A Ride Aboard the Hogwarts Express: Part 2

One moment my wife and I watched the quiet English countryside stream past. It looked like a storm might be brewing outside, but that was okay: we were comfortable in our six-person compartment aboard the Hogwarts Express. We could sit back, and watch the clouds disperse the rains that kept the fells, valleys, and pasturelands so green. With Nature bursting from so such pent-up energy, we were reminded how English artist Ashley Jackson captures all the color and drama of the moment before the storm in his landscape paintings. Then, in an instant, everything changed.

Spectral wraith-like beings swept into our compartment, filling our hearts with fear, and draining our minds of all hope, and joy. Someone whispered, "Dementors," I'm not sure who, or what they meant. Nor can I recollect how long that moment lasted, but it seemed an eternity. Eventually these terrible ghosts (or Dementors?) left, and a short while later, a village appeared on the horizon. An audible sigh, comparable to the exhalations of the locomotive's mighty engine, filled our compartment. Then we were pulled into another railway station.

We didn't know where we were, but at least we had survived our encounter with those hateful spirits. There's a positive side to every moment of life, don't you agree?

Dragon Dave

12 Grimmauld Place, Florida

One morning, during our recent vacation in Florida, my wife and I decided to take a walk. We passed the many restaurants, hotels, and shops, for which Orlando is so famous. Then we turned a corner and found ourselves on an entirely different street. Suddenly, the architecture looked completely different. The sign on the building read Grimmauld Place. I stopped outside Number 12, where I saw a curtain twitch in the second-floor window.

A strange face peered out. I waved at him and smiled. If he saw me, he returned neither gesture. 

Then a double-decker bus pulled up, and a driver waved me over. He offered to give us a lift to someplace called Diagon Alley. It sounded like an interesting place to visit.

His friend inside the vehicle was likewise warm and welcoming, and kept up the wise cracks. But then we noticed that we could only see his head, not his body. This made us anxious, so we quietly slipped off the bus, and stole away. 

It was such an attractive place, and reminded us so much of London. I would never have expected to find a street like that in Florida. But then Orlando, like London, is a magical place.

Dragon Dave

A Gator's Visit to Gatorland

My wife and I have had our own alligator for nearly twenty years. He's part of the reason we grew interested in alligators and crocodiles. So when we visit a place like Gatorland in Orlando Florida, it's natural that he'd want to accompany us.

Gator enjoyed watching his cousins sunning on the warm wooden decks.

He enjoyed watching his friends swim in the rivers of the preserve.

(He took care to not fall in. Like us, he's not that much of a gator-lover).

He enjoyed looking around at the scenic beauty, and the local wildlife, even the birds (like the Egrets) that are drawn to Gatorland. Oh, and there was another form of wildlife he enjoyed watching soar above him.

He's not sure what they're called, but they looked like they were having a good time. Their raucous calls probably weren't mating rituals, but they must have communicated something significant.

And then there was the lunch, which he shared with his friends. He especially liked the corn dogs, as all gators like meat. But he also enjoyed sharing the Goldfish crackers and the Oreo cookies with his friends.

Dragon Dave