Reviews : )

 Poetry Unbound edited by Pádraig Ó Tuama (Adult Nonfiction - Poetry)

Prior to reading this anthology, I hadn’t heard of Pádraig Ó Tuama or his podcast. I was thrilled by the poetry he selected for this anthology and found myself even enjoying his commentary. At the beginning Pádraig Ó Tuama writes, “... every time a poet writes a poem, they give a shade of themselves a voice.” This is one of those rare books where I was placing sticky notes on the commentary as much as I was specific lines of poetry and favorite poems. My favorite poems from this collection are “Worm” by Gail McConnell and “Why You Missed that Day You Were Absent from Fourth Grade” by Brad Aaron Modlin.

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain (Adult Fiction)

Heartbreaking but oh so hopeful and sweet. Albert, a postman who lives a lonely and fearful life, loses his only companion, his cat, Gracie. He realizes he can no longer continue living without friendship, connection, and answers to what happened to his long lost love, George. 

He discovers so much on his journey to find George - friends, people who need him as much he needs them, and most importantly, he discovers himself. His journey to feel comfortable and proud openly embracing himself is at times incredibly painful. But there’s so much hope. 

At first his progress feels slow as he is mired in grief over losing Gracie. Then he just takes off in a whirlwind of happiness and self-acceptance, and the reader knows that whether he finds George or not, Albert is going to be just fine. Included in the back are conversations Matt Cain had with real people who inspired Albert’s story. These stories are incredibly tough to read but bring so much depth and thoughtfulness to Albert’s story, in addition to awareness of those who really lived Albert’s life. 

Mrs. Peanuckle's Bug Alphabet by Mrs. Peanuckle and illustrated by Jessie Ford (Board Book)

After reading Mrs. Peanuckle's Ocean Alphabet, I've been scooping up all the books in this series and reading them with extreme excitement. I love them! The Bug Alphabet is at the top of my favorites list and includes beautiful illustrations (Check out the Elephant Hawk-Moth!) and delightful facts like how some people eat bugs like grasshoppers and yellow mealworms (Not me though!). I was also overjoyed to see the rhino beetle, which is one of my favorite beetles.

Mrs. Peanuckle's Flower Alphabet by Mrs. Peanuckle (Board Book)

Delightful, informative, and beautifully illustrated. My favorite flower from this book is yarrow, because "it has lots of funny names: little feather, nosebleed plant, old man's pepper, seven years love, and woundwart."

Darwin's Super-pooping Worm Spectacular by Polly Owen and illustrated by Gwen Millward (Nonfiction Picture Book)

If the title, "Darwin's Super-pooping Worm Spectacular" doesn't make you laugh out loud, reading about Darwin's obsession with worms is guaranteed to bring you much laughter. Weird, utterly captivating, and hilarious are three words that came to mind while reading this. Darwin knows worms must have a superpower, and his journey to figure out their superpower is a wild ride that involves playing music for worms, offering them strange things to eat, and enthusiastic worm narrators who provide a lot of helpful worm commentary.

Romance & Beetles

My latest collage has completely consumed me and all of my free time the last few weeks.  Today I finished it!  No pictures yet, because I haven't sealed it, but I have some other lovely things to share.

Last weekend Robert and I travelled to Hermann to be a part of his sister Abby's proposal.  She said yes!  It was a special weekend with a lot of family time, relaxing, and drinking copious amounts of sparkling grape juice.  

On the way to Hermann (but not really on the way), we stopped to see dad, who was having a garage sale.  It was a short and hot visit, but so good to see him.

Robert and I stayed at the Inn at Hermanoff, which was adorable.  The room was beautiful and quiet, and I enjoyed the rare opportunity to stay in a Bed & Breakfast.

Robert and I had a little time to walk around town the evening we drove in.  Everything was closed (a lot of shop hours are 10-2), but we enjoyed the beautiful town and all the interesting architecture and gardens.  Mostly we enjoyed watching this squirrel lay down and eat a peach.  

Robert's sister, Abby got engaged.  Her now fiancé, with the help of project coordinator, Jennifer (sister) planned a really thoughtful proposal that included a dozen family members from Texas, Kansas, Missouri, and Washington D.C.  

