Yesterday, after I blogged about a short visit to the Midwestern State University (MSU) campus with a quick look at the annual Fantasy of Lights installation, with the sole photo documentation, of such, being a look at Dorothy and Toto and their fellow Yellow Brick Road travelers.
Someone, after seeing the photo of Dorothy and Toto, anonymously asked if a close-up look could be had, so as to determine if the MSU Fantasy of Lights Dorothy looks like Judy Garland.
So, on my way to eventually get to ALDI, I stopped at MSU, again, this time for a longer look at the Fantasy of Lights, followed by a walk around the deserted MSU campus.
I believe today was the first time I have walked around the MSU campus since before COVID. Before COVID I frequented the MSU campus frequently.
Looking critically at Dorothy and Toto, I quickly saw, as you can see above, neither look at all like their Wizard of Oz movie counterparts.
Soon after leaving the Emerald City I came upon the Old Lady who lived in a shoe, who had so many kids she did not know what to do.
Well, the lady who lives in that shoe, with all those kids, does not look old enough to have so many kids.
The Old Lady does appear to be adequately endowed to adequately nourish multiple kids.
Far from the Old Lady and her show house I came upon the homage to the MSU Mustangs.
Normally the herd of four Mustangs is frolicking through a pool of water, with water appearing to splash.
But, today the pool was dried up. Likely part of being prepared for the harsh winter to come.
As you can see, via the photo documentation, the second day of winter, at my location, is no longer cloud-free, unlike yesterday's cloud-free totally blue sky first day of Winter.
The ALDI visit finished my Christmas prep. I now have all the ingredients to make the big Christmas Lasagna that will be my Christmas centerpiece, along with peach and cherry pie...
This morning of Thanksgiving of 2023 I drove to MSU (Midwestern State University) to walk around this year's Fantasy of Light installation.
I saw a few new installations.
And above, one of Cinderella's mean stepsisters looks different this year, that being the one on the left, looking meaner than the one she replaced.
I saw this dachshund weiner dog when I drove by this location a couple days ago.
I know an elderly lady from my old home state of Washington, now living in Virginia, who would be a likely candidate to be an old lady with way too many cats. Instead, this elderly lady collects dachshunds, both live and in other forms.
Such as dachshund decorations of various sorts. Like dachshund Christmas tree ornaments, dachshund figurines, dachshund themed dinner plates, clothing with dachshunds, paintings of dachshunds, dachshund wallpaper, I forget what else.
Plus one real live cat. The dachshund elderly lady has one cat.
The above is something new. It looked sort of Stephen Kingish, like Children of the Corn. Apparently, it is some sort of choir. A sign said as much, plus I saw a loudspeaker.
It has been a couple years since I walked the Fantasy of Lights at night. I think it was the Christmas season before COVID when last I joined the throngs walking among the lights.
Anyway, I hope y'all have yourselves a mighty fine Thanksgiving....
Several days ago I was surprised driving by Midwestern State University to see that the annual MSU Fantasy of Lights installation was underway.
Underway way before Christmas, marking, for me, the start of the dreaded (by me) holiday season.
We are only a couple days from Halloween.
After the trick or treating ends, we zoom quickly to Thanksgiving, followed quickly by Christmas, then New Year's Day, and the start of yet another year, which will seem to fly by at warp speed.
The past couple days my north Texas location has been like a stereotypical Pacific Northwest winter day. A totally gray sky, with hour upon hour of sky drippage.
Today blue sky returned, along with temperatures in the 80s.
So, I drove the short distance to that aforementioned Fantasy of Lights installation underway, to take the photo you see above.
I believe that is Cinderella in the horse drawn carriage, on her way to lose her shoe and find a charming prince.
I have driven by some over the top Halloween themed yards of late. I will try and remember to take a photo of the one I saw yesterday on Hamilton Road, by Hamilton Park.
Last night, Christmas Eve, I walked the Midwestern State University (MSU) Fantasy of Lights, with my phone in video mode. That resulted in two videos, covering the entire Fantasy zone. I walked fast, because I did not want the videos to be long. Walking fast resulted in a lot of artful dodging around a lot of people.
The two videos are below, at the end of a series of photos.
