food, crochet, merriment
Here in the state of Utah, many towns celebrate July 24th as “Pioneer Day.” We’ll be going to a huge community picnic tonight with beef stew, biscuits, corn on the cob, watermelon and peach pie. Food, I dare say, the pioneers would have loved but waited quite a while to enjoy.
Whatever your day holds–I hope it is lovely.
Happy Pioneer Day!
This year, our parade “stake-out” blankets survived a small thunderstorm AND a gigantic windstorm. We thought we’d find our stuff somewhere in Fargo, North Dakota–but no. It all miraculously stayed put. Good blankets.
Miss Chompy and I hung out, eating Twizzlers while everyone else roamed around in the booths. Twizzlers won…for a while…
then we joined the crowd and strolled around the concession booths…
where apparently, somebody was blowing bubbles.
The girlie even got to bring home a little brown frog. I know. Random. But she loved it.
I was tempted to go buy dinner at the big covered wagon, but then I had to wonder if they were serving chuck wagon type food. I ended up being too chicken to even go see because I’m pretty sure pioneer food was nasty. And hey, I’m just not that brave.
Magoo had had it before we could even decide what food to get. Don’t you wish you were a baby sometimes? Looks good to me.
Then everyone gathered for the parade…our favorite, silly little thing.
It always starts off with the police doing motorcycle tricks.
Incredibly loud tricks. 
Then the military comes with the American flag. Luckily, people still stand and put their hand over their heart. I was so glad.
These beauty queens were totally waiving at the Bald Kid like they knew him. He was baffled.
Pretty cute Rapunzel float…
and some creepy tiger guys with no faces.
Then came this fuchsia poodle. I couldn’t tell how I felt about it because I’ve been looking for non-toxic nail polish and natural mascara and here comes this poor neon colored doggy. I kinda felt sorry for her.
Magoo dancing to the band’s music. This kid’s got music in him deep down that’s coming out someday–mark my word.
Cute little fireman clown that miraculously didn’t scared the kids. He was a gentle, quiet sort of clown guy.
Of much more concern was this odd little dude. I couldn’t tell what his deal was but he just stopped right in front of us and started dancing in his…flag skirt…thingy.
And this guy made us laugh because he was just sitting on the flatbed of a pick-up truck playing his drums. Just like that. I wondered what his parade entry said…”guy sitting on a trailer playing drums.” Okey dokey.
Check out this fish man. He was cool pulling levers and strings to make the fish’s mouth and fins move.
Hey, I know those guys!
The kids favorite doggy characters throwing out candy.
Mmmmm…the Menchie’s guy makes me hungry.
And catch these guys laying in the road letting the bike riders jump over them. Take one guess at one thing I would never let somebody do. Crazy!
The last bunch were my very favorite bagpipe guys! I’m in love with everyone of them. Where is that Scottish farmer I’ve been looking for anyway?
We love the parade!!
:}
If you’d like to take the “Made in USA Challenge”– check out the button on my side bar–or if you’d rather, click here. Seems to me that this is a truly worthy cause and not really all that hard to do. This site is full of US shops and vendors so it’s essentially doing a ton of the work for you. And by spending just less than $70–more if you’d like–on American made goods we’ll be helping, in a small way to keep jobs in our country.
Feels like the right thing to do.
Our Memorial Day~
was what it has been…
since we moved to Utah 34 years ago.
In California, where I grew up, I honestly had no idea that the day existed because we were first generation Californians–
and we had no family there to honor.
But once my Mama brought us all back “home” where all her family lived…
she showed us the way that she had grown up celebrating this very special day.
My mama would get up early and cut her beloved iris and peonies and put them in buckets of water so they’d open just right.
Once we got to the cemetery she’d arrange the flowers in huge baskets and put them on her mama and daddy’s graves.
I think it made them smile.
She always had a small arrangement for her baby brother too.
My children grew up loving Memorial Day– as a day full of baskets and green grass and kisses and cousins and flags and wet feet and laughing. But it was mostly a beautiful bright summer day with Grandma and Grandpa and lots and lots of flowers. 
Now, all these years later–it still is.
And I think it makes them smile.