From left (here we go!): Me, Robert, Lou (Jennifer's boyfriend), sister Jennifer, Riley (Teddy's fiancé - they just got engaged about a month ago), brother Teddy, Joseph (the mastermind of this family gathering and Abby's fiancé), sister Abby, Suzy (mom of Jennifer, Abby, and Teddy), Doris (Joseph's mom), Felipe (Joseph's stepdad), Larry (dad of Jennifer, Abby, Teddy, and Robert), and Larry's wife, Ruth.  Whew!

We visited three wineries in one day and were easily the biggest crowd of people in Hermann.  That's a whole lot of love and support for two very special people.  So cheesy and sweet and wonderful.

All the siblings and their partners:

While we were in Hermann I gave Jennifer a gift I've been working on for a couple years.  

I spent a ridiculous amount of time finding beetley beads and buttons.  I spent even more time sewing them on.  And then it took an expert time to frame it.  Definitely the longest I've spent with an embroidery piece.      

If you're wondering about that déjà vu feeling you're having, it's because this is the second beetle I've made Jennifer.  She may be having regrets about telling me she loves beetles.  But no matter, she's too nice to say anything.  It's only a matter of time before I find a bead that looks like the perfect beetle head...

Reviews

Worm and Caterpillar Are Friends by Kaz Windness (Juvenile Graphic Novel)

I appreciate how this series has a spread that introduces readers to comics, which early reader graphic novels do not always have. This book was very sweet with a great lesson about how our best friendships are often with others who are different from ourselves. I thought the text flowed well, and the font was bold and easy-to-read. The illustrations were fun, quirky, and powerful enough to make me a little teary when caterpillar is inside the pupa and worm doesn't understand what's going on or what happened to his friend. I will definitely be recommending this book to kids and am hopeful this is the beginning of a series.

October, October by Katya Balen and illustrated by Angela Harding (Juvenile Fiction)

I was thrilled to be plopped right in the middle of October’s world, living off the grid with her Dad, enjoying all their tender and beautiful rituals. I was equally devastated when October was ripped from that world due to a tragic accident and thrown into the chaos of living in London with a mother she didn’t know. The writing is dense, poetic, and a little bit wild just like October. October is such a lovable, resilient character who eventually finds a tiny wild niche on the shores of The River Thames mudlarking with new friends.

Chester Van Chime Who Forgot How to Rhyme by Avery Monsen and illustrated by Abby Hanlon (Picture Book)

This hilarious book will encourage readers to help Chester Van Chime to match up sounds. If you're not hollering out the rhyming words with each of his attempts to rhyme, it's because you are laughing too hard to say anything.

Fire Chief Fran by Linda Ashman and illustrated by Nancy Carpenter (Picture Book)

I loved spending a shift with Fran as she raced to help others. I enjoyed reading about the variety of emergencies her fire department responded to and also learning about what she did during her "down" time, which included training, giving a tour of the fire station, and exercising. Included in the back is an exciting fact page about firefighting. You can read about the different kinds of calls firefighters respond to, whether fire stations have poles, the different uniforms firefighters wear, and a lot of other fascinating information. 

The Guncle by Steven Rowley (Adult Fiction)

At first, I thought Patrick needed more parenting than his niece, Masie and nephew, Grant. In his defense, the sudden guardianship of these two kids comes without any warning. Patrick has a lot of growing up to do, but I found myself sending silent encouragements and hoping he could handle the enormous task of taking care of two children who lose their mom to cancer and their Dad to drug rehab (but only for three months and the kids don’t know this last part). 

I think I was rooting for Patrick because his love for the kids was present in his actions, and he had clever ideas and didn’t talk down to the kids. Most importantly, he was involved every step of the way. He didn’t find a nanny or ignore the kids. Having said all that, my feelings were all over the place. Everyone was lugging around a lot of grief and trying to process it with each other. This coupled with the weight of uncertainty created a lot of angst and sometimes turmoil for me. Thankfully, there is so much humor here. Yes, his conversations with the kids were at times appalling, uncomfortable, and inappropriate, but sometimes this had me laughing uncontrollably. 

Their family was incredibly messy with big problems, tragedy galore, and adults who didn’t have it together at all. But there is so much love here, and I think that love shines on every page. My favorite moment happened when Patrick received the note from a couple at the restaurant telling him, “Every parent has these days. You’re very good with them. Your breakfast is on us.” Though this moment was particularly lovely, there were many lovely, real-life moments like this where I wondered just how much of this book was plucked from truth.

