Wow it’s so cool to see these incredible things. I had no idea about the volcanoes. I love the carved wood entryway at the playground with Perri.
And in Zoey’s photo, I’m so curious about the sound those instruments make. They look like a super evolved xylophone. Aesthetically, they remind me of mining carts with the pick axe (“hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to work we go…”).
I was wondering the same thing… 
I would LOVE to have the extra time! I agree, the C closing fiasco just messed up my mojo for the month. It would also help out the Mods, I agree.
I never knew LL Bean had all that. Wow…
I agree!
I want to know where she found a teeny tiny snow shovel! 
I made it! It’s a piece of aluminum can (the scooped, rounded blade) and a straw (I think, I made it awhile ago, it might be a dowel?), all firmly taped together with gorilla tape!
Omigosh that’s brilliant! What a cool idea!
As a Florida resident, I third this! It’s been over 30 years since I’ve seen snow.
They’re pretty loud. The instrument right here is a gangsa, basically like a metal xylophone. The thing that looks a little pick axe-y is a ponggul (“pon-gool”), or basically a wooden mallet. The bars are brass, and suspended with cord, so they will also ring indefinitely. The barred instruments in a gamelan are played with the ponggul in one hand while the other hand needs to damp/mute the bars when the next one is played.
This particular gamelan (called a gamelan smear pegulingan) is a slightly older style, and has a different set of pitches than what is often heard in a gamelan gong kebyar, which I think is a little more common. (I’ll try to see if I can find any decent simple examples of Balinese gamelan.)
Edit: Adding a video of some of our instruments we’re using for the show, and you can also see the style of dance from Bali.
A longer documentary about the last production they did in this scale is here, in case anyone is interested (it should work if you go to vimeo):
Loving all the photos, but this one is just my favourite!
Wooooow! Thank you so much for taking the time to explain it to me. I got really excited and started reading too fast.
My interpretation was that it was a gangsta xylophone. And yes, that’s totally metal. 
I particularly liked learning about how to control its sound/vibration.
I loved the video of the performance, thank you for taking the time to find and post that! The fabrics, the sounds, the overall feel is so immersive! I so appreciate you sharing it!
In the chaos of the move(s), I forgot we went to Robert’s Christmas Wonderland - a huge, all Christmas-themed store in Clearwater and took some pics.
The tree room in the back is FULL of tree displays
As well as a ton of scenic stuffed animals and decor
Including Santa of course!
They also have a bunch of themed trees like this Florida flamingo one.
I ordered ahem, some pictures for the scrapbook. I’ll let @LadybugsAndBees wonder exactly how many some actually is.
We did absolutely nothing for New Year’s but watch Star Wars lol. But we did bring a new pet home today! A sweet 3 y/o ball python named Mitch! He’s a good little Danger Noodle!
Awwww, Mitch is such a wonderful nope-rope! 
Perri looks like she’s enjoying the sites! Unfortunately, I got hit with the flu bug that was going around my store last week For the first time and just now starting to feel more normal (there were like 7 call offs last Monday because of it). Hopefully, I’ll make it up to Elias soon.
I’ve purchased the scrapbook… have to get photos ordered. And then actually start making the scrapbook. But I’m on track!
Realised that with the “phone/toilet” incident I’m missing Christmas photos for Vic (phone didn’t save to google drive before it went “Into the deep”). Will see if I can do some photoshop work there…
Hi all. Me and Nessie are safe and well. We havent been able to do anything really over the last few weeks due to the bushfire season, we are okay do not worry, but there is a lot of smoke sometimes and it makes it hard to go outside amd do things. Hopefully soon it will pass. We miss you all!
Eeeek those fires have sounded so scary. I’m glad you were able to find your way over here and check in! I hope things start looking up. 
