Spot of Camomile
May 23, 2008
Now that’s a cup of tea!
Jambo, jambo, my caffeinated creatures of comfort. While coffee drinkers greedily sip lattes the size of wastepaper baskets, tea drinkers such as I must make due with teeny thimbles of bone china. Well, no more! Look what the Roaming Gnome discovered at Epcot’s United Kingdom pavilion. It’s a teacup large enough for me to wiggle my tootsies in fresh camomile. If I filled it with piping hot tea, it would be like a Gnome hot tub! Of course, that much camomile will also make the Roaming Gnome sleepy. Perhaps I’ll curl up in that giant cup of jasmine over there. Nightee night! Secret Identity
May 9, 2008
Wasabi,
cowboys and ballerinas! The Roaming Gnome couldn't make it today, so he
sent me -- The Mysterious Masked Marauder. Gnome really wanted to be
here, but he heard that Davy Jones was playing at the Flower Power
concert series and left early to make sure he got a front-row seat.
Oh, I'm just kidding, my silly
billys and millies. I can't play-pretend any longer. It's really me,
The Roaming Gnome, under this emerald eyewrap. Did I have you fooled?
If I had to prevaricate just one second more, I would have burst into
giggles! I found this Carnival mask for sale in Epcot's Italy pavilion
and I had to make it mine. Despite my deception, I do love that Monkee
Davy. You might say that … I'm a Believer!Sand Art
April 28, 2008
A luvverly couple from Monkey’s Eyebrow, KY took the other snapshot of me with my toes in the sand. I realize you can’t see my mud stompers, but trust the Roaming Gnome, after all the time I spend in gardens, it’s a jolly good change to feel the silica between the tootsies.Happy Croc
April 20, 2008
Goodness
gravy, these magical Disney World horticulturists can even make a
crocodile cuddly. This fellow would be Tick-Tock the Croc from 1953’s
“Peter Pan.” Nana Gnome always said, “Never Smile at a Crocodile,” but
how can one help it when Tick-Tock is so adorable and fluffy?Traveling 'Round the World
April 9, 2008
Hisa shi bu ri, darling duckies! After a year away, I am back in Epcot’s Japan Pavilion. I find myself drawn to this quiet corner by the dual lures of octopus nigiri and bonsai. I simply adore towering over a tree like a Brobdingnagian behemoth. (That one’s for all you Jonny Swift fans.) Typically, we Gnomes must simply peek through the hollyhocks. This is quite the boost!
I also wanted to get a photo of myself with the Walt Disney World Monorail. Amazing that 150,000 guests a day ride the twelve trains scooting fro and to. If you have your toes in the geraniums (as I do), pilots will give a wave and a silent “Heigh-Ho!” I’ve heard that if you ask politely while boarding, a Monorail pilot may even let you ride up front.
Rock 'n' Roll Dreams
April 7, 2008
Oh my stars and garters, I had hoped to simply get an autograph and perhaps a lock of golden hair from Gunnar and Matthew Nelson. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever grace the same stage as the duo that gave the world the number one hit, "(I Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection.”
Yes, it was on an empty stage during sound check, but in my mind, I was up there with the boys, the echoes of a million adoring fans chanting “Nelson and Gnome!” Wait, this is my rock and roll fantasy! I say they were chanting “Gnome and Nelson!” Yes, much better. Matthew, Gunnar – if you ever need a full-time man on cowbell, you’ve got my mobile!Heigh-ho!
April 1, 2008
You can call me sleepy or grumpy or even dopey, just don’t call me late for Nana’s baked beans on toast! Here I am in Epcot’s Germany Pavilion, spending some quality time with my brothers by another mother, The Seven Dwarfs. (You can’t see Snow White because she offered to take the picture. Such a lovely girl!) I had always heard that movie stars look smaller when you meet them in person, but Doc and the boys are positively lanky.
Over at The American Adventure pavilion, super-duper Flower Power rock bands play each night of the festival. The big sign says that this evening, Matthew and Gunnar Nelson are playing the songs of their dad, Ricky Nelson. As you might predict, The Roaming Gnome loves a Garden Party. Watch this space to see if I can get backstage!
What's your Sign?