After walking the Fantasy of Lights, I got back in my vehicle to drive through the Wichita Falls Beverly Hills Fantasy of Lights, where dozens upon dozens of homes are lit up with over the top Christmas lights and displays.
The Polar Express trams, there are three of them, leave the MSU Fantasy of Lights parking lot every few minutes to tour the Beverly Hills Fantasy of Lights zone.
When I saw the above photo, my first thought was how did my phone camera mess up this picture. Then I realized the lights were reflecting off my vehicle's hood, with the road I was on above the reflection.
The above entire house was draped in lights. I'd never seen this type of Christmas lighting before.
My favorite house in what I call Beverly Hills is a flat roofed modern style that looks like my Mount Vernon house would have looked like if way more money was spent on it. This house's lights consisted of stringing so many lights in the trees that it looked sort of like illuminated spider webs.
That is one of the aforementioned trams you see behind the tree in the middle.
Again with the reflection off the hood.
The giant snowman you see here was the most unique thing seen last night. It is HUGE. And it glows with a sort of pulsating light.
The phone's camera really does not do justice to these displays. It does not help the quality when shooting through the windshield.
The above trees had the biggest tree ornaments seen last night.
All these photos were taken on routes I regularly roll by on my bike. I do not know when all these lights are installed. I did not eye witness any installing going on whilst I biked by. Seems like it must take a lot of time to string up so many lights in so many locations.
And now the videos of the MSU Fantasy of Lights..
As I walked, phone in video mode, by the time I ended the above video I had no idea how long it'd taken. Ten minutes? Five? Turns out less than three. When I realized it was not all that long I decided to take video of the rest of the Fantasy of Lights. Hence Part Two of the Fantasy of Lights...
On this final Sunday of the 2021 version of November I rolled my motorized motion device to MSU (Midwestern State University) to do some nature communing with the Fantasy of Lights, along with walking all over the campus.
So, let's take a short tour past some of the Fantasy of Lights installations.
The couple and kid above are about to visit Ebeneezer Scrooge. Behind them is Cinderella's carriage.
Above we are looking at the Jolly Roger ship made famous by Peter Pan. The pirates have a wench tied to a mast. Don't ask me to explain what this has to do with this particular holiday season.
There once was an old lady who lived in a shoe who had so many kids she did not know what to do. That is what you are seeing above.
You can mail a letter to Santa via this mailbox, and Santa will send a letter back to you.
Humpty Dumpty before he took a head cracking fall.
Frosty looks like he has laid a lot of snowball eggs.
Mrs. Claus is holding a tray of tasty looking cookies at Santa's Workshop.
Finally, a Christmas scene, of the Nativity variety. Baby Jesus was visible and quite little.
Multiple Santas are being busy at the Fantasy of Lights.
Mickey Mouse has a Toy Castle. Why? I don't know.
And here we see Santa with his sleigh getting pulled by a herd of reindeer.
It would not be Christmas without a visit to the Emerald City with Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion and Toto.
And we will end this tour with a parr of chilly snow people.
Perhaps I shall return this year at night, when the lights are bright and the music is playing, and shoot some video...
Yesterday whilst talking about Linda Lou's Graham Cracker House I made mention of the fact that last night I was scheduled to guide a tour group through the Wichita Falls Christmas zone, collectively known as the Fantasy of Lights, including the Burns MSU Fantasy of Lights, and the Fantasy of Lights one finds in the neighborhood adjacent to the Burns MSU Fantasy of Lights.
I took a few photos, none of which do any sort of justice to how incredibly fantastic this light fantasy actually is.
My tour assistant took video of the drive by of the actual Fantasy of Lights, which does give one a good idea of how spectacular this Holiday extravaganza is, and what a HUGE crowd of light fantasy viewers show up for the show. You can view that video, eventually, below.
Above we are driving by one of the four long Polar Express trams carrying light seekers from Fantasy of Lights central, on the MSU campus, riding through the area I refer to as the Beverly Hills of Wichita Falls.
The Polar Express trams were running at full capacity. All four of them. The above photo shows only the last two cars of one of the long trams. I would estimate there were at least 200 people aboard. When my tour group passed the area where one gets a ticket to ride the Polar Express we saw a line of at least another couple hundred waiting their turn.
