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.

orange poppy, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

I went down to the parade this morning, where I was gratified to see a large crowd lining the streets. This town shows up to honor its veterans. Everyone clapped as veterans marched or rode by. Of course, the day is meant to honor and remember those who died in service, but it's nice to remember those who lived as well.

The parade seemed smaller this year. I ended up walking all the way down to its starting point; I passed its front end on the bridge, and the last fire truck was going by as I reached its back end. I was disappointed that there were no horses this year.

I found this gorgeous poppy in front of a liquor store, where they had quite a nice little garden.

I'm really not ready to go back to work tomorrow, but as I did not win Powerball, alas, I must.

tailfin, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

Well, not really heatstroke, but darn close. I went to the parade for Stanley Park's 60 anniversary, which was conveniently just up the street from me. It was better than the Memorial Day parade, with tons of classic cars, horses big & small, and surprisingly energetic youngsters. It was ninety degrees, and more muggy than yesterday, but I found a nice shady spot on the grass and plopped myself down to watch. I had tootsie rolls tossed at me, and got a pen from a woman who's running for school committee. A guy in a cart pulled by a miniature horse stopped to pose for me. I may end up on the news tonight, because the cameraman from channel 22 was right next to me.

I decided to walk down to the park to see what the celebration was like, and that was probably not the brightest idea. The classic cars were lined up on the grass, and I took lots of pictures, many of which turned out quite nicely. Then, all of a sudden, I'd overdosed on heat & sun (just like yesterday), so I bought a blessedly icy cold water and plopped down in the shade for a bit.

The walk home was the longest mile I've ever walked, I think. All I could think was, "just keep going." If I'd stopped, I don't think I would have made it. But I did, and after a big glass of orange juice, some Advil, and a cool shower, I feel much better now. Also, champagne grapes are the food of the gods.

I'm much too wiped (and lazy) to post more pictures, so you can go here to see the rest.

Man, I love tailfins!

Spilling a can of cheap beer and slurring his speech, Manigator made passes at several of the “Pretty Ladies!” who scattered from the inebriated mutant. Cameras deftly avoided the fiasco, filming only the performers who were able to continue the routine. Eventually one of the disgruntled dancers, angry at losing her face time on nation television, high kicked the lurid hybrid back to the sewer, receiving much applause from the crowd.

No injuries were reported from the incident. Manigator is wanted by police for disturbing the peace and attempted voter fraud in south Florida.