Zen Circles

This latest piece is available on Etsy.  I had a lot of fun watching these two circles meet each other.  

a relaxing day with the exception of the copperhead

We are wrapping up a two-day weekend, which doesn't happen very often for us.  We spent Saturday hiking, working on personal projects, and ending the day with a much-anticipated board game I bought for Robert's birthday back in June (USPS: The Great American Mail Race).  It took over a month to get here!

We started our day at Dutch Bros and became instant fans because look at these pupachinos!

Our hike was beautiful, humid, muddy, a little scary, hilarious, and peaceful.  I walked away with blisters from swinging sticks to keep spiderwebs and their spiders out of our faces.  

Though it took a few tries to call the girls away from this charming copperhead, he calmly tolerated their dancing steps.  The dogs had no idea what was beneath their feet!  We got so lucky!  I barely had the word, "snake" out of my mouth before Robert disappeared, scrambling through the woods back to the car.  Without me and my spider stick to protect him!

These two rocks together gave me another chuckle.

I picked out my next embroidery project.  I am currently working on four and have two coming out of timeout for another look.  But there's always room for another project!

The game was worth the wait!  Robert had a good time winning, and I had a good time drinking tea and enjoying his return to grace after the hike.

Book Reviews!

Bringing Heart and Mind into Storytime by Heather McNeil (Adult Nonfiction)

I’m not sure I’ve ever used songs for a storytime from a book that I’m not even done with, but that’s what I did while reading this. I couldn’t wait! I loved a couple songs from this book SO much, I found myself singing them pretty much nonstop. I instantly connected with Heather McNeil’s storytime style. While my storytimes are slightly different, and I’ve never been able to have serious conversations with a puppet, I’m always looking for ways to incorporate social-emotional learning (SEL) into my storytimes. Heather McNeil goes above and beyond delivering all kinds of exciting plans, songs, books, and ideas relating to social-emotional learning. This is a book you will highlight, cover with sticky notes, and carry with you so it’s ready to read any time you’ve got a spare moment.

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot (Adult Nonfiction)

I enjoyed this in both book and audiobook format. Both are excellent! Though the early stories are just as charming and hilarious as the rest of the book, I thought this was one of those books that gets better and better as you go. I read it slowly until about halfway through, and then I couldn’t put it down. Herriot’s attention to detail is outstanding and incredibly immersive. The passion he has for Yorkshire, his job, and his life is deeply evident, whether he’s describing the remote and beautiful Yorkshire landscape or the vibrant characters, both animal and human. He not only looks at everything with the perspective of a writer, he also has a wonderful sense of humor and timing. Though his exasperation is evident during his humorous trials with both the Yorkshire people and animals, he sees the value of the humor, even when it’s at his expense. I don’t read many books that are this long, so I’ll be the first to admit I was skeptical when I began listening to this hefty book. But there is nothing but treasure here. The pages will slip by too fast.

Stirring the Mud by Barbara Hurd (Adult Nonfiction)

A quote from this book: 

"The mud of the swamp reminds me of what I daily forget: something is always stirring, nuzzling, and trying to lick us into shape. We are more malleable than we know, more flexible and lithe, still 90 percent water, still pliant enough to be stirred, congealed into something we can only guess at. This notion of our concrete selves-I, you, they-as beings within our rigid armor, it’s all clumsy, a brittle scaffolding.”

How to Write a Poem by Kwame Alexander & Deanna Nikaido and illustrated by Melissa Sweet (Nonfiction Picture Book)

The first thing you see when you open this book is a wonderful snippet of a Nikki Giovanni poem. I thought, how is it going to get better than that? Giovanni's poem is either the wheel or connector or both, but it propels this book into a beautiful exploration of writing poetry. The journey is all sorts of profound, and at times I fell off the bicycle and had to go back a few pages to rediscover the connection. I'm glad I read this straight through, but it was an entirely different journey to write the words out like a poem on one page. Try it! But also return to the book too. You won't be able to read it just once. Your mind will be chirring like the wheels of a bicycle as you ride these pages and their beautiful illustrations again and again. 

