Tootsie Yr2: OKC Part 2
TL;DR Tiktok: CLICK HERE to watch
A Thursday of laundry, emails, coordinating holiday visit with family, cooking big chunks of seasoned pork in the Itaki.
I got to try my graham cracker apricot vanilla pop tart, and it was just as amazing as it sounds :)
It was sunny and warm, like 60F, so I did want to go for a walk before the show but had a surprise nap instead.
Boom! Sometimes it just hits ya.
The evening show went well.
-------------------------------------------------
Friday was a nice slow day. Dreary and cold outside, but a gaggle of starlings came tapping on the window to cheer me up.
I put out a handful of oats for them (yes birds can safely eat oats in small quantities) and they did stick around to eat some.
I even got a song for my troubles!
TikTok by @tromboneontour
Later in the afternoon it was clear that it wasn't going to get much warmer out.
I sucked it up, bundled up, and walked to the botanical garden just a few blocks from the hotel.
Myriad Botanical Gardens. I was here once before in 2012, so about a decade ago, and enjoyed it very much then.
Today was their grand reopening after several years of renovations to the inside.
It was beautifully decorated for Christmas, and there was a harpist playing on the balcony overlooking the greenhouse.
I recognized and remembered the general layout, but the new features are prominent too.
I don't recall there being a waterfall, for example.
Plants were also grouped by type or similarity, which they hadn't been before.
Fruiting plants were together--bananas, pineapple, starfruit, limes, mango, and more.
Spice plants were together, tropicals and desert plants in separate areas.
There were misting rocks scattered here and there, and "scent stations" where you could smell some of the flowers from the plants you were looking at even if they weren't in bloom.
Many of the plants WERE in bloom, and I was captivated by the lovely colors, especially those flowers with gradients going on.
These photos are minimally edited; this is what these flowers actually looked like!
Ginger nubbin :)
This one honestly didn't look real. I haven't looked up what it is yet. Nature really IS amazing, no edits needed.
This was my favorite, I think it's just a bromeliad of some sort.
The pale dusty pink against the mossish green of the leaves, and the way these petals lie...it made my heart sore to see it.
Desert plants are always so interesting. Here's a tiny sample of the goofy-looking cacti and succulents that I saw today.
Close-up of medusa head.
I remember that in 2012, I had no idea what most of these plants were.
A decade later I find myself able to identify quite a lot. I saw a vanilla orchid climbing a snake tree, and the silk tree with it's spiky trunk.
I saw tropical milkweed and loads of bromeliads, mondo grass and string-of-pearls, bottle brush tree and ylang-ylang and hibiscus.
There was even a coffee plant, a peppercorn plant, and a "miracle berry" plant, which produces a fruit that when eaten, takes away your ability to taste Sour (I tried a pill made with these on the circus. It was WEIRD. You could stuff a whole lemon in your mouth with no consequences.)
It was a beautiful, relaxing way to spend an afternoon, and well worth the ten bucks.
I was happy to see some other Tootsie folks coming and going, and overall it was fairly crowded, which is great for their opening day.
While checking out the lily pond, a garden employee sidled up to me and said, "We've got some unexpected snails, you know."
He pointed to a big pink blob about the size of a fat finger.
"Those are snail eggs. And there's a snail on the pot underneath."
The snail was very large! A little smaller than a golf ball.
Maybe they are apple snails. I wonder what they'll do about that issue.
The grounds outside the greenhouse are free and open to the public, but it was a high of 30F today so few people were out.
I still made time to explore a bit. It was easy to imagine how beautiful this landscaped garden would be when the weather is warm.
On a pedestrian bridge I was surprised to find a hops vine.
A koi fish rose up from the depths to look at me. A magic one, I assume. But I did not trouble him with my wishes.
With my brain full of vibrant eye candy and sweet floral scents, I went back to the hotel to warm up and relax before the show.
It was a good show, though I must admit audiences here seem to give a generally lukewarm response.
------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, I didn't do much.