Last night I also saw a large group of bikers, lit up, and rolling through the light fantasy. That looked fun. I also saw one of the horse drawn carriages clip clopping along soon after I saw the throng of bikers.
Below are the best I came up with, photo-wise of the lights in the Beverly Hills of Wichita Falls.
The streets of the Beverly Hills of Wichita Falls are lined with big trees. And the streets have sidewalks. Which last night hosted a lot of walkers. The tree trunks are wired with light, but that is not what we are looking at above. Above is one home's light fantasy.
The above is showing only a small part of this HUGE installation of lights and animations. This display is in front of one of the mansions on Hamilton Boulevard, across the boulevard from Hamilton Park. The mansion next to this one had the most impressive display of light animation seen last night.
My favorite of the Beverly Hills of Wichita Falls mansions is the one with the bright trees you see above. I wondered what this house would do for lighting. And last night I had my answer. The ultra modern style house was dark, surrounded by trees covered with so much lighting it sort of looked like giant illuminated caterpillar infestation tents.
Below is the aforementioned video drive by of the MSU Fantasy of Lights, followed by more commentary.
Prior to experiencing what Wichita Falls does Holiday Season lighting-wise, the most impressive such thing my eyes had ever witnessed was Interlochen in Arlington. Drivers drive from all over the D/FW Metroplex to join the slow traffic jam that drives through Interlochen.
I do not know why Arlington and Interlochen have not thought of the Wichita Falls tram type solution to that annual traffic jam mess which make the Interlochen experience a bit unpleasant.
The Wichita Falls Holiday Season lighting operation is a lot more coordinated effort than the Arlington Interlochen effort. Just the way all the trees along the streets are all lit up with matching lighting is one example.
It is not Interlochen's fault that the roads in that neighborhood sort of constrict easy traffic flow, with only two ways in and out.
One of the many positive attributes of the HUGE Wichita Falls lit up area is the multiple streets with multiple in and out points, thus making for zero traffic flow woes. That and those four long trams helps. Plus Wichita Falls having that sprawling Fantasy of Lights installation at the heart of it all, with lots of easy parking, so people can choose to get out and walk among the lights, or take the stay in your vehicle Santa drive-by option.
Bottom line, good job Wichita Falls. This town does so many things quite excellently. Which is sort of significant, because I ain't all that easy to impress...
Today, on this second Saturday of the final December of the second decade of the current century I got some Vitamin D by rolling my bike north on the Circle Trail, under a bright blue pre-winter sky, eventually making my way to MSU to roll around the mid-day Fantasy of Lights.
I am scheduled later today to lead a tour group past the best of the Wichita Falls Christmas lights. That happens after dark.
Rolling the trail through the Fantasy of Lights today I came upon a fantasy which brought the Skagit Valley's Linda Lou to mind.
With that fantasy being the Gingerbread House you see above, with Humpty Dumpty way in the background.
The reason this Fantasy of Lights MSU Gingerbread House reminded me of Linda Lou was due to Linda Lou being in the online news from the Skagit Valley with an account of Linda Lou's creative re-imagining of a classic Gingerbread House, using a different building block to create a Graham Cracker House.
The above is the photo documentation of Linda Lou's Graham Cracker House which illustrated the news about Linda Lou's Christmas construction. I would give credit to the photographer who photographed Linda Lou's Graham Cracker House, but that information is not known by me.
Please also not the creatively imaginative mouse on the left and the marshmallow snowman on the right.
I do not know if Linda Lou's Graham Cracker Houses are available for purchase at the Linda Lou Skagit Valley Jam Factory. I suspect by special order, only, if they are available...
I do not remember if that which you see above was something I have seen previously whilst visiting the MSU Burns Fantasy of Lights. I know I have previously known the story told on this installation, explaining how the Fantasy of Lights came to be.
You can read the text on the historical marker type sign below, and then below that a closeup look at Lillian Mae McGregor, in Christmas mode, with candy canes, near the end of her life in Wichita Falls...
Christmas 1916
Lillian Mae McGregor and Lester Thomas Burns were newlyweds living in Wichita Falls. They displayed a small Christmas tree on their front porch for neighbors to enjoy and thus was born the "fantasy of lights." In 1928 Lillian and L.T. built a home on the corner of Clarinda St. and Harrison Blvd. and each year added a new display. For the next forty-three years, sharing the Christmas spirit was their passion.
