Summer is Icumen In!
Sound the trumpet! The Booland High Holidays have begun! And they won't be over till Labor Day!
First we have the Fremont Solstice Parade & Fair. That was this weekend. The parade route is just a block from our house, and it is a Big, Big Deal. I came home Friday night and the streets were already parked up, with residents leaving their driveways open for friends. Saturday morning was the parade, featuring naked bicyclists festooned in body paint (I liked the ladybug woman. And the guy covered in little flowers. And the foursome painted up like the Incredibles). I went down a couple hours early to stake out our spot. I lay on the blanket and read. It was heavenly and very peaceful.
There are three rules for participation in the Solstice Parade: 1) No live animals; 2) No motorized vehicles (except I think wheelchairs); 3) No words. The last one makes things very, very interesting, as all messages must be rendered through art and/or symbolism. Not so much clever metaphor this year, though I liked the giant dustball being chased by the vacuum-cleaner brigade. That's what a lot of my life feels like these days.
The piercing/physical ordeal people who were pissed off at being excluded from the parade (last year their group pulled a float by ropes attached to their nipple piercings, which freaked some people out) had a protest contingent, all dancing around with gags in their mouths, brandishing flags that pointed out symbolically (with those circular "no" symbols) that if you start by banning their group, you could end up forbidding other freaky things like nudity and pro-pot messages and art. Hmm.
MG and Jessie were all dressed up in fairy wings, waving and cheering and scrambling for candy and swag at every opportunity. RW and I both noticed that our girl got extra loot, apparently for being blond. That was weird. Another aspect of the nerd-parents-of-alpha-girl experience.
Afterwards we retired to our house and set MG up with a lemonade stand, whereupon she proceeded to make out like a bandit selling lemonade to paradegoers heading up the hill. People tipped wildly, in spite of her lack of such service-ethic basics as saying "thank you" or "have a good day." In two hours she'd made enough to buy a string of tickets to fair rides and get a wooden-fairy-doll-clothing thing up at the toy store. It was kind of obscene. I was actually sort of relieved when business wasn't quite so brisk today; she had to work a little harder and actually be friendly to people in hopes of getting them to buy.
That about sums up the our neighborhood's experience these days: neighborhood residents capitalizing on the freaky Freemont image to make a buck. We're right there in the thick of it!
Two nights of fair food for dinner. Yum. And the usual assortment of funky crafts, only more so. Blocks and blocks of them. And dozens of art cars. And the Hula Hoop Guy, on whom I think MG has sort of a crush. He picked her as a volunteer to hold the tennis racket (long story, you kinda had to be there) and she's talked about it all day.
I'm sure there's more but MG needs her hair washed. Enough!
Coming up in the next three weeks: Gay Pride a/k/a the Rainbow Parade, my birthday, RW's and my getting-together anniversary , and RW's birthday.
Then a little break for vacations, parental visits, and the Vancooover Folk Music Festival.
Then in August we'll have MG's birthday party (at the pool!), MG's actual birthday, RW's and my wedding anniversary (two weddings, five years apart, one anniversary), or Big Weekend Away while my mom watches MG, and then, before we can catch our breaths...kindergarten!
Hang on, Gentle Readers. It's going to be quite the ride.
First we have the Fremont Solstice Parade & Fair. That was this weekend. The parade route is just a block from our house, and it is a Big, Big Deal. I came home Friday night and the streets were already parked up, with residents leaving their driveways open for friends. Saturday morning was the parade, featuring naked bicyclists festooned in body paint (I liked the ladybug woman. And the guy covered in little flowers. And the foursome painted up like the Incredibles). I went down a couple hours early to stake out our spot. I lay on the blanket and read. It was heavenly and very peaceful.
There are three rules for participation in the Solstice Parade: 1) No live animals; 2) No motorized vehicles (except I think wheelchairs); 3) No words. The last one makes things very, very interesting, as all messages must be rendered through art and/or symbolism. Not so much clever metaphor this year, though I liked the giant dustball being chased by the vacuum-cleaner brigade. That's what a lot of my life feels like these days.
The piercing/physical ordeal people who were pissed off at being excluded from the parade (last year their group pulled a float by ropes attached to their nipple piercings, which freaked some people out) had a protest contingent, all dancing around with gags in their mouths, brandishing flags that pointed out symbolically (with those circular "no" symbols) that if you start by banning their group, you could end up forbidding other freaky things like nudity and pro-pot messages and art. Hmm.
MG and Jessie were all dressed up in fairy wings, waving and cheering and scrambling for candy and swag at every opportunity. RW and I both noticed that our girl got extra loot, apparently for being blond. That was weird. Another aspect of the nerd-parents-of-alpha-girl experience.
Afterwards we retired to our house and set MG up with a lemonade stand, whereupon she proceeded to make out like a bandit selling lemonade to paradegoers heading up the hill. People tipped wildly, in spite of her lack of such service-ethic basics as saying "thank you" or "have a good day." In two hours she'd made enough to buy a string of tickets to fair rides and get a wooden-fairy-doll-clothing thing up at the toy store. It was kind of obscene. I was actually sort of relieved when business wasn't quite so brisk today; she had to work a little harder and actually be friendly to people in hopes of getting them to buy.
That about sums up the our neighborhood's experience these days: neighborhood residents capitalizing on the freaky Freemont image to make a buck. We're right there in the thick of it!
Two nights of fair food for dinner. Yum. And the usual assortment of funky crafts, only more so. Blocks and blocks of them. And dozens of art cars. And the Hula Hoop Guy, on whom I think MG has sort of a crush. He picked her as a volunteer to hold the tennis racket (long story, you kinda had to be there) and she's talked about it all day.
I'm sure there's more but MG needs her hair washed. Enough!
Coming up in the next three weeks: Gay Pride a/k/a the Rainbow Parade, my birthday, RW's and my getting-together anniversary , and RW's birthday.
Then a little break for vacations, parental visits, and the Vancooover Folk Music Festival.
Then in August we'll have MG's birthday party (at the pool!), MG's actual birthday, RW's and my wedding anniversary (two weddings, five years apart, one anniversary), or Big Weekend Away while my mom watches MG, and then, before we can catch our breaths...kindergarten!
Hang on, Gentle Readers. It's going to be quite the ride.
posted by elswhere | 8:07 PM
4 Comments:
How exciting! Dang! That's a great lineup. We mostly have working on the house, my being anxious about the upcoming writer's thing, and camp in the pipeline for the summer. Which is all good, in its own way. But I want to see naked people on my street!
It's Lenin, as in Goodbye, Lenin!
Well, technically anonymous is right, but Grace you go ahead and call him whatever you want: Marx, Lenin, Lennon... I knew whatcha meant.
Now, are you coming to visit so we can lay flowers at his feet?
Okay. My contest is posted with a YA feature added...now you should enter it.
Post a Comment
<< Home