Christmas shopping in the morning, and I went to the theater a bit early to wash my trombone as best I could in the dressing room.
Chatted with my bandmates, had a good first show of the day.
Between shows, dinner and anime and gathering things to start packing.
The evening show was good. Some sound issues, but otherwise just fine.
I'm honestly feeling kinda ho-hum this weekend...probably because it's cold and dreary, and the holidays are coming up, which brings both joy and stress.
--------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, breakfast and the beginnings of packing before we had two shows.
The shows were at odd times, 1:30 and 7 (usually we do 1pm and 6:30 on Sundays).
I had shorted myself a meal, so walked to Bricktown to pick up a bibimbap, which turned out to be just a chicken salad with rice on the bottom. I guess the little cup of gochujang on the side was the qualifier for "Korean food" haha. It was tasty regardless.
Both shows were just fine, though again audiences seemed a little quiet.
I remember it being like this last year too when we got close to the holidays...not sure if it's situational, or location-based, but it doesn't really matter. We put on the best possible show, and people enjoyed it :)
It was so cold, but I took a few little pictures on my last walk to and from the theater.
Part of the reason that I walk everywhere, besides that it's good exercise, is that you get familiar with at least one route in a city and get to see some nice things too.
Christmas decorations at the base of a skyscraper. I walked past this giant ornament every day.
A lantern-lighted walking path on the grounds of Myriad Botanical Gardens.
A random picture that Bill (trumpet) took of me. I do the "Asian squat" a lot, and in this case I had gotten an email that I wanted to respond to right away, and plopped into the squat in the hallway. I have a sweater around my waist which makes it look like I've merged with the floor lol.
-------------------------------------------------------
On Monday we have two flights on small commercial jets to get to Springfield, IL for a one-day stop.
From there we go to Tysons VA for four days, then Akron and Toledo for a few days each.
I'm not deeply looking forward to any of these cities.
Tysons should be fun because of proximity to DC and some exciting and fun food options, but we also only get four days there so time to explore will be limited.
And Ohio is Ohio.
I think because we are so close to the Christmas break, that's all I can think about right now.
A Thursday of laundry, emails, coordinating holiday visit with family, cooking big chunks of seasoned pork in the Itaki.
I got to try my graham cracker apricot vanilla pop tart, and it was just as amazing as it sounds :)
It was sunny and warm, like 60F, so I did want to go for a walk before the show but had a surprise nap instead.
Boom! Sometimes it just hits ya.
The evening show went well.
-------------------------------------------------
Friday was a nice slow day. Dreary and cold outside, but a gaggle of starlings came tapping on the window to cheer me up.
I put out a handful of oats for them (yes birds can safely eat oats in small quantities) and they did stick around to eat some.
I even got a song for my troubles!
TikTok by @tromboneontour
Later in the afternoon it was clear that it wasn't going to get much warmer out.
I sucked it up, bundled up, and walked to the botanical garden just a few blocks from the hotel.
Myriad Botanical Gardens. I was here once before in 2012, so about a decade ago, and enjoyed it very much then.
Today was their grand reopening after several years of renovations to the inside.
It was beautifully decorated for Christmas, and there was a harpist playing on the balcony overlooking the greenhouse.
I recognized and remembered the general layout, but the new features are prominent too.
I don't recall there being a waterfall, for example.
Plants were also grouped by type or similarity, which they hadn't been before.
Fruiting plants were together--bananas, pineapple, starfruit, limes, mango, and more.
Spice plants were together, tropicals and desert plants in separate areas.
There were misting rocks scattered here and there, and "scent stations" where you could smell some of the flowers from the plants you were looking at even if they weren't in bloom.
Many of the plants WERE in bloom, and I was captivated by the lovely colors, especially those flowers with gradients going on.
These photos are minimally edited; this is what these flowers actually looked like!
Ginger nubbin :)
This one honestly didn't look real. I haven't looked up what it is yet. Nature really IS amazing, no edits needed.
This was my favorite, I think it's just a bromeliad of some sort.
