Trying again

After Saturday night's blogging disaster, here's another try. I had been looking at Wordpress this morning, but it will require a bit of a paradigm shift, so while I haven't ruled it out, I'm postponing the switch process until I have more time.

What a jam-packed weekend it was!

Solstice Parade
We had a great time in Fremont on Saturday morning for the Solstice Parade. Otis and I scootered down early (with folding chairs bungeed on!) to claim a space. Dingo and New York Alex joined us shortly thereafter (with even more chairs!) and we claimed a good spot on the sidewalk. Invisible Adam and Even-More-Invisible Karen were on hand, and we were joined shortly before parade time by O-laya, O-Cher, and O-Sara. Johnbai couldn't make it because he had to answer the call of his softball gods, but he did send his camera along so I could take pictures even though I forgot mine.


Otis looking birdly


The Invisibles


Dingo and NYA looking raffish in shades


The O Squad

As for the parade itself: the weather started out a little gloomy, but then turned parade-perfect as the day went on. I was a little disappointed in the naked bike contingent there was no great mass of whooshing cycles, more like a lot of drips and drabs. Still, we saw lots of folks with lots of colorful body paint, and the bikers were joined by a lot of walkers, too.



The parade had all the usual elements: there were about three or four Bush-bashing pieces of political theatre, including the Wheel of Abuse; the hemp guys were on hand, as were the Green Men; and there was lots of randomness. Here are some faves:


A lady wearing a giant penis (and guy, barely seen to the left, in a set of giant boobs), were chased around by a minister-type trying to cover them with a churchly American flag.

This was some sort of (fertility?) goddess figure that was pulled down the street on top of a big pyramid-like structure. If that wasn't cool enough, every once in a while the structure would disgorge a bunch of giant babies, who were then chased down by a mohel with an oversized knife.


The belly-dance brigade was huge this year - there must have been over 100 synchronized dancers.


This was a big bird-thing that Otis liked.


Toward the end of the parade, there were some sufis. They had been whirling - it was very pretty - but stopped before I could get a shot.

Post-parade
We decamped quickly and got the heck outta Dodge - no one stayed around for the fair or the pageant. Otis and I headed home and got in a 13-mile ride in the afternoon sun, so I stayed on my B2K pace and brought the streak to seven days in a row. We had planned to do an evening thing, but JJ took sick, and Soapy got stuck doing the help-move thing, Mighty Mel had to drive to Olympia, and Dingo was tired anyway, so we just bagged it. And then Blogger sucked hard.

Father's Day
We planned to have breakfast with Otis's folks; unfortunately, they were up at the cabin in Chinook Pass. So, we got up at 5:00 am and left the RD at 6:00 and were in Cliffdell, WA at Whistlin' Jack's lodge by about 8:10. We had a swell brekkies and then returned to the cabin for a little walk and a lot of relaxing in the sun by the river.

Post Father's Day
We were heading home and had made Enumclaw by about 4:00 pm when Johnbai called with a need for sedentary socializing after his four-game, six-hour softball stint. A few hasty phone calls later, I had forsaken my daily bike ride (breaking the streak!) and we were heading to pick up Johnbai and Dingo at the Satellite. The fully-loaded Great Red Rental then sped toward the wild reaches of Woodinville, where we met Mighty Mel for some tasty Thai food. (Johnbai ate anything and everything that anyone had left on their plate.)

After dinner, we drove the walking distance to the Woodinville Cineplex (this was the 'burbs, after all) and caught Nacho Libre. Johnbai was roaring with laughter during the whole movie, at one point even causing the whole auditorium to laugh along with him. Dingo, on the other hand, was stone-faced and silent; she said it was likely the worst movie she had seen in years. The rest of us fell somewhere along the spectrum between the two. I'll just say that I laughed a few times, but it was no Napoleon Dynamite.

Before calling it a night, we made a quick stop at Mel's apartment to (a) check out the pool situation, since many voices have been clamoring for a pool party at Mel's complex since we found she had a pool; (b) check out the furniture and stuff that she drove 5,000 miles to get; and (c) check out the pool situation.

I even gave Johnbai his camera back!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go bike 27 miles to make up for skipping yesterday.

(BTW, Blogger crashed or lost the connection four times while I was doing this post. Clock time is now actually 9:18 am as I cross my fingers and press "publish.")