May Day Parade

Our friends Ellen & Pam invited us to go to Sunday's Heart of The Beast May Day Parade with them. We headed over for Pam's amazing waffles at about 10 and then made our way to the park around 11. Seeing as the parade takes place about 5 short blocks from our house, and parking for the parade usually get a bit crazy, Peder and I parked at home and walked over to meet Pam & Ellen. It was amazingly windy in the park and it was interesting to see the creative ways people were trying to tie or weight stff down. Every peice of paper on the Obama '08 table was covered with a coke bottle. When I first spied it, I thought it was some sort of credit card offer.

The park was surprisingly empty, even for the windy cool day. We met our friends and headed over to Bloomington Avenue to snag a parade spot. We got a great one, (easy because there was literally non one else there) and then noticed a sign stating the parade didn't start until 1! We debated our options and listened to the people across the street hawk tacos, and "Mangos on a stick" from their yard, before deciding we'd be best off meeting up again around 1:30 (the park is the end of the parade). Peder opted to just head home. Since Ryan & Carrie live just across the street from the park (I love having them so close), I stopped over there to hang out.

Ellen & I have a history with this parade and it's timing. The first time we tried to go to the parade together, we showed up on the wrong day. So I guess we've improved our timing a little bit. However we are no longer allowed to be in charge of scheduling parade watching. Two strikes and you're out. Another year we were "Parade Marshalls", which meant we showed up at 10AM and were supposed to keep the groups from piling up on top of each other. This is a really informal parade, so the term "hearding cats" should come to mind.

Anyway, when I finally met back up with Ellen & Pam, we got to watch the amazing costumes, bands and puppets. This is the best parade because there is so much drumming. I love drumming. I could listen to it all day, but I'd be worn out from clapping and dancing. I even saw one of my former students drumming. This kid smiled about 3 times in the 4 months I taught him. Every time I saw him yesterday her was smiling. That made my heart happy.

Once again, no pictures. What was I thinking? These are from last year. I enjoyed this year's parade more than any other. The theme was "water" and costumes and puppets were outstanding. I'll find pictures somewhere and post them.