I spent the weekend in Orlando at the Synergy Conference with friends Lesa, Carol, Sue, Joye, Lee, Catherine, Carolyn (what little I saw of her) and Kelley. (Join us next year!)

We had great speakers. A fab location. Terrif food. And Florida in bloom. I watched the sun rise while swimming laps in an indoor-outdoor heated pool with steam rising off the water. When I raised my goggles, I saw a raccoon scurry by under the shadows of palm trees. Ahhhh. Sometimes I suffer from beauty-withdrawal, and then I get this unexpected fix.

After the conference (more later about the great messages), Kelley and I were met by her aunt, Dorie, who lives in Orlando. She provided curb service to EPCOT, where Kelley and I walked the entire World Pavilion. We caught five rides, three shows, dinner in "Mexico," and a gazillion street acts. Rode the monorail. Enjoyed low crowds and fantastic weather. And the finale: oohing and ahhing to fireworks on the lake in fanfare only Disney could deliver.

We followed all that today with an O-dark-thirty flight home. Z-z-z-z-z-z.

Here's a taste of Disney brought to you by cell-phone quality technology from the girl who forgot to take her camera (that would be me):

During the fireworks as the music blared, a little boy in front of us conducted as if he were Leonard Bernstein. His parents told us he was hearing impaired and that he always does that when music blares because he can actually hear some of it. His directing only added to the magic.