The Totally! Epic! Alameda Fourth of July Parade!

Yesterday, I went to Alameda, my home town, to partake in the annual tradition: a completely homegrown and yet over-the-top Fourth of July Parade. People line the streets from Park Street, the main mercantile area, down Otis Drive, making a sharp right onto Grand Avenue and then jogging down Encinal to Central Avenue, and on to Webster Street.

Which doesn't mean anything to you if you're not from Alameda. But the thing about Alameda is that the first question an Alamedan asks you if you live in Alameda is "What street do you live on?" That question contains multitudes -- including whether you live along the parade route or not. And if you live anywhere along the route, you should plan to be hosting a big get-together. For a number of years, I went to the annual Foote family pig roast, all part of the 4th of July festivities.

I went with my parents who still live in town (on Bay Farm, since you ask) and we snagged some good and relatively shady spots on Otis Drive, right across from the park. We got there plenty early and entertained ourselves in a thoroughly disreputable manner.

Sudoku! and a book! Tch.

There's a 5K race for charity along the route before the parade starts, although "race" is a relative term. The last of the racers kind of ambled along, passing the place where my parents and I were sitting mere minutes before the first color guard and Army Pipe and Drum band kicked things off.

Oh, but I should mention the tract!

Between the racers and the parade, a man came by and handed us a tract with the words, "Don't litter." And here's what it looked like:

If you must...

Would you be astonished to learn that the question he wished to ask -- well, actually, that the tract wished to ask as the man who had told us not to litter had already gone on to tell other people not to litter -- is "Has anyone ever taken a Bible and shown you how you can know for sure that you are going to heaven?"

Uh boy.

I noticed that there was not one mention of love throughout this tract. Not once. Lots about what miserable sinners we all are and how grateful we should be that Jesus died for us, being such miserable sinners and all. But no love at all. What an appalling waste. I may not have littered, but it was still trash. (Though it gets 5 stars on ChristianBook.com, in case you're interested in getting some for yourself.)

Anyway, I got all worked up about that, so it's a good thing the parade came along.

The wonderful thing about the Alameda parade is that it is a fabulous mix of homegrown talent, commercial enterprise, and civic responsibility. You start with the mayor and the council members and the U.S. Congressperson, and the local utilities, and the local hospital, and...you get the idea. They all ride in the backs of fancy convertible cars, waving and saying, "Happy 4th of July!" as people mostly stare at them, which must be tiring.

But then you get things like the local school bands. I was mighty pleased to see my middle school Alma Mater, the Lincoln Lions, marching and playing very well, if you ask me.

They came in 1st in the "Bands, Marching" category. That's as opposed to "School Band -Transported."
Because some of them travel the parade route on a flatbed. Lincoln, though, is HARD-CORE! Go Lions!

But it must be noted that after a while the parade become a bit of a walking (or floating) infomercial for pretty much every business in Alameda. I highly approve of Ole's Waffle Shop, who really did make an effort with their float:

I took this too late for you to see clearly the folks sitting at the coffee shop counter on the flatbed.

But I thought the company who included "Ask us about our special promotional offer!" on their sign might have been a bit tasteless. And I'm not sure the local tow truck company needed to have four trucks in the parade. Unless they were planning to work as well.

It's a great opportunity for the local community organizations, too. As the floats go by, people hand out flyers and information (and toss candy). I don't know how much interest they get from being in the parade, but it sure can't hurt.

I didn't take this photo. It gives you a good picture of Park Street!

After a while, all the floats just float on by together and you take the opportunity to say hello to friends you haven't seen for a while, catch up on what's happening, find out who's been reading your blog (hi, Mark!), promise to take a mimosa since people keep insisting, and generally enjoy the vibe.

And then, after the tow trucks have gone by and you realize you have had your fill of Alameda's civic life, you wander on back to your car and head on home, wondering how many participants there are going to be next year. And will it top the 176 groups and bands and businesses and civic leaders that participated this year.

I guess someday I'll tire of it, but it has a lot of charm. I'm glad to celebrate the 4th in this way. I hope you had a grand celebration as well.

Garden update, June 2013

I meant to get to the update this weekend but, well, I just didn't. But since I have a couple of free minutes now, I have a little blooming action to share.

Let's start with Wolverine the hydrangeas.

I'd find them terrifying if they weren't so spectacular. They are seemingly impervious to pruning.

Also in the front yard, I finally got the tomatoes planted.

There's a few beans in there, but they're not sprouting like I'd want, possibly due to the shade of the boysenberry vines behind them.

Also in the front yard, the roses are still going strong.

As are the sweet peas...

...which are mixed in with some rather fluffy-headed sunflowers, not your usual giants.

And the dahlias are starting to make their dramatic appearance, both in the front yard:

And especially in the back:

This one is known as "Kapow."

That bed is coming along nicely, with zinnias about ready to pop, and this lovely thing, which is called Minoan Lace.

I wish I could say the same for the side beds, which are just a sad mess this year. I really haven't done anything with them.

Over on the other bed, the gardenias and the marmalade bush seem to be...Harper! Get out of there!

So things are slow this year. But even so, the flowers we have allow for things like this:

Which make me quite happy.

Review: Aunt Dimity's Death

I had a lovely Memorial Day weekend, and in part I have Aunt Dimity to thank for it. Actually, I have Nancy Atherton to thank for it because the first book in this series, Aunt Dimity's Death, was completely delightful.

There's a gentle mystery, and charming and eccentric characters, and a cottage with a beautiful garden, and a protagonist I root for, and a romance I could not wait to see happen, and it's all extremely well-written, but that's not what made this book delightful for me. 

