to go back…

Click the photos to see if a larger version is available in Flickr
RELATED POSTS:
My previous Ruby Tuesday posts
Visit other Ruby Tuesday participants

Subscribe to My Mobile Adventures *~*~*
That way, you’ll never miss a post.

Click to Subscribe by email
CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

© Copyright 2010 Tink *~*~*

http://MyMobileAdventures.com
Click the photos to see if a larger version is available in Flickr

I am pretty much a Tinkerbell purist. With the exception of my “Mornings aren’t magical” coffee mug, I am generally a devotee of the original shot-glass sized Tink from the original 1953 classic film Peter Pan. Whenever I’ve purchased Tinkabilia, which has been frequent as you can imagine, I’ve stuck with classic Tink, whose magical mystique is unbesmirched by corporate greed and the march of time.

Well, I guess Disney has decided that they haven’t heaped enough indignities upon my beloved favorite Disney character.  Thus far, their list of crimes against her is as follows:

5 Ways Disney has defiled Tinkerbell

1. They re-drew her. CGI – ’nuff said.
2. They’ve converted her into a maintenance woman. Disney has insisted that the “Tinker” in Tinkerbell means “one who fixes things”.  Please.  Everyone knows that “tinker” REALLY means, “the sound a bell makes”.  Duh.
3. They’ve fabricated a contradictory back-story for her. Disney needs to fire whomever came up with this absurd “Pixie Hollow” back-story, populated with little fairy friends.  Oh but wait – it’s making money . This back-story would never happen.  In fact, it never DID happen. Tinkerbell hangs with the Lost Boys.  Always has, always will.



4. They’ve made her speak. English, even.  See “the sound a bell makes”, above.  That’s as close to describing her voice as we mere mortals have ever been able to come. It’s like trying to describe the sound of a dog whistle – everyone knows you are lying because humans cannot hear the sound of a dog whistle.
5. And the latest, most heinous of all crimes against faith, trust and pixie dust – Disney hath made Tinkerbell a person-sized face character in the parks.  Now I ask you, how are all the children, both young and old, supposed to believe that this face character is the real Tinkbell, when everyone knows that the REAL Tinkerbell is so small, she fits in the palm of Peter’s hand?  Are we therefore to believe that Peter must be a giant? Preposterous!

And yet, it’s this very most heinous of all crimes which Disney intends to perpetuate with the making of this “live action romantic comedy” film.  Just read this article, and then read all the comments that follow.  This is what Disney hath wrought upon poor Tink.  Oh, the indignity of it all.  O, the humanity!

Elizabeth Banks to Play Tinkerbell in Disney’s Live Action Romantic Comedy ‘Tink’.

I think they are now painting themselves into a corner. I’ve read that the reason we have no Princess Giselleface character in the parks is because they’d have to find X many clones of Amy Adams. For animated characters, you can easily explain differences in the way they appear in person versus on film – “Oh, everyone looks different when they are drawn.” But you cannot explain why the face character in the park is obviously not the same person as the live action character on screen. Can you imagine the dismay, the anguish, the tears, when little children who’ve seen the “live action romantic comedy” are presented with an obviously FAKE face character Tinkerbell in the parks? Kids are not stupid, you know. They have the ability to suspend disbelief, but eventually they will see that Tink in the parks is bogus. And once they see that, they will start looking at the other characters with the same critical eye.

I predict the downfall of the character meet!

*~*~* *~*~* *~*~* *~*~* *~*~*

This has been another scintillating episode of TINK’S *~*~* LINKS – hope you’ve enjoyed

*~*~* *~*~* *~*~* *~*~* *~*~*

RELATED POSTS:
My previous Ruby Tuesday posts
Visit other Ruby Tuesday participants

Subscribe to My Mobile Adventures *~*~*
That way, you’ll never miss a post.

Click to Subscribe by email
CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com

Last Friday, I drove out past Sanibel Island and crossed Blind Pass over to Captiva Island. At the end of Captiva, there’s a resort called South Seas, which has conference facilities. I was there to get some safety training for beach cleanup volunteers – want to be prepared in case the Gulf oil spill makes its way to the Lee Island Coast of Florida. The drive looks short-ish on the map, but is made longer by the 35 mile per hour speed limit (maximum) that’s enforced on both islands. Pretty scenery is the saving grace – I wasn’t suffering at all!

The course was four hours long and it was taught by a trainer from the Ostego Bay Oil Spill Co-Op and a trainer from OSHA – Occupational Safety & Health Administration. There were several different segments that explained the sensitivity of the Gulf coast, especially in the estuaries, the types of hazards that can be encountered in the environment that’s being cleaned, protective gear worn by cleanup workers, and the procedures they follow to maximize safety and minimize damage to people, wildlife, the environment and property.

