Mouse of Zen

As many of you know, I like to put Disney with things that you don't normally think it belongs with- such as Nascar. Turns out, I'm not the only person who does this!

Brad Conway is a police officer with a love of Disney. While this isn't unusual, it's how he expresses this love that is different: he writes haiku. (Note: haiku is a form of Japanese poetry usually written in three lines. The first and third line have five syllables, while the middle line has seven syllables.) In fact, Brad has written a whole book of haiku poems dedicated to Disney. The title of the book is, fittingly, Mouse of Zen. There are 351 haiku in this first edition (the second edition is already well under way).

Cover design copyright J.B. Conway and Knell Studio Works

While reading the book, there were several poems that made me just stop in my tracks. For example, this haiku utterly and completely sums up my feelings about Disney World

a place heaven sent

day or night, rain or sunshine

world that never sleeps

And having just returned from a very hot and humid summer visit to Disney World, I find this one very appropriate:

humid afternoon

refreshing treasure unwrapped

chocolate lips licked

There are also poems that remind me of friends and times shared at Disney World

early a.m. sounds

over coffee and pastry

main street crescendo

Every person with a love of Disney, be it Disney World, Disneyland, or Walt Disney himself, will find something in this book that speaks to them. Also, even when the poem doesn't speak to you, because let's face it- they don't all hit home, it's still fun trying to figure out what part of Disney Brad was using as his muse. To sum it up, this book is a must-own for any true Disney fan.

To order Mouse of Zen, click here. Also, be sure to follow Mouse of Zen on Twitter.

All poetry in this post © J.B. Conway

San Francisco- trip report

While on our recent West Coast vacation, we spent a jam-packed day and a half in San Francisco. We had a wonderful time!

As we drove into San Francisco, we planned our route so we would be sure to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge (thank goodness for GPS!).

Driving over the Golden Gate

After arriving at the hotel, we took a cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf for lunch and sight-seeing.

View from the cable car

We at lunch at the wonderful Boudin's Bakery.

Making bread at Boudin's

Both Mike and I had a bread bowl filled with soup and Matthew had a pizza. Then Matthew had some of the tops of both Mike and I's bread bowls. The kid LOVED sourdough bread.

Matthew and sourdough bread

We continued our stroll along the Wharf and bought boat tickets for a boat tour through the bay. As soon as we bought the tickets, Matthew commented that he didn't feel so good. Turns out, he had a little too much sourdough bread. Let's just say, we now call it "Fisherman's Barf"... Luckily after that little episode he was fine.

We took a great boat ride through the bay and got to see the Golden Gate and Alcatraz.

Alcatraz from the Bay

View of the Golden Gate Bridge from the boat

After this, we walked around Pier 33 and did a little shopping. We then headed for dinner down at Ghiradelli Square and finished the night off with ice cream at Ghiradelli's.

The next morning, we walked down from our hotel and had a great breakfast. We then headed to Union Square on a cable car, and back to Lombard Street- the crookedest street in the country. It is a very crooked street, with some gorgeous views!

Lombard Street

After this, we went down to Pier 1 to check out their amazing Farmer's Market. We picked up cheese and bread for lunch and ate it while overlooking the bay.

We decided to take a bike ride from Fisherman's Wharf to the Golden Gate Bridge. It didn't look that far... Well, it is that far (about 3.5 miles each way!) and uphill on the way to the bridge. But that wasn't the worst part- crossing the bridge was COLD, windy, and foggy.

The view from ON the Golden Gate Bridge

After we crossed the bridge to the Sausalito side, we could either choose to continue into Sausalito and take a ferry back, or just bike back across the bridge and back to the Wharf. We opted to bike back across the bridge.

On the Sausalito side- warming up before crossing back to San Fran

We then returned the bikes and went for a yummy seafood dinner at Scoma's before calling it a night.

All in all, it was a great time in San Francisco...

Our West Coast Trip- the down and dirty

Well, we survived our 13 day, 1200+ mile trek down the West Coast. A full trip report will be coming later, but I just wanted to share a few of the highlights of the trip...

• Seeing my husband's family and Matthew getting to know his cousins. They quickly became the best of friends.

• Watching the changing landscape as we drove from Portland, Or. to Anaheim, Ca. We saw desert, mountains, cliffs, etc. It was quite impressive.

• Spending time with my grandmother, who I hadn't seen in 20 years and who had never met Matthew or Mike. I also got to see aunts and cousins I hadn't seen in many, many years.

• Our weekend in San Francisco: Thanks to Matthew we now refer to it as Fisherman's Barf, and we also biked across the (cold and windy) Golden Gate Bridge.

• Exploring Disneyland and California Adventure- and being lucky enough to see World of Color twice!

All in all it was a great trip!