Beneath by Roland Smith (Juvenile Fiction)

Beneath is an intense adventure story for kids looking for a thriller they won’t be able to put down. I highly urge you to make sure you have the second book ready to read after you finish this, because there is absolutely no resolution at the end! Though it’s only a two-book series, I think that’s about all my heart can take. I really connected with the main character, Pat. Just like Pat, I had an older brother I idolized, and he was a charmer just like Pat’s brother, Coop. But Coop is his own character. He’s eccentric with interesting habits and an unstoppable desire to dig holes and disappear into tunnels. When Coop disappears in New York City, Pat sets out to find him. This begins a dangerous journey beneath New York City, and both brothers have to fight to survive if they ever want to make it to the surface alive.

I Spy

It's time to play I Spy - Josie style!  How many toys do you spy buried beneath Miss Jo Pie?

future librarian

At the library today a kid who was about eight or nine years old asked me to help him find some Who Would Win books.  After he looked through the stack of books I found, he asked if he could leave the ones he already read out on the shelf so other kids could see them.  I told him I would put them out on the book easels. 

I started straightening the shelves and putting away the books from the easels to make room for his recommendations.  That’s when I realized he was still standing there. I asked if I could help him find anything else, and he said no.  As soon as I finished displaying his recommendations, he left. He was just making sure I followed through!  Future librarian?  I think so!

a smile that's still too big for my face

Robert and I just got back from a wonderful week-long trip to Anaheim, CA where we visited family and spent a day at Disneyland.  This post may be a little rambly and weird due to being a little tired.  Our plane sat on the ground for three hours to fix a repair, so we got in SUPER late last night.  We spent over seven hours on planes yesterday.  

Naturally, it was the perfect time to come home to an unholy mess.  Due to a storm, our electricity was off from Friday midday to Sunday evening.  Thankfully it came on just a couple hours before we got home!  Unfortunately everything in our freezer was soup.  After only a few hours of sleep, I realized I needed to get up and empty the freezer before our trash was picked up.  Thankfully today is our trash day!  The first thing I grabbed was a tub of ice cream, which went PLOOP when I grabbed it.  It didn't quite have a chance to refreeze.  If there was any question whether we could save anything, that ice cream moment answered it.  

After racing around emptying the fridge and freezer, I literally ran to the doggy daycare to pick up the girls, who looked at me and said, "Oh it's you, our favorite lackey. Please walk us the heck out of here and get us a cookie."  Literally zero excitement.  Only demands.  "You left us here.  Now you must pay for it."

They only got a short walk because I realized I might have time to clean up our back and front yard before the yard waste truck came around.  Thankfully it comes around later in the day.  We didn't have any damage, which is miraculous as there are many fallen trees, branches, and utility poles in our neighborhood.  Our trees are standing, but it looked like they threw one heck of a tantrum.  It took me over an hour and a half and seven bags!  We were so lucky to not have any damage and also have electricity by the time we got home. 

Adulting at its best.

I am so pooped, but I'm also so happy to sit down and take a breather to blog about our exciting trip to Anaheim.  I love reflecting about happy moments almost as much as I love living them the first time.

Here are about a million of my favorite pictures from the trip.  I decided to try a few collages since I have so many pictures.  If you right click on the pictures, click on the option to view them in a new window.  They'll come up full-size.  Enjoy!

Robert and I flew in last Sunday and spent the evening flying fighter jets at Flightdeck.  Even with the canopies closed I could hear Robert giggling like mad (usually after each time I died, so who knows if there's a connection there). 

This was taken right before I died 23 times.

Robert and I spent our first two days exploring Anaheim, Fullerton, and Los Angeles.  One of our first stops was the Fullerton Arboretum, which was a gem.  

I captured this special moment of glorious California sun and equally glorious Kansas nerdpie.

We also visited Santiago Oaks Regional Park for a sunny hike, turtle-watching, and pond dancing.  A mysterious parrot made an awful racket when we arrived, and as we left he briefly flashed in the trees before disappearing.  I know he's likely an escaped pet, but for me, he was a sparkle of magic.

We oohed and aahed our way through the Central branch of the Anaheim Public Library where they had a magical children's area, memory kits for families looking to preserve a loved ones' memories, both a teen and adult zine section, and song props kits for littles that included eggs, scarves, activities, and CDs.

Robert whisked me away one afternoon on a wild journey through LA's fashion/garment district.  Holy moly, I couldn't tell if I was more overwhelmed by the shoppers or the merchandise. 