The pale dusty pink against the mossish green of the leaves, and the way these petals lie...it made my heart sore to see it.
Desert plants are always so interesting. Here's a tiny sample of the goofy-looking cacti and succulents that I saw today.
Close-up of medusa head.
I remember that in 2012, I had no idea what most of these plants were.
A decade later I find myself able to identify quite a lot. I saw a vanilla orchid climbing a snake tree, and the silk tree with it's spiky trunk.
I saw tropical milkweed and loads of bromeliads, mondo grass and string-of-pearls, bottle brush tree and ylang-ylang and hibiscus.
There was even a coffee plant, a peppercorn plant, and a "miracle berry" plant, which produces a fruit that when eaten, takes away your ability to taste Sour (I tried a pill made with these on the circus. It was WEIRD. You could stuff a whole lemon in your mouth with no consequences.)
It was a beautiful, relaxing way to spend an afternoon, and well worth the ten bucks.
I was happy to see some other Tootsie folks coming and going, and overall it was fairly crowded, which is great for their opening day.
While checking out the lily pond, a garden employee sidled up to me and said, "We've got some unexpected snails, you know."
He pointed to a big pink blob about the size of a fat finger.
"Those are snail eggs. And there's a snail on the pot underneath."
The snail was very large! A little smaller than a golf ball.
Maybe they are apple snails. I wonder what they'll do about that issue.
The grounds outside the greenhouse are free and open to the public, but it was a high of 30F today so few people were out.
I still made time to explore a bit. It was easy to imagine how beautiful this landscaped garden would be when the weather is warm.
On a pedestrian bridge I was surprised to find a hops vine.
A koi fish rose up from the depths to look at me. A magic one, I assume. But I did not trouble him with my wishes.
With my brain full of vibrant eye candy and sweet floral scents, I went back to the hotel to warm up and relax before the show.
It was a good show, though I must admit audiences here seem to give a generally lukewarm response.
------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, I didn't do much.
Christmas shopping in the morning, and I went to the theater a bit early to wash my trombone as best I could in the dressing room.
Chatted with my bandmates, had a good first show of the day.
Between shows, dinner and anime and gathering things to start packing.
The evening show was good. Some sound issues, but otherwise just fine.
I'm honestly feeling kinda ho-hum this weekend...probably because it's cold and dreary, and the holidays are coming up, which brings both joy and stress.
--------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, breakfast and the beginnings of packing before we had two shows.
The shows were at odd times, 1:30 and 7 (usually we do 1pm and 6:30 on Sundays).
I had shorted myself a meal, so walked to Bricktown to pick up a bibimbap, which turned out to be just a chicken salad with rice on the bottom. I guess the little cup of gochujang on the side was the qualifier for "Korean food" haha. It was tasty regardless.
Both shows were just fine, though again audiences seemed a little quiet.
I remember it being like this last year too when we got close to the holidays...not sure if it's situational, or location-based, but it doesn't really matter. We put on the best possible show, and people enjoyed it :)
It was so cold, but I took a few little pictures on my last walk to and from the theater.
Part of the reason that I walk everywhere, besides that it's good exercise, is that you get familiar with at least one route in a city and get to see some nice things too.
Christmas decorations at the base of a skyscraper. I walked past this giant ornament every day.
A lantern-lighted walking path on the grounds of Myriad Botanical Gardens.
A random picture that Bill (trumpet) took of me. I do the "Asian squat" a lot, and in this case I had gotten an email that I wanted to respond to right away, and plopped into the squat in the hallway. I have a sweater around my waist which makes it look like I've merged with the floor lol.
-------------------------------------------------------
On Monday we have two flights on small commercial jets to get to Springfield, IL for a one-day stop.
From there we go to Tysons VA for four days, then Akron and Toledo for a few days each.
I'm not deeply looking forward to any of these cities.
Tysons should be fun because of proximity to DC and some exciting and fun food options, but we also only get four days there so time to explore will be limited.
And Ohio is Ohio.
I think because we are so close to the Christmas break, that's all I can think about right now.