Midwestern State University adopted the displays and continues this wonderful tradition. Lillian and L.T.'s spirits live on for all children and adults to enjoy. Look around, you might even see her handing out candy canes!
Merry Christmas to all!
After dark, last night, I found myself driving down Taft Boulevard where I saw the Fantasy of Lights lit up, along with all the lights on all the buildings of MSU. And the nearby Beverly Hills of Wichita Falls neighborhood, also lit up in full holiday season mode.
An impressive display of the Christmas spirit.
And last night the Fantasy of Lights was crowded with holiday celebrators walking the trails through the displays. I think the volume must be turned up when the sun goes down because I could hear the music as I drove by with my windows up.
For my eyes, the Wichita Falls Fantasy of Lights, and the surrounding university and neighborhood, is even more impressive than the formerly most impressive like thing I have ever seen, that being Arlington's Interlochen neighborhood's lighting extravaganza.
This Christmas season I must remember to do an after dark drive through the Wichita Falls Beverly Hills. There is a mansion there in the Southwest Arizona/New Mexico adobe style, which I saw yesterday whilst rolling by on my bike, has luminarias on the ground all over the property.
I first saw luminarias as a Christmas light thing way back in the year 1999, visiting mom and dad over Christmas, in Yuma. Dad drove us to a hilly Yuma neighborhood which lingers strong in my memory due to all the luminarias, and all the people sitting outside, beside the road, offering drinks and treats to those driving by. I had never seen anything like it, previously, or since...
Operation Get in Shape for Moab Mountain Biking has been going well.
Yesterday, as in Sunday, I joined the throngs in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area, biking the hills over and over again at relatively high speed in a relatively high gear.
Today, as in Monday, it was Off to See the Wizard on the Yellow Brick Road Day, rolling my wheels around Sikes Lake and then to the MSU campus where eventually I was rolling through the now totally installed, turned on, and ready to open Fantasy of Lights.
The Emerald City is in a new location this year. I saw several new Fantasies I did not remember previously. And some I do remember seem to have been spruced up a bit, such as new passengers on the Ferris wheel, including multiple Santas.
Today all the displays were turned on, with wheels spinning, music playing, saloon girls dancing, piano players tinkling the ivory, dolphins swimming, Dorothy walking, the Scarecrow strutting, the Cowardly Lion puffing out his chest and the Tin Man fiddling with his oil can.
I saw on the morning news the Fantasy of Lights being talked about. I believe I heard the talking head say tonight was the Grand Opening.
I do not remember if I have ever actually seen the Fantasy of Lights lit up at night. I must remember to drive by after dark sometime during this long holiday season...
When one lives in what used to be one of the locations of the wild, wild west one never knows what historical remnant one might come upon whilst rolling ones bike's wheels around and about.
Today my handlebars came upon the scene you see here.
A pair of exhausted horses laying down, unhitched from their wagon, with no humans anywhere to be seen.
In a few weeks, likely the weekend following Thanksgiving, this pair of horses will be back vertical, hitched to the wagon, with the wagon's wheels mysteriously turning with a buckboard driver holding the reigns attached to the horses.
After I made mention of this early arrival of the Christmas season, local historian, Miss Wood, informed us that this is the norm, for the installation of the MSU Fantasy of Lights to begin well before the lights goes live after Thanksgiving.
Speaking of MSU.
Yesterday I found myself watching college football. The University of Washington Huskies being beat by the Utah Utes was one of the games I watched.
Whilst that game was going on I saw another football game being broadcast by one of the non-major broadcasters. This was a football game broadcast in the primitive pre-HD TV style. That game was the aforementioned MSU, being soundly beaten by something called Tarketon.
Later Saturday, Saturday evening to be precise, I watched the Oregon Ducks soundly beat the USC Trojans. The Ducks play for the University of Oregon. The University of Oregon is located in Eugene. I was born in Eugene. I did not realize til watching that game last night that the Oregon Ducks were headquartered in Eugene.
This sort of indicates how much attention I usually pay to football; college, high school or professional.