As conference facilities go – and I’ve been in a lot of them – South Seas has a lot going for it. First, location – a sub-tropical island really cannot be beat. The grounds are nicely landscaped with tropical flowering shrubs and swaying palms. The conference facilities are not all worn out and tired-looking. They are clearly well-maintained. The air conditioning in the conference center was neither too strong nor too weak – just right for people wearing shorts and tank tops. And the final thing to recommend South Seas – REAL iced tea was served, and there were candy jars on every table filled with “Made In The USA” mints.

Click the photos to see if a larger version is available in Flickr
RELATED POSTS:
My previous Ruby Tuesday posts
Visit other Ruby Tuesday participants

Subscribe to My Mobile Adventures *~*~*
That way, you’ll never miss a post.

Click to Subscribe by email
CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com
Click the photos to see if a larger version is available in Flickr

McT’s Shrimp House and Tavern is a stop on the Sunday Sanibel Bar Crawl, especially when it’s very hot outside. The SSBC started in the mild weather as a pool bar crawl, but as the weather turned that year, it was obvious that we needed to seek asylum in places that were both shady and air conditioned. McT’s has traditionally been a final stop, but now that they are open for lunch, we’ve actually started there a few times.

I enjoy the ambiance at McT’s. It starts with the outside decor – they’ve got a beached dingy with tall sea grasses growing out of holes it its bottom, a dolphin sculpture and a tropically-decorated Adirondack chair at the front door. Inside, it’s kind of like walking into an undersea cavern – cool and shady, the whimsical mood is set by fantasy-tinged paintings on the walls and the twinkling “stars” strung over the bar. There’s a big blue crab over the bar, too. I like the way the artist just painted the crab’s feet right on top of the air conditioning duct.

There are other things painted on the walls and ceiling, including a couple of mermaids. One of the mermaids is framed on the wall beside the door to the Tavern. I’m a sucker for blue and yellow together, so this is my favorite scene in the whole bar. In this photo, you can see a bit of glare on the lower left of the frame – that’s coming from the glass in the door. As I was taking this photo, one of the wait staff passed by and remarked that she believed the owner’s wife is the artist who creates these paintings, and that she’d just been in recently to freshen them up a bit.

So, how’s the food? you ask. McT’s serves home-made potato chips that would be pretty hard to beat. They are pretty much inhaled as soon as the basket hits the table. Here’s my McT’s lunch of choice – fresh Gulf shrimp, just grilled plain, on a bed of romaine with Caesar dressing on the side. There are all kinds of ways to prepare shrimp, but I like it just grilled because you can really taste how fresh it is that way. To wet the whistle – after all, this is supposed to be a bar crawl – we have a Yellowbird, the official fru-fru drink of the Sunday Sanibel Bar Crawlers and Militant Shellers Association (TM). This is a wonderful libation made from amaretto, rum and pineapple juice, usually garnished with a cherry and an orange slice. The orange slice is typically the first thing ingested.

Overall, I’d say we all enjoy our stops at McT’s, and I’m looking forward to more in the future. Now, if only they had a pool…

Click the photos to see if a larger version is available in Flickr
RELATED POSTS:
My previous Ruby Tuesday posts
Visit other Ruby Tuesday participants

Subscribe to My Mobile Adventures *~*~*
That way, you’ll never miss a post.

Click to Subscribe by email
CLICK to Subscribe by RSS

© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com

This week, it’s been 2 years since I joined Ruby Tuesday, a photo meme hosted by Mary at Work of the Poet. To commemorate the occasion, here’s my first-ever Ruby Tuesday post – from June 24th, 2008! OH – and I have since seen this film, and I believe the cute little red car’s name is Lightning McQueen

Hey, guess what? I lied to you guys yesterday, but I didn’t mean to. I forgot that it was going to be Tuesday today, and I did not intend to continue Flower & Garden Festival stuff because it is my very first RUBY Tuesday! I found out about it from The Teach – in fact, I think she might be the inventor and sole proprietor of Ruby Tuesday.

So here’s my first contribution. I believe this car was one of the stars of Pixar’s film called – wait for it! – Cars. But I am not 100% sure about that, because I have never seen the film.

There’s lots of other nifty red stuff in the background, too. This photo was taken at Disney-MGM Disney’s Hollywood Studios on the morning of May 26th 2008.

Click the photos to see if a larger version is available in Flickr
RELATED POSTS:
My previous Ruby Tuesday posts
Visit other Ruby Tuesday participants

Subscribe to My Mobile Adventures *~*~*
That way, you’ll never miss a post.

Click to Subscribe by email
CLICK to Subscribe by RSS