fascination 4 fastina

I have found my dream car!

I was over in Old Town Kissimmee, waiting for Christina and her family to arrive for the Cruise-In of the antique cars...

and there it was...

1960 Catalina, dressed in Raspberry Metallic, with fins for miles...

and hubcaps all gleam...

oh, yeah!

(Cue music from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"!)

Not that the Catalina was the only car sporting fins for the occasion, oh, no.

There were plenty of 1983-and-older vehicles doing so, with a Toyota Celica side by side with a Chevrolet Bel Air!

Gorgeous colors, too, like massive jelly beans waiting to be tasted and savored - how delicious!

Mama would have been so pleased with me...

I kept my hands in my pockets or behind my back!

No touching was allowed!

(smile!)

Here's a car showing off another of the things that make these special to me:

a plethora of gauges on the dash!

No idiot lights for these beauties!

This one, a 1972 Pontiac Trans Am dressed in gold and with the classic Firebird on the hood, reminded me of the 1973 one owned by my first husband, Keith.

It was white, trimmed out in blue, and it took us from Pensacola, Florida, all the way to Galeta Island, Panama, via the Pan-American highway!

Small world: Rene, one of the staff at AMC 11, is from El Salvador, and we were talking about that road two weeks ago!

 

On Wednesday I'd been treated to this beauty!

It's the May 28, 1978, pace car for the Indianapolis 500... 

and it's also the car used by Ken's daughter's boyfriend to pick up the girl for dates!

True story!

The car belonged to the young man's dad.

That young man is now the beloved son-in-law of Ken and Wanda, and has been for more than three decades.

Ken bought the car 32 years ago from that original owner.

How nice to keep it in the family!

(smile!)

For today's showing and cruise, Ken brought his considerably older "Santa truck" -

at least that's its sobriquet!

He even dons the suit and beard of the jolly chap in December for the neighborhood kids!

Not today, though -

far too hot and humid for that!

He had happened upon the truck while on a trip to Michigan - a trip that coincided with a birthday - and so Wanda got it for him.

True story!

I so enjoyed talking with this couple -

glad I got to do so twice!

(smile!)

By the time Christina arrived with the little ones, the bright sky had faded to dark and a steady drizzle had started.

The Cruise-In, as the parade of cars through the streets of Old Town is called, had started, too, but we managed to catch the last fifteen cars, or thereabouts.

That really brought back memories of the 12-hour Woodward Dream Cruise - held in August annually in Michigan - that Jeff and I had finally seen one time in our fifteen years of marriage.

Good times, good times!

And here I was making new memories, with Miyah, Chloe, and Christina, in one of my favorite places in Florida!

(smile!)

Not much later, and after the rain stopped, we caught up with Chris and Junior - or they caught up with us, however that worked!

Hahahaha hahaha!

We dined at A&W, with Junior having his first Coney and first A&W root beer - all with his approval!

Then we crossed right over to The Great Magic Hall for the 10 PM show.

After all, that was truly the reason they had ventured out from Silver Lake Resort, as I had pledged to treat them to the event... and they knew I would never stop asking them to come to a show with me.

And so they did!

And a nice young woman took this photo to mark this time I shared with them for Nathan Coe Marsh's style of magical feats, including a calculator trick that gave us the date and time that it occurred!

(smile!)

 

I'm so glad to have seen his show again!

In many ways, today was a bit of a repeat of what I'd done on Wednesday after my arrival at Barefoot'n Resort.

I'd dined on a footlong Coney, with onions, and root beer, at A&W, being sure to send a photo to the ex.

Then I'd looked at some of the fancy cars before going to the 7 PM show at the Magic Hall.

I'd sent car photos to Chris and he had joined me in Old Town, showing off his car, naturally.

(smile!)

That photo above, by the way, is from the Wednesday evening show, hence the numbers scrawled on the placard read "616730" for the "math magical moment" calculated then.

(Tonight's read "6191027", fyi.)

The photo to the right is from an earlier show today, seen solo.

This magician is the one I saw twice in 2018: once, live and in-person, right here in Old Town; then, a few days later, on television!

Yes, here is the amazing Jafo!

His repertoire has changed a bit from that long-ago show,  but I was glad to "see" the invisible purse and hear the clink of coins against glass again - very nice!

What was nicest of all, perhaps, was being treated like royalty by these two fine fellows.

How did that come about?

Well, I'd mentioned to Nathan how glad I was that the Magic Hall was still there, how much I had always enjoyed it, and that I had written it's first review on TripAdvisor, after my first experience with their illusions and sleight of hand.

Nice to see that the place has done so well!

For all three shows I attended this time around, there were at least 15 people sharing the thrill with me.

Hallelujah - the choir is flourishing and growing...

and now I can include five from my family!

(smile!)