February 16, 2018 - Chicago bound and Happy Year of the Dog

Tanya's Daily Scoop
Covering the West Coast & the World
CURRENTLY TRAVELING IN: CHICAGO

Coming to the windy city!

Hello again and GREETINGS!
This time from the windy city - Chicago.

I've gotta mention to you just how very confused I am about what day it is...
Being that my flight was all messed up and I thought I was originally flying out on Thursday, I really had the most difficult time accepting that today is Friday!

DID YOU KNOW: This will be my first Winter visit to Chicago!

The last time that I was in Chicago was June, 2017 with my dear sweetie Cosette.

I'm pretty sure that we can all assume the weather will be a bit colder. Let's just hope the winds aren't too bad.

​Well I got all of 2 hours of sleep last night - but I've got to admit that they were quite comfortable and that I feel very well rested!

Dave and I went to go see Candide at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion - which has a capacity of 3197 seats across four tiers *and on a side note it happens to be one of the three largest performing arts centers in the United States.

The Leonard Bernstein Opera was starring Kelsey Grammer in his debut LA Opera roll and not a much different roll from his Frasier days - typecast much?!

​The show was entertaining. The crowd was incredibly odd (to say the least). I've been going to the theatre to see performances around the world and have never come across such a strange group. Let me just say that it was BIZARRE and if this is the typical LA Opera crowd then count me out!

(c)travelincousins.com

(c)travelincousins.com

(c)travelincousins.com

Our plans had been to have dinner up at Au Lac prior to the performance, however due to the ridiculous amounts of traffic getting to and around LA, there was just absolutely no way that we would make our reservations.
​So instead we ordered take out, but didn't have time to eat until after the show.

​We knew exactly what we wanted and couldn't wait to dig in!!!

Salt and Pepper Shrimp - pic taken from a previous visit (c)travelincousins.com

Grilled Pork Chop Plate (c)travelincousins.com

Earlier in the day I was literally just going and going non-stop.  It was really a bit maddening.
One of our stops happened to be at the stables, where both Dream and Star were getting their horsey pedicures (hooves trimmed).

Our previous farrier's wife recently had a baby and he had cut back on much of his clientele that were not nearby to his home. As much as we loved his services it seemed that the time had come to find someone new.

We had quite a carload out to visit Dream and Star, even our family friend Matt came along.

Checking out Dream's hooves (c)travelincousins.com

Trimming away (c)travelincousins.com

Chaplin and I started messing around with the camera and then...

Just being silly (c)travelincousins.com

Still being silly (c)travelincousins.com

Borrowing my shades (c)travelincousins.com

She got a hold of it!!

Posing for Chaplin (c)travelincousins.com

Time for a selfie (c)travelincousins.com

And of course a picture of her little friend (c)travelincousins.com

It took forever and year to finish up. The new farrier is a bit on the Gruff side and let's just say that he had an interesting way with horses.

I'm just glad that everything worked out well...regardless of my lack of sleep and snarky attitude today. LOL

Well it's time for me to paint the town and then I'll come back tomorrow to show you my portraits!

Tootles bootles and Happy Chinese New Year to you!
-Travelin' Tanya

Elisa's Daily Scoop
Covering Long Island & NYC Boroughs
​CURRENTLY ON LONG ISLAND

Happy Year of the Dog

HELLO AND GONG HEI FAT CHOI!!

​It's the end of the week already and do I have some fun plans this weekend!

First, as I might have mentioned before, me and the girlies are going to have an Afternoon Tea at The Garden City Hotel tomorrow.  Then Sunday, I'll be heading over to Rufus King Manor in Jamaica, Queens.  

Today, I'm doing some housekeeping stuff
(B-O-R-I-N-G) like paying bills, cleaning and picking up a few items from the grocery store.

Today begins a new year in the Chinese zodiac.  It is now the Year of the Dog!

Some interesting facts for you in celebration of this holiday!

25 Facts About
​Chinese New Year

​1. The phrase “Happy New Year” in Chinese is “Gung Hei Fat Choi” or “May You Have Good Fortune.”

2. The Chinese New Year is the most important and the longest celebration in the Chinese calendar.

3. The Chinese New Year is also known as
​the Spring Festival.

4. There is no set date for the Chinese New Year, since depends on the phases of the moon, or on a lunar or lunisolar calendar rather than on the Gregorian calendar. 

5. The beginning of the Chinese New Year ranges from January 21 to February 20.

6. On the stroke of midnight on the Chinese New Year, every door and window in a Chinese house is opened to allow the old year to go out.

(photo credit: 123rf.com)

7. The Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories that have high Chinese populations, which include Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Chinatowns in other cities.

8. Firework displays during the Chinese New Year stem from the tradition of lighting bamboo stalks on fire to ward off evil spirits, especially Nian, the evil dragon most commonly portrayed in the new year parades. 