You may not be able to see the Robert in this next picture as he is so perfectly camouflaged in what is clearly his natural habitat. 

While Robert and I were wandering around, my brother Scott and his crew were exploring Disneyland.  Robert and I joined them on their third day, and they still had more energy than us!  It took only one 14-hour Disneyland day to completely exhaust me.  We were also joined by Scott's in-laws, who were really sweet.  Though I felt like I spent all 14 hours walking around in an intense fog of magic, color, and sound, I tried to soak up every moment of everyone's joy and excitement.  I'm pretty sure Autumn spent the entire 14 hours talking about the previous two days and also the time she came to Disneyland when she was four.  Even though Savannah is only twenty months, she is going to remember moments from this trip.  

The first ride I went on was the Star Wars ride after Kristin assured me it wasn't too crazy.  Though she was terrifically wrong, I thought the storytelling leading up to the ride was excellent.  I buried my face in Robert after we were dropped, so I can't really tell you anything about it how it ended.  There were these creepy animatronic bad guys who were after us.  There was some shooting as we tried to get away.  I'm pretty sure we all died, but thanks to the magic of Disney, we all walked away.  After that, Kristin's mom, Debby, told me I needed to find my safe person, which is a person you can trust to tell you whether you can handle something or not.  As I learned the hard way, it's not the person with a bad-guy glint in their eye telling you it'll be fine.  My safe person instantly became Savannah.  I happily went on any ride she could go on, and the rest of the day was wonderful.  Though I didn't go on all the rides with everyone, I enjoyed listening to all their adventures doing crazy rollercoasters and being dropped one floor at a time on the most ghastly sounding ride, which I think was the Guardians of the Galaxy ride.  Savannah and I chose the pretzel-eating ride instead.

Disneyland has a lot of food options for people with food allergies.  I was super impressed by this thoughtful touch.  They had frozen juices, bags of ready-to-eat pineapple and pickles, and even dinner was easy.  I packed protein bars thinking it was going to be a protein bar day, but I didn't eat a single bite of them.

Other than being a part of everyone's excitement and ridiculously joyful energy, my favorite moment of Disneyland happened at the end of the day when we watched the World of Color, which consisted of Disney and Pixar movie snippets projected on tons and tons of water jets.  It felt all my human boundaries completely disappeared.  Here were all these movies that were so instrumental in creating the person I am today, and I could not only hear the music but see it too.  I thought I was going to die for the twenty-fifth time due to too much happiness.  It was one of the best moments of my life.  

The day after Disneyland we all went to the beach and had a blast swimming and goofing around.

This picture perfectly captures everything about that day.  

Savannah, once again, was not a fan of the ocean.  In her defense it was a little chilly.  Thankfully Debby had the idea to build Savannah her own little slice of the ocean.  While Scott, Autumn and I gleefully chased waves, Robert happily built sand castles, and Savannah happily destroyed them.  They were the perfect team.

We spent the last two and a half days meandering, goofing around, and enjoying each other's company and excellent food.  We bowled, strolled through the Los Angeles Farmer's Market, and even visited a Barnes and Noble together.  While we were at Barnes and Noble, Autumn joined me at the literary journals section.  I love checking out the literary journals section when I visit different Barnes and Noble stores.  They usually have about five or six and they're always different.  This particular Los Angeles location had about twenty, which was incredible.  Autumn plopped down next to me and asked me what I was looking for.  She was such a great listener as I explained what they were and gushed about my favorites.  She then asked me if I had any poems about the trip and how many I had written about Scott.  She asked me what my favorite poem was that I had written, and you know what, I don't think anyone has ever asked me this question.  What a question!  I told her it was a poem called Mixed Media, which was a poem about a dream I had that had taken place in a thrift store.  Autumn then shared a dream and asked me how it could be a poem.  Another great question, which we explored together.  She then said she "hadn't been so inspired in at least four years."  I couldn't help myself.  I think I whooped with laughter over that.  We talked about her creative endeavors, which include making wildly entertaining videos of her family.  It was one of the best conversations about creativity I've had.  I can't get over how imaginative, thoughtful, and clever she is.  