I don't even know if my old high school still plays football. I can't remember the last time I read a fuss being made regarding my old high school doing well in football playoffs. The last time I do remember that happening was way back in the last century when my old high school somehow made it to a championship game being played in the now long gone Kingdome in Seattle. I do not remember if my old high school won or lost that championship game. I think I remember watching it in person.
Speaking of Thanksgiving.
This year I am not gonna roast a turkey. Instead I am having a Tequila Turkey Taco Thanksgiving Thursday Party. I am currently taking reservations. There is limited seating available...
A couple days before yesterday's Halloween I was surprised whilst driving Taft Boulevard to see that Christmas was already arriving on the MSU (Midwestern State University) campus.
At that point in time, a couple days ago, my location in Texas was in the throes of what was seeming like a stereotypical Western Washington winter day.
Cold, totally overcast gray sky, dripping all day long. With fog.
And then on the third day, Halloween, the fog lifted, with the return of a totally blue sky. With the temperature below freezing.
Today, with the temperature a bit above freezing I layered on layers of outerwear and rolled my handlebars to the MSU campus, where me and my handlebars stropped to take the festive holiday photos you see here.
If I remember right when this holiday extravaganza opens it is called "The Fantasy of Lights". I may be remembering that wrong.
It will be several more days before this fantasy lights up, as there are still a lot of installations not yet in place, and wired.
Every year which I have observed this particular holiday display there have been multiple new elements. So far, and it is early, I made note of nothing new.
And I gotta say. I am really not in the mood for this holiday season thing to start up. I am currently feeling more Scroogy than I usually do, and that is with a high level of Ebeneezer being my norm...
What with this first Sunday of the 2018 version of December scheduled to be the last semi-warm day for the foreseeable predicted future I decided to layer on sufficient outerwear so as to have myself a semi comfortable salubrious endorphin inducing bout of aerobic stimulation via riding my bike.
Eventually my handlebars took me to the Fantasy of Lights currently adding a large dose of Happy Holiday to the Midwestern State University campus.
After dark the Fantasy of Lights is quite a sight, what with a lot of colored lights and animated displays, and the MSU buildings also illuminated in Christmas color.
This is now my 3rd Christmas time of the year in the Wichita Falls Texas location, making this the 3rd iteration of the Fantasy of Lights that I have eye witnessed.
Maybe I forget what I saw the previous year, but it seems each year new displays have been added. Or augmented. Such as the display I thought was Santa's Outhouse, now is guarded by a pair of Tin Soldiers with a sign indicating such.
When I parked my bike so as to dismount and take a picture after taking the above photo I looked at what was at the left of my bike and realized I had not seen that before. A sort of historical market type sign.
And what does this sign tell us? Well...
Christmas 1916
Lillian Mae McGregor and Lester Thomas Burns were newlyweds living in Wichita Falls. They displayed a small Christmas tree on their front porch for neighbors to enjoy and thus was born the "Fantasy of Lights." In 1928 Lillian and L.T. built a home on the corner of Clarinda St. and Harrison Blvd. and each year added a new display. For the next forty-three years, sharing the Christmas spirit was their passion. Midwestern State University adopted the displays and continues this wonderful tradition. Lillian and L.T.'s spirits live on for all children and adults to enjoy. Look around, you might even see her handing out candy canes!
Merry Christmas to all!
Now isn't that special? Have I ever remembered to mention that I like Wichita Falls? Way more than some other locations I have experienced in Texas, even if the town is way too Republican...
What with Halloween being a week in the past, and the latest election over and done with, I can finally focus attention on my favorite time of the year.
The Holiday Season.
Thanksgiving is only a couple weeks away, followed soon thereafter by Christmas, and then the Happy New Year.
Today I rolled my bike's wheels on the Circle Trail, heading north, eventually reaching the Midwestern State University campus where I saw progress happening with the installation of the Fantasy of Lights, including the new installation you see above, which was not available for viewing last year.
I thought, looking at this, that it must be a fake rock made of Styrofoam, or some such material. But, I whacked the rock to find it to be a solid piece of something. Limestone? I have no idea. But it definitely was a rock of some sort.
There was also a new installation near Santa's Outhouse. I only glanced at it as I rolled by, but it appeared to be a large tombstone for either Scrooge or Mallory. I will photo document this the next time I am in the area.