*****
​CLICK HERE to read about THE LEGEND OF NIAN, THE BEAST from last year's Chinese New Year blog.​
​*****

9. Traditionally, on the Chinese New Year, the first person one meets and the first words someone hears indicate the type of fortune someone will have for the
rest of the year.

10. The two flowers most commonly associated with the Chinese New Year are the plum blossom, which is a symbol of courage and hope, and the water narcissus, which symbolizes good luck and prosperity.

11. The Spring Festival was originally a ceremonial day to pray to gods for a good planting and harvest season.

12. The most important part of Chinese
New Year is the family reunion. Every Chinese New Year, over a billion people board planes, trains, boats, buses, and cars. Known as Chunyan, it is the world’s
largest annual human migration.​

13. The Chinese New Year has been celebrated for more than 4,000 years. Farmers started the holiday in China
​to mark the end of winter and the
beginning of spring.​

Bing Tanghulu Candied crab apple on a stick (hongkingcookery.com)

14. Showering isn’t allowed New Year’s Day. Sweeping and throwing out garbage isn’t allowed before the 5th. This is to make sure you don’t wash away the good luck! All cleaning is done on a dedicated day before the New Year to sweep the bad luck away and make room for the good. 

15. Red is the color of good luck for the Chinese as it symbolizes fire, so people wear red clothes, they decorate poems on red paper, and they give children “lucky” money in red envelopes.  

16. A popular Chinese New Year treat is a candied crab apple on a stick

17. Every year has a zodiac animal for a total of twelve. The 12 animals are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep (ram/goat), monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. 

18. Chinese people are encouraged not to use foul language or “unlucky” words on
New Year’s Day.  

19. In China, you have a “real” age and a “fake” nominal age. The real age is the one we all know about. You grow one year older on your birthday. The nominal age though, increases with the Spring Festival.

The Lantern Festival (photo credit: chinesenewyear2018.com)

20. Chinese New Year ends with the Lantern Festival. The first full moon of the (lunar) year is the Yuanxiao Festival or
Lantern Festival. 

21. The lanterns are believed to light the way for the new year. 

​22. During the Chinese New Year, noodles are not cut, as a way to represent long life.

23. The chuen-hop, or the “tray of togetherness” is an important part of the Chinese New Year. Eight compartments are filled with special and symbolic food items that are offered to guests. These foods include coconuts for togetherness, peanuts for a long life, kumquats for health, and the longan fruit for “many good sons.

24. During the holiday, Chinese people spend twice as much on shopping and eating out than Americans spend on Thanksgiving.

25. Chinese New Year is celebrated by
​more than 20% of the world.
​

This year is the Year of the Dog, which is the eleventh of all zodiac animals.

According to chinesenewyear2018.com,
​"According to one myth, the Jade Emperor said the order would be decided by the order in which they arrived to his party. Monkey, Rooster and Dog were in another country, helping a god defeat evil spirits. After, they set off to the party together. Because they arrived at the same time, the Jade Emperor went by the order they met the god in the other country. Thus, Dog became eleventh."

YourChineseAstrology.com gives a wonderful breakdown of the qualities of the zodiac of the Dog:

The Dog is the symbol of loyalty and honesty. People born in the Year of the Dog possess the best traits of human nature. They are honest, friendly, faithful, loyal, smart, straightforward, venerable and have a strong sense of responsibility. On the negative side, they are likely to be self-righteous, cold, terribly stubborn, slippery, critical of others and not good at social activities.
 

How about some Flashbacks to Elisa in   China back in May of 1991

At The Bund in Shanghai (c) travelincousins.com CLICK IMAGE FOR FULL STORY

Getting ready to walk on the Great Wall (c) travelincousins.com CLICK IMAGE FOR FULL STORY

Breathtaking view of the Great Wall (c) travelincousins.com CLICK IMAGE FOR FULL STORY

Walking down (c) travelincousins.com CLICK IMAGE FOR FULL STORY

Taking a break (c) travelincousins.com CLICK IMAGE FOR FULL STORY

At the Forbidden City, Beijing (c) travelincousins.com CLICK IMAGE FOR FULL STORY

"The Garden of Harmonious Unity" and it was the summer residence of Empress Dowager Ci Xi. Kunming Lake, which surrounds the palace, occupies over three-quarters of the 716 acres of the palatial grounds. Huge gorgeous white marble boat at the bank of the water which was truly magnificent! (c) travelincousins.com CLICK IMAGE FOR FULL STORY

With Street Vendors in Xi'an, China (c) travelincousins.com CLICK IMAGE FOR FULL STORY

Such amazing memories!!!  I cannot wait to go back to China again - this time with my girls!! Will have to figure that out soon!

Happy Chinese New Year!!

-E
xoxo