March 28, 2008
Hello, merry monkeys … and when I say “monkeys,” I mean marmosets, baboons and capuchins. On a trek through Epcot’s China pavilion, I met a monkey made entirely of seeds and beans and grasses. Though he is technically a flora and not a fauna, Yang (as I call him) argued that no one is travel-blogging for monkeys these days. Let me now correct that in some small way --- BANANA BANANA BANANA OOOOO AAAAAA EEEEEE AAAAAA BANANA!!
Now, for you greater primates, and I think you know who you are, I also include a snappie of myself spectating at a volleyball match with a topiary Donald Duck and Daisy Duck. Don’t be fooled by that pink bow. Daisy can crush a heater when the need arises. 
Fields of Flowers
March 25, 2008
Did you know that gazing at beautiful flowers can reduce stress and raise your sense of well-being? A doctor (so she said) in a yellow aloha shirt and culottes revealed that medical morsel while we both gazed upon the same planting of snapdragons. (They smell marvy as well!)
Here I am, a Gnome, outstanding in his field! Each spring, Walt Disney World horti-culty types fill Epcot with an extra 30 million plants and blossoms and blooms. Not just roses and daisies and begonias, but also spearmint and ginger and patchouli. (For a moment, I was back at Woodstock!) The Roaming Gnome is not easily agitated, but surrounded by all this flora, I am tranquil as a puppy in a blue blanket.
Another Year of Blooms . . .
March 19, 2008
Salutations, my fluffy little labradoodles! It is your old friend, your chum, your home skillet, The Roaming Gnome! Travelocity.com has poured a bucket of bandwidth into my noodle warmer (what non-Gnomes might call my “pointy hat”), so I have roamed to Florida's Walt Disney World to blog and snap piccies of myself at the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival.
Almost immediately, I bumped into Goofy ... or rather a 14-foot floral likeness of Mickey Mouse's pal. Just as impressive, Goofy is goofy-footing over a six-foot ivy wave on a sea of marigolds! Those clever Disney World horticulturists have recreated dozens of Disney characters as topiary and scattered them throughout Epcot for the festival. I'm particularly partial to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We see eye to eye, doncha know.
Look to the upper right corner of my Roaming Gnome Blog for some handy video tip clips from a couple of those smarty-smart Disney World horticulturists. They've pulled my hydrangea out of the compost pile more than once, I must say. And keep coming back as I scribble and scamper through Epcot in the weeks to come!
I also blogged my way through the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival in 2007. I just couldn't deprive cyberspace (and you dear readers) of my snapshots and commentary, so I've kept them as well at the bottom of the page.
30 Million Blooms
June 1, 2007
I overheard a Walt Disney World gardener say there are more than 30 million blooms at the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. I do hope he didn't have to count them individually. That would put quite a strain on the noodle.
I must share a secret. During these two wonderful months of Epcot roaming, I believed I had discovered a new breed of flower which changes from orange to purple to blue. I had dubbed this plant "Brevifloria Gnomepcotia" and was about to publish my findings when I spied Disney horty-culty types switching blooms at midnight.
I soon learned that for the first time, the Flower & Garden Festival spans two growing seasons. These clever rascals were swapping winter plants for new spring buds. While I was thrilled by their perspicaciousness, my plans for Gnomepcotia immortality went out the window. There's always next year!
Evos Climber
May 30, 2007
Look at me! Look at me! I'm a chimpanzee! Right next to the butterfly garden, Epcot has installed an Evos playground. My buddy in the photo tells me that Evos is groovy because there are no straight lines. I feel as free as a monkey in overalls drinking a banana milkshake -- and that is quite free, let me tell you!
Information Booth
May 25, 2007
Greetings and salutations from the Information Booth at Epcot. At first, when I spied the blue and white lower-case "i," I had deduced that mayhaps this was a booth for Irish Wolfhounds or Internet Impresarios. I was intensely incorrect. Indeed, the info booth is invaluable. I now know where to find those delicious turkey legs (Epcot's American Adventure), how much Spaceship earthy weighs (16 million pounds), and just what Epcot actually means (Experimental Prototype Community of Tartar Sauce ? Wait, I mean "of Tomorrow!") Tartar sauce is lovely though.
Canada
May 24, 2007
Goodness Gracious and Great Googly Moogly! I'm a little off kilter this afternoon -- and by that, I mean that I'm both little and the temporary fifth member of Off Kilter, the house band in Epcot's Canada Pavilion. I hum the high harmony and play my flattened-penny tambourine. (It's a callback to my blog ramblings from Germany, boys and girls!)
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