everybody loves a parade

[lizziebelle]

dolled up, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

I went up to Brattleboro, Vermont yesterday with sea_dark_wine and justjanus for the Strolling of the Heifers parade. The rain cleared up just in time, and it turned out to be a beautiful day.

But there weren't any heifers in the actual parade! There was one very stubborn gal at the beginning, but she wouldn't cooperate so she dropped out. We had to wander around the town common for a bit before we found any. This one looked very pretty in her flower garland, but she was pretty unhappy about being tied up and gawked at.

There was a really big crowd in town for the festivities. It was good to see that; the town suffered a lot of flood damage during ex-hurricane Irene a couple years ago. It's a nice town.

We had lunch at a funky restaurant, where the food was really good but took forever to arrive.

On the walk back up to the car, we wandered around a cool old cemetery, reading the interesting epitaphs and looking at the nifty carvings. There were some awesome names in the 18th & 19th centuries! A little secret of mine: I get ideas for character names from old cemeteries.

Comments

[p-m-cryan.livejournal.com]

Such a pretty cow.

I love Brattleboro, too.

[lizziebelle.livejournal.com]

It was one of the places I had considered relocating to a few years ago, when I ended up in Western Mass.

[p-m-cryan.livejournal.com]

:::nods:::

Back in 2006 my partner had a contract job in Burlington, VT, and we had hoped it would become permanent.

[perseph12.livejournal.com]

Awwww, thank you for bringing a bit of Vermont into my Sunday morning :). I always associate the Green Mountain State with lush farmland and, well, heifers like the pretty lady in your picture!

I am so glad that you had a lovely time in Brattleboro and that you decided to share it with your readers :).

[lizziebelle.livejournal.com]

I've always loved Vermont. I grew up just a few miles from the border, in NY.

[lizardqueen.livejournal.com]

Brattleboro is lovely, though that is a really scary road that leads into it from NYState. Many years ago, my friends and I drove over from either Stephentown or Williamstown, and that road terrified me. Or maybe it was the hills: they made me feel very claustrophobic. And that's Lovecraft country as well as Kipling country... Though we did pass through a lovely town called Williston or Williton or something like that? Didn't have time to stop and look around, but it was charming...

[lizziebelle.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of windy, hill roads up there. It's like riding a roller coaster sometimes!