Hummingbird Spinoffs?

Our summer visitors -- the hummingbirds -- are busier that ever at the feeders, draining them by early afternoon. I suspect that their first hatchlings are now a-wing, thus the increased demand.

Hummers are noisy,  contentious little critters, especially the males who spend at least three-quarters of their energy running others off. It's hard to watch their buzzing, swooping air battles without being reminded of the tie fighters in Star Wars. Were the creators of these highly maneuverable movie space craft inspired by hummingbirds? Tie fighters even make a similar buzzing noise!

When I took these pictures, there were five or six (hard to be sure) hummingbirds fighting for places at the juice bar but I could never manage to capture more that three at once.

I've cherished another theory about humming birds -- wondering if they could have been the inspiration for the multi-winged seraphim described in the Bible and pictured below in this picture by Jan van Eyck. (Stigmatization of St. Francis.)

Alas, a quick visit to Mr. Google told me that hummingbirds are only found in the Americas -- though hummingbird-like fossils from 30 million years ago have been found in the Old World.

So much for my lovely theory. 

I did find a nice image of a hummer from the Nazca Desert in Peru...

 

 Inspiring little creatures!

Star Tours - Flight to Endor

Are you tired of all my Star Wars Disney posts yet?

Last one for now, I promise.

In Downtown Disney, I didn't ride my boys' favorite rides

such as

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

or

Rock "n" Roller Coaster.


They rode those rides several times.

But I did ride Star Tours.

You first walk through a slight hanger filled with droids hard at work.

Then you board a Star Tours Starspeeder 3000
and begin what you think will be a relaxing tour of the Moon of Endor.

But when your absent-minded droid, RX-24, takes a wrong turn, hold on tight as you careen out of control through the vast solar system

—bouncing around in all directions—

and come face-to-face with comets, a massive Star Destroyer
and even the dreaded Death Star!

It was a lot of fun.
I'd do it again.

Wicket's Warehouse

In Downtown Disney there was a place called Wicket's Warehouse.

Do you know who Wicket is?

He's the Ewok who saves Princess Leia on the Moon of Endor.

Well, in Disney's Wicket's Warehouse, you can buy all kinds of Star Wars paraphernalia.
My boys were in heaven.

Star Wars Mr. Potato Head

Storm Trooper helmets

Muppets Star Wars figures.

This photo came out blurry, but it's a T-shirt that says,

"When all else fails, send in the Wookiee."

Mickey and Minnie Skywalker dolls

Yoda.

Remy bought some of these key chain sized light-sabers.
They really light up.
and came in several colors.

It was a fun stop!!

We ended up getting some t-shirts.

Would you have bought anything?

What favorite movie would YOU buy T-shirts from?

Star Wars in Downtown Disney

It was a Star Wars Weekend at Downtown Disney when we visited Disney World in June.

This may not excite you,
but it was a source of HUGE excitement for my boys.

Because we bumped into Star Wars characters all over the place.

And my sons lectured me with Star Wars trivia the whole time.

I always liked Princess Leia's unique hair do.
Apparently it took about two hours with a hair dresser to achieve them.

And they were originally modeled off of Hopi Indian Women.

Did you know that Wookiees (like Chewbacca pictured here) live a really long time?
He was 200 in Return of the Jedi.

The actor who originally played him was 7' 3" tall!
The Chewbacca vpoce was made from the recording mix of walrus, camels, bears, tigers and badges.

I think this scary lady was a bounty hunter.
I know a real life bounty hunter.
He drives an old cop car and carries a gun.

Remy & his cousin are on an Imperial Star Fleet Ship! Yikes!
Remy, do NOT go over to the Dark Side!!

Darth Maul is CREEPY.

I don't know, but those Storm Troopers are kind of cute.

Have you ever made out with a man in a helmet?!

We snuck through security.

Can you believe they let us through airport security with weapons?!

My boys bought Light Sabers at Disney World...

And carried them on board...

Just so you know, if you were on our flight, from Florida to Dallas, Texas...

You were safe from any Sith Lords or Storm Troopers.

Don't look at me.

I found some of Remy's artwork in a pile of papers the other day,
and I had to scan it onto the computer.

It's a colorful, quirky, fun-looking snail!

He can be sensitive, so I decided to ask him first, before posting it online...
our conversation went like this:


ME: Remy, I love this drawing! Do you mind if I put it on the blog?

Remy: Sure, but I want 50 cents for it...


Good lord have mercy.

He loves to barter and make deals.


I don't know where he gets it.


Meanwhile...I told him that if he starts sleeping in his own bed,
I'll buy him a Star Wars Lego kit.

Oh, wait, I get it now.

Guess I shouldn't have started this when I bribed him with toys
to get through potty training at four years old.

hehe



Come on, admit it,
you've bribed someone in your life at some point, right?
Right?
RIGHT?!