When Scott, Kristin, and Robert moseyed off to fly fighter jets, I took the kids to an indoor play area, which was a dream come true for me.  Autumn set to work making both a fort and friends with everyone in the place while building it.  She even enlisted their help.  Savannah and I sat back, played with plastic food and crawled through impossibly small areas while dragging all the food around with us.  Strangely it kept accumulating even though we only had four hands between us.  Every so often we would wave to Autumn as she and her pals dragged enormous vinyl shapes through the tiny, never-ending mazes.  The cherry on top of the whole adventure was when Savannah and I were invited into the fort, even though I had overheard the kids talking about how it was going to be a kids-only fort.  It was a victory that gave me a smile that's still too big for my face. It was a fort journey unlike any other with lots squishing and giggles as we scaled mountains of fake food and dinosaur-sized vinyl shapes, and I'll be making withdraws from that bank of happiness for months to come, I guarantee it.

One of our adventures involved dinner at Sur, which is the setting for one of the programs Kristin has watched for years.  Only she can tell this story, so you'll have to ask her about it.  While we were walking to a dinner that was hopefully going to be filled with drama and celebrity sightings (neither happened btw), we stumbled upon the West Hollywood library, which was eerily sterile and modern without a single bulletin board or display in the children's area.  It was still a library, however, and a surprise one at that.  There were even tennis courts on its roof, which is not something I've seen before.  Almost a dream come true.  If my library built tennis courts on its roof that would be it for me.  I would lose my mind.

I can't speak for Scott and Kristin, but Robert and I had a donut every day we were on vacation.  Every day.  Apparently Anaheim is donut central.

Though we enjoyed Friendly donuts, which is open 24 hours a day, Robert I both agreed Oliboli had us at "strawberry donut."  Both Friendly and Oliboli had vegan donuts, which just doesn't exist in Kansas City.  We have one place who makes them on the occasional weekend, but they are wildly inconsistent about when they make them.  About once a year they make them on a Saturday when I'm not working.  

I've never eaten so many donuts in my life, and I think I'm good with not having them for a while.  

On our last day in town we got a little more than donuts and coffee when we stopped in at Oliboli.  

We had a lot of great food on this trip.  Some of it didn't make it long enough for a picture.  

Best coffee: Phin Smith and Contra.  Both offered to adjust the flavor if I didn't like their first attempt. Dear Kansas City, take notes.

Best breakfast: Aunt Yese's 

Best ice cream: Hug Life (which serves only vegan ice cream and also had some of the best music too)

Best sandwich place: Cortina's Orange. Dear Kansas City, why is it so hard to make a good sandwich?

Best sushi: 39 Degrees

One of my time wasters is checking my Apple watch app too many times a day.  I enjoy the maps and graphs and all the numbers that tell me I'm doing a good job.  I love swimming but don't get a lot of opportunities to do it.  I was thrilled we were able to squeeze in so much swimming on this trip.  Can you tell which map is the one where we swam in the ocean?  Hint - it includes a hilarious trip to find a bathroom where I forgot to pause my watch.

These maps are a visual representation of happiness.  Each frenetic dot or slash is a cannonball, chasing a wave, splashing, all those irresistible underwater flips, an accumulation of joy.  And one long trip to a terrifying porta potty and the race to get away from it and never see it again.  

I always come back with treasures from our travels, and this trip was no different.  Bookman, which is located in Orange, was the best bookstore I've ever been to.  Hands down, the VERY best.  They are insanely organized.  They had a section for everything and one of the best poetry sections I have ever seen.  

I also walked away with about half a dozen literary journals, a few of which I need to renew my subscription to.  I also couldn't walk away from LA's fashion/garment district without lots of beads.

Robert and I also visited The Last Bookstore, which was a lot of fun.  Didn't find too many books, but the place itself is an attraction.

At some point we all talked about our favorite moments of the trip, and though I didn't mention it at the time, I'm going to share it now.  As crazy as it sounds, I enjoyed being squished in the backseat with Autumn and all her books while we drove around trying to visit everything.  We all played one of my most favorite games, Mad Libs, and Savannah chucked things at Robert, who was a good sport and happily gave her toys back each time.  Every once in a while someone would make a song request to DJ Scott, and it was little bit like a moving fort of family and comfort.  So yes, I went to Disneyland with family and loved it, but I also equally loved being in the car with them.  Family makes just about any place special.  But maybe not the Star Wars ride.