Best Parade

Last year, I wrote about the annual "Our Village Days" parade and included, amongst others, a photo of my favorite entry, the speckled ox. That ox didn't make it this year, and the parade was smaller, but it was the best village parade, because the SugarPlum went with us.

Here she is, waiting for the parade to begin:

(clickables)

She got a little tired of waiting, so she busied herself with further disassembling a pen some car had crunched:


Positioned near the end of the 3-block parade route, we could see it coming, and the Plum got a little anxious. Time for a Nana-squeeze:




She was on the ground again, when the first entry passed: Veterans of Foreign Wars, men who honorably served our nation. We clapped -- all five of us ... loudly ... and alone. We weren't in an ocean of onlookers, because our village just isn't that large. But we were in a pond of people, and we were clapping, and the rest of the crowd was silent. Pregnantly silent. How odd.





There were only two marching bands this year.


One seemed a little bit loud for munchkin ears.


There was no shortage of tossed candy to be gathered.



Very few of these next ones even made it into the bag. I suppose we now know what SugarPlum's favorite sugarplum is.


Who did this child's hair? Me thinks I've read too many Dr. Seuss books.

My friends, this is toilet tissue, and while it appears she's offering it to the horse, she is not. No horse presented need of tissue, and she had other plans for it.


Toilet tissue was a first. Being pelted with candy is a time-honored tradition all over the land, makes pretty good sense to me, and you've seen I came prepared with a Ziploc bag for storage. But what's up with the tossed rolls of toilet tissue? Is this about the precariously and artificially propped-up economy and some parade entrant's desire to see to it that everyone has what they really need? I have to admit, it was sort of fun to see streams of toilet tissue fluttering through the air on this slightly breezy day. And SugarPlum thought the tissue a prize ... to bestow on Nana. I lost count of the number of tissue lengths she chased across the ground and delivered to me with a pleased, "Here, Nana!" Umm, thanks? You can be sure I wasn't offered a Tootsie Roll. And the minute she turned her back, I'd stick my hand behind my own and release each prize to the breeze ... for some other parade viewer's use. I bought a 24-pack just last week.

It was the best parade.


Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. ~Psalm 89:15