There were two things: the first was the psychological authenticity of these people. Even though there was a great deal of sweetness, it was sweetness with a realistic amount of sorrow behind it. There is no brutal violence to give this book an edge, but there is an edge that keeps this from getting woolly: the edge that comes simply of being worn down with grief. Everybody in this book understood grief. And the grief had a ring of truth to it.

And the second thing that made this delightful was this: the resolution of the grief and sorrow did not come from vengeance or heroism, but from the patient and steady application of kindness over long periods of time. And that too struck me as authentic and true. Such a simple remedy. And so very hard to do.

Aunt Dimity's Death will not be what everyone is looking for in a mystery. But for me, for a quiet Memorial Day weekend, it was about as perfect as a book could get.

You leave town for a week...

...and look what happens.

Various & Sundry, mostly in England, ending in China

Well, let's see what we've got here as I shuffle through the ol' V&S pile today.  Hmmm...

Let's start with some hats. It was Royal Ascot this week and the fabulous hats were on full display. So hard to pick a favorite, but I'm going to have to go with this one.

Then again, in keeping with Toepfer family tradition, perhaps I should go with this one:

Oh, FIE on tradition, I say! I'm going with the classy summery number, if I can get my hands on it.

While we're in England, "An organization and methods engineer submitted this report after visiting the Royal Festival Hall:

There seems to be too much repetition of some musical passages. Scores should be drastically pruned. No useful purpose is served by repeating on the horns a passage which has already been handled by the strings. It is estimated that if all redundant passages were eliminated, the whole concert time of two hours could be reduced to twenty minutes, and there would be no need for an interval.

More practical suggestions here.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Olympic Committee, preparing itself for the London games, is still trying to dig itself out of the hole it found itself in after picking on some social media-savvy knitters.  Here's the story:

Ravelry, a social network of knitting enthusiasts, planned to hold its “Ravelympics” this summer—with competitions such as an “afghan marathon”—to coincide with the London games.

The USOC noticed and sent the group a cease and desist letter, because the term “Olympics” and anything resembling are protected by a copyright...

The knitters didn’t appreciate the tone of the letter, so these savvy social networkers took to Twitter, Facebook, and their blogs in protest....

[One] asked: “You tell all recipients of your standard cease and desist letter that what they're doing is denigrating and disrespectful to Olympic athletes?”

And another said: “First we're denigrating, now we're stupid. We are supposed to believe a C&D form letter includes that kind of language?”

Lesson 1: don't annoy people who carry pointed sticks with them wherever they go.

Lesson 2: Consider throwing an apology party. You can do this now with this official Apology Party Kit. It includes an "I'm so so sorry" mini banner, wine bottle label, two coasters and apology card with envelope. To be honest, the apology card needs some serious work, but it's a nice idea.

Come to think of it, maybe the USOC did use the apology kit!

In more serious news, I thought this article from Relevant Magazine offers an important challenge to many of us who want to do good. As the author says, "People who are genuinely nice people can cause really bad things to happen if they get lost in a pursuit of greatness." She shows us how and why that is.

In obituary news, the one that touched me the most was the obituary for Otis Clark, who "survived Tulsa’s race riots to become butler to Joan Crawford; in later life became the world’s oldest travelling evangelist." I didn't know anything about the Tulsa race riots of 1921 until reading Rev. Clark's obituaries. Bad, bad stuff. My goodness, Rev. Clark saw a lot in his life.

The picture here is of him at the age of 103, the year when he went on a mission trip to Africa. "He liked to boast that he needed no medications and had kept all his teeth bar one ('the dentist tricked me out of it'). His longevity he attributed to 'holding on to the Big Boss upstairs'." Well, all right for you.

Let's end with a classic, the Wizard of Oz...in China. Isn't it beautiful? (h/t Anibundel)

There's also a Cowardly Tiger!

Garden update, May 2012

"Defend the perimeter" has become the watchword for the garden this year.

Double-fencing around the (replacement) Coreopsis after the first one tragically vanished.

A temporary cover for the carrots before a more permanent , sturdy defense is devised.

The spinach and lettuces are flanked by potted orange trees.  Predator in background.

A new bed along the side fence is completely enclosed by chicken wire.

As are the raised beds in front. The tomatoes are grateful.

And here is what happens when there is inadequate protection. 

 This plant lasted about two hours.

The canines cannot account for their whereabouts at the time of the incident.

The Infusion is 5!

The Infusion is five years old today. Can you believe it? I sure can't.

As I tried to figure out how to mark this milestone, I've gone back and read through almost everything I wrote over those years. First of all, there's a lot! Over 1400 posts, if you can believe it, over 280 posts a year--not counting the posts I wrote from Uganda. Astonishing.

Second of all, it's not bad, in my opinion. There's not a whole lot of stuff that I read and cringe, which is a relief (though this post does make me wince a little). In fact, there's quite a bit I think, "Hey, that's pretty good!" I'd be willing to post them again...if that would interest you.

 In fact, I'd like your opinions about a couple of things. If you would take a moment to take the survey below, I'd be mighty grateful. That means you, too, lurker types. I know you're out there; I've seen the stats. What would you like to see on The Infusion in the future? And do feel free to offer further feedback or suggestions in the comments.

My thanks to any and all of you who take the trouble to stop by and read what I write.  I'm mighty grateful.  This is fun to do, but it would seem mighty futile if I didn't know that you were out there. I hope The Infusion is a worthwhile and hospitable waypost as you gad about on