November is upon us and many people are turning their thoughts to Christmas. Shopping lists, family get-togethers and decadent meals are present in their minds. While I love Christmas and its true meaning, I believe many people completely overlook Thanksgiving. I believe that Thanksgiving has become the forgotten holiday, with all the other things happening during the fall and winter. As summer ends, kids are going back to school and even before we make it through September, Christmas planning is in full-swing. Christmas trees can be found in the department stores. Christmas tunes are being played on the radio
Thanksgiving is no longer a day of giving thanks. Instead people think of it as the day before the day after Thanksgiving, when people look to get their Christmas shopping started in full force. I do not succumb to this madness. Instead, I believe that Thanksgiving should be celebrated for what it is. A day when I give thanks to God for all the wonderful things that he has given to me in my life. As I was thinking about it today, I decided that I did not want to limit my thanks to only one day. God is blessing my life every day so I decided that I would take each day in November and give thanks for something in my life. This will be joint effort from the Bubbling team. JT and I will be taking turns writing from our hearts to you. Come back each day for a new post.
Day One: I look around and I see people who are hurting, who are battling sickness and even seeing people who are leaving this Earth too soon. Each day when I wake up, I thank God for being alive and that I am walking in divine health. I am thankful that no sickness or diseases are in my body and that I have full use of all my body.
We are asking you, the Elegant and Graceful readers, to share your thoughts and reasons why you are thankful. Leave a comment below. Or if you have your own blog, create a post and leave us the link and we will read it.
Since my wife and I are celebrating our 13th anniversary all month long, I wanted to surprise her with a special outing. Yesterday morning, we hopped into our Jeep Wrangler and headed out on the highway for a road trip. After trekking about forty five minutes out of the great urban metropolis, we arrived at our destination. A secluded wood area off the interstate known as the Endangered Wolf Center.
My wife and I have a strong desire for animal rights and causes. If she could, my wife would turn our home in a refuge for stray dogs and she would be giving to every charity organization to save the panda bears and all the other endangered animals. But that is why I love her so much. She has such a caring and genuine heart to help people and all of God’s creatures.
JT getting ready to see the wolves at the Endangered Wolf Center
We spent yesterday afternoon at the Endangered Wolf Center. We had never been there before and we had always wanted to go. Started back in 1971 by Marlon Perkins, the center is dedicated to helping endangered wolves and other animals from becoming extinct. Back in 1971, there were only five known Mexican gray wolves in the wild. They were brought to this center along with a few that were kept in a zoo. Since that time, the Mexican gray wolf population has grown from less than ten to over three hundred. Many have been reintroduced into the wild, while others in zoos and habitat centers. I was amazed and impressed to see what this center is doing to help save God’s creatures.
A Mexican Gray Wolf, off in the distance
All of the wolves and other animals are securely kept behind two sets of barred-wire fences, for your safety as well as theirs. I was able to photograph the one above from a viewing station with a sight-line above the fences. In addition to the Mexican Gray Wolves, the center is also home to Red Wolves, African Painted Dogs and Swift Foxes.
African Painted Dogs, resting after a long day being people-watched
Baby Swift Fox, born on May 11th
The Mexican Gray Wolves moving around.
The baby swift foxes in action.
In a future post, I will talk about how my wife and I adopted one of the wolves and what it means for her future survival. Until then, God Bless and Take Care!
My wife and I recently had an opportunity to see our first Broadway musical when Disney’s The Lion King came to the Fabulous Fox Theater. We had heard great things about the show so we decided to get tickets. I had never been to a live musical performance and I had never been to the Fox, so my wife said that this would be an early birthday treat for me.
J and T at the Fabulous Fox Theater
Musicals are probably my least favorite type of play and movie. I have never been a big fan of all that singing and dancing. I usually find them too hard to follow and the dancing just does not seem to be necessary. Because of these thoughts, I often turned down chances to see other musicals at the Fox or at the MUNY, an outdoor theater also in our city.
At first, I was not sure about going to see the Lion King. I enjoyed the movie when it first came out. However, I was not sure how it would translate from animation to the stage; but I kept an open mind and decided to go ahead and get the tickets. And I am sure glad I did.
First of all, the Fabulous Fox Theater is indeed that, fabulous. The ornate theater built in the 1920s is over the top with its painted ceilings, plush carpeting and carved gargoyles. I hope to go on a behind the scenes tour in the near future to get a chance to see up close all that the theater has to offer.
Ceiling in the Lobby of The Fabulous Fox Theater
The Lion King featured an amazing cast of life-size animals, costumes and prop people. From the moment that the curtain opened to the final curtain call, I was in awe of my first Broadway performance. My unfair misconception of musicals was instantly deflated.
The life-size and life-like animals brought an added dimension to the performance, transporting me from the theater to the Pride Lands. The actors maneuvered throughout the stage with ease and they brought the animals to life with an amazing skill of hand and leg movements. I wondered prior to the show how the animals would be life-like; but they greatly succeeded in this task. I am sure that a team of talented and dedicated choreographers worked countless hours to make it look effortless and graceful.
Having seen the animated movie several times, I had in my mind how I thought the performance would flow. And without fail, the actors portrayed Simba, Timon, Pumbaa, Zazu and the rest of the crew were a mirror image of the movie; which is not a bad thing. With the popularity of the movie and its sequels, I think people would be disappointed if they came to see the musical and the characters were not the same. Even though the actors in the musical were different than the actors in the movie, they capture the mannerisms and personality of the characters from the movie without fail. The costume designers produced the life-like costumes and match the movie exactly.
