What was this?

When we were in Cancun we got the tail end of Hurricane Noel. No major storm or bad weather, just huge waves that crashed onto shore and caused the red flag to fly. Those waves brought in some wood pieces as shown above. The question is, what was this? What were these pieces used for? Was it handmade fencing from a home, grabbed by the storm? or was it, sadly, a raft being used by illegal immigrants coming over from Cuba? Our Mexican compadres thought so. There are times I wish I knew the whole story and this is one of them.

Destiny USA

Over the weekend, these bright balloons called me up to the top floor of our local Carousel Mall. On the 6th floor I found great views of the city, but I also found plans and drawings for the mall expansion. Destiny USA

Here's what I already knew:

Plans began in 1997 and were released to the public in 2000.

After many stalled starts, legal issues, controversy and debate, ground breaking took place in April and phase one (an 850 sq ft expansion) is under construction.

Our current mall has already converted to green energy.

Here's what I learned:

Destiny will showcase sustainability. The complex will have its own renewable-energy power plant, enabling it to operate independently of fossil fuels.

A horizontal elevator system will transport people around the car-free mini-city, and a monorail will connect it to Syracuse's airport and downtown.

Phase two and phase three plans for the 75 million square foot Destiny USA are to include:
80,000 hotel rooms, an indoor aquarium, a water park, convention center, an indoor re-creation of the Erie Canal, a stadium and performing arts center, a research and development park, a putt and chip golf course, a 150 acre glass-enclosed indoor park and a 20 acre artificial lake.

(click on photo for closer look)

Manic Monday Rank

Manic Monday word for today is rank.

I hope this Thanksgiving had special meaning for you and ranked high. After two very hectic weeks I was grateful for time to relax.

By Thursday afternoon our table looked like this (sans food)

a few hours later the turkey looked like this

not this

(2005 turkey)

and family and friends were together under one roof.

This year, Thanksgiving ranked high on my list of special Thanksgivings.

Happy MM and a very happy start to the holiday season.

Visit Mo at It's a Blog Eat Blog World to see more Manic Monday postings.

An unintended hiatus.

This week got away from me in a big way.
Without boring you with the details, it's been one thing after another. Still one more day of busy day hell to go through and then aaaaaahhhh, it will be the weekend.

I would like to go back in time to two weeks ago.
This was taken from the hotel room in Cancun.
See those little lounge chairs in front of the tiki hut?
You can lay on them in the water.















Oh bartender, another margarita please.....

Merry Christmas! NO not yet.

For heaven's sake, it is November 8.
Why do I have to hear Christmas music when I turn on the radio?
I love the holidays, but this is overkill.

Back from Cancun and it was awesome.
Will be posting pics from the trip soon.

In the meantime, I am having serious fun playing scrabulous on facebook.



Love it!


for those on facebook, check it out.
and if you're not on facebook yet, you should be, it's fun.