I love a parade (and other notes from a good weekend)

I know it's cheesy and kind of dorky but I do love a parade. Saturday was the Grand Floral Parade -- the showpiece of Portland's annual Rose Festival. (speaking of dorky, I personally have nothing on the city itself which 1) is home to creatures known as Royal Rosarians who wear straw boaters, white gloves, summer weight cream wool suits, half CAPES, and are "ambassadors to the city" 2) claims to turn into the mythical realm of ROSARIA which is then ruled over by a girl from a local high school (and has been since the late 1800's). I don't think she can enact any legislation, though. she's more of a ribbon cutter and parade waver.)

It didn't even rain! Bec, Leslie and I have been meeting up to watch the parade for the past few years (which also corresponds to how many years we've been volunteering to help decorate floats.) We meet at the Slacker End of the parade, which is the best parade plan of all time! That sleeping on the sidewalk for a good spot nonsense is for SUCKERS. If you go to the end of the parade route you can sleep in, find easier parking, and traffic is better when it's time to go because everyone else has already gone! (caveat: if you go to the Slacker End, don't go to the VERY END. If it is a hot day, all of the marching bands will be So Finished and sometimes the floats jump the curb on that last corner which causes a lot of distracting screaming.)

I have to say, my favorite thing about the parade is probably marching bands. As a new generation of band directors comes of age, I'm finding there is a lot more AC/DC and KISS than one might expect, which is kind of fun in that "is that? Yeah, I think so!" way. I also have a soft spot for the equestrian entries -- not so much the rodeo princesses but the draft horses, the dancing horses, etc. The parade has a certain timeless quality that I enjoy. People have been parading around for thousands of years, and I take a little comfort that we are doing it still. For some reason the flag corps (or whatever you call the girls in generally unfortunate uniforms who twirl flags in front of or behind the marching band) really put me in mind of medieval tournaments. It's spectacle, it's cheeseball, it's local and universal all at once. It's wonderful.

The rest of the weekend was also great for many reasons, not least of which was finding this sober, subtle and discreet fabric which I am going to turn into a skirt. The sun was shining (alas, it is raining today), there were popsicles in the freezer, good music on the stereo, a good book in my hand, I got to spend time with friends, and even got just a tiny bit of color from the sun. (I was wearing sunscreen!) All in all a thoroughly pleasant way to pass a weekend in June.