The actors, along with the costume designers, prop designers and choreographers, succeeded in bringing a two-deminsional animated cartoon to a three-dimensional, real-life Broadway stage. I truly enjoyed the performance and would recommend it to anyone. If The Lion King is coming to your city and you have a chance to go, go. You will not be disappointed.
The Missouri Botanical Garden recently brought an amazing display of art to its grounds. Described as “Art by Day; Magic by Night”, the Chinese Lantern Festival highlighted Chinese culture and history with more than twenty ornately designed structures. Since the Garden already hosts an annual Chinese Culture Days and has a Chinese Garden, having the Lantern Festival seemed to be a perfect fit.
Missouri Botanical Garden Chinese Lantern Festival
Art By Day; Magic By Night
When I read about the Festival, JT and I knew that we wanted to go. However, with summer temperatures topping out at almost 110 degrees for most of July, we decided that we would wait until the temps were a bit more bearable. But with the festival ending in mid-August, we knew we had to go soon, or miss out. We were down to the last week of the festival before the weather broke. On the night that we went, temps were only in the mid-seventies. For August and in Missouri, you could not ask for a better night.
Tickets for the night-time portion of the festival topped out at $22 for adults. In a city where most cultural institutions have free admission or low admission for special events, this one had a much higher price tag. But we both really wanted to go, so the price did not matter to us. We arrived to the Garden at 6:30, about an hour and a half before the lights would be turned on. This gave us an opportunity to go through the Garden and view the structures without being lit up. In order to truly see the magnificence of all structures, you had to see them both ways.
Having seen the structures during the day and at night, we were not disappointed. The $22 was well worth it.
The Missouri Botanical Garden is close to our home. If you are not planning to take a big, out-of-town vacation, look at museums and other cultural institutions in your own city. There may be something worth seeing; without the expense of finding a hotel room or paying for gasoline for the car. It may be a once in a lifetime event like the Chinese Lantern Festival.
JT and I began our recent trip to Memphis with a stop at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel.
Located in Downtown Memphis, not far from Beale Street,
the Lorraine Motel is significant because it was where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on the evening of April 4, 1968.
JT standing in front of the Lorraine Motel.
Outside Room 306, where Martin Luther King was assassinated.
The Museum, built next door to the Motel, documents the Civil Rights Movement with an interactive and an interpretive timeline.
Visitors will learn about slave ships that transported hundreds of people to America; Jim Crow laws that kept segregation legal and pioneers in the Movement like Rosa Parks.
As I made my way through the museum, I read why Martin Luther King was in Memphis at the time of his assassination.
King had came to Memphis to rally with striking sanitary workers who were asking for higher wages. The sanitary workers rally cry became “I AM A MAN” – a simple; but powerful message that, I believe, symbolized the entire Civil Rights Movement. Black Americans wanted to have the same rights and freedoms that white Americans were given. They wanted people to know that they were man too.
As I turned to my left to read the next section on King, a cool chill ran through my body when I realized that I was looking into his room and at the balcony where he was shot.
Inside Room 306. The room where Martin Luther King stayed.
The balcony where Martin Luther King was standing when he was assassinated.
In addition to the Civil Rights Timeline, your ticket also allows you access to the building across the street from the Lorraine Motel.
This is the building, a boardinghouse at the time, where James Earl Ray, the suspected assassin, was at when it is believed that he fired the shot that killed Martin Luther King.
The main exhibition in this building is the evidence collected against Ray, who confessed to the murder; but later recounted his plea.
The viewpoint from the boarding house where the assassin was suspected to be positioned at the time of the murder.
The topics covered in the Civil Rights Timeline provoke emotions that I have never felt before.
Typically when leave a museum, I feel good and uplifted about my experience.
But when I left the National Civil Rights Museum, I felt saddened, humbled and disappointed; but also motivated.
We are constantly learning, growing, and believing for change,
and growing up, I heard stories of the segregated South and the violence that black people endured because of their skin color.
It did not become a reality for me until I had the chance to see the videos, the photographs and the images.
We have come so far since that time, but I know we have so far to go, especially since racism still exists in our country.
The Civil Rights Movement continues until everyone does their part to
ERACISM.
TIPS for going to the National Civil Rights Museum
Go Inside
You can view the balcony where Martin Luther King was assassinated without going inside to the rest of the Museum. But why would you do just that.
If you do not go in, you will miss out on so much more history and information. Yes, the tickets are $13.00 for adults, but they are well worth it.
Buy the Audio Tour
For only $2.00 extra, you can listen to Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis narrate the key topics of the Civil Rights Movement.
Although they do not address every topic on the timeline, you will learn more by listening to them.
Watch the MLK Video
The video is about 30 minutes; but it is well worth the time. The video give eye-witness accounts of the assassination of King.
Watching it gave me chills and connected me with the events that happened only a few steps from where I sat.
Take Your Time
The Museum offers too much to see, read and listen to, to rush through it. Give yourself at least two to three hours see everything.
Had we had more time, we could have spent another hour beyond the two and half hours that we were.
Just Go!
This not a museum just about black history and is for black people.
This is a museum for everyone!
You may say, “Well I am not black. What will I learn from it?”
We all have something to learn from this museum.
We do not want has happened in the past to happen again.
Learn More About JT Bubbling with Elegance and Grace is a place for life long learners. The Bubbling With Elegance And Grace team was created 14 years ago. A passion for fashion sparked a lifestyle blog for our Elegant Community to enjoy. We are thankful and in gratitude to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for those who have been with us from the beginning and those who have just started riding with us on this lovely journey.
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