I am having some trouble adjusting to roller coaster temperatures. When I left Texas in early October I was still in the wearing short pants mode time of the year. Those short pants became problematic a day later in Show Low, Arizona, where the temperature had dropped enough to allow snow to accumulate.
And then descending into the Valley of the Sun short pants were back again the right thing to be wearing. Three weeks of swimming followed. And then back in Texas I went from needing A/C to turning on my furnace to heat up the place.
But, then, yesterday it was back to short pants in Texas, with temps in the 80s. But now, today, back in BRRRR mode. Sweatpants and multi-layers to make for a warm bike ride.
And now I just learned freezing is in the immediate future at my north Texas location, with a predicted Friday high of only 53 with a low of 30.
I have already located my long underwear, and so am totally prepared for this frigid nightmare...
I do not remember when I last was in holiday spirit mode so well in advance of the holidays.
I'm done with my Christmas shopping.
And all my Christmas decorating.
And all my Christmas card mailings.
Now, all I have to do is enjoy this latest iteration of the holiday season til it is blessedly over with at the start of yet another new year.
On Friday I rolled my bike's wheels to the MSU (Midwestern State University) campus intending to shoot video whilst riding my bike around the perimeter of Wichita Falls Fantasy of Light Christmas theme park.
On that day the wind which blew all day Saturday had begun to blow. Hence most of the video I took that day was noisy with the wind blowing over my patented pithy commentary.
So, on this almost dead calm, almost windless Sunday, this morning I rolled back to MSU and did two video iterations. I liked the second one best, so that is the one I YouTubed which you can watch and listen to below.
But before we get to that what are we looking at in these two photos, above and below?
Well, in the one at the top, located at the far southeast edge of the Fantasy of Lights, is your basic stereotypical Bethlehem manger scene, with some wise men on camels, a couple sheep, a couple shepherds, and Mary and Joseph in the manger with their newborn. The Joseph figure looks sort of worried and angry. I suspect he had just received word America's modern era Herod had blocked immigrants from migrating from Mary and Joseph's war torn oppressive middle eastern location to the new world of America. And so the desperate young family is stuck their with their baby, awaiting who knows what dire fate at the hands of the infidels from the west.
And then we move on from that poignant scene to the next one.
What appear to be the Village People on a carousel. The explanatory signage accompanying this installation really did not explain much. All that signage says is "NUTCRACKER CAROUSEL Adopted By First Bank".
Nutcracker Carousel? Aren't the Nutcrackers in the Nutcracker ballet production some sort of toy soldier figures? Even more confusing is the Village Person in white on the left. The banner on that Village Person's back says "Texas Nurses".
Before we get to the video from today, the full text of an article in this morning's Wichita Falls Times News Record, or is that Wichita Falls News Times Record? I can never remember. Just a second I will go look...
Oh my, both are wrong. The correct name of the local newspaper is Wichita Falls Times Record News. I don't mean to be rude, which I never am, but that newspaper name is just unnecessarily convoluted, hence my confusion. Why not simply call it the Wichita Falls News and leave it at that? Or Wichita Falls Times? Or Wichita Falls Record?
Almost forgot, here is the blurb from the Times Record News about that which I biked around today...
With the flick of a switch at dusk on Nov. 20, the MSU-Burns Fantasy of Lights displays will illuminate the campus of Midwestern State University and Wichita Falls with a festive atmosphere. Almost 40 lighted displays – including Peter Pan, The Three Little Pigs and a robot blowing bubbles – will light the night. This year, guests will get an extra treat. Workers at MSU found a treasure that hasn’t been displayed in 15 years. Hidden in a crawl space of the Hardin Building, a vintage display spells out “Merry Christmas To All” in red and green neon letters. Students at the Carrigan Center transformed the neon letters to LED lights. The lighted animated displays take about 1,300 hours to set up and maintain. Fantasy of Lights receives no state funding or federal grants, but instead relies exclusively on the generous donations and volunteerism of the city of Wichita Falls. To keep the timeless tradition going takes the effort of generous donors like you. The holiday light displays that burn bright on the campus on Taft Boulevard are viewed by approximately 200,000 people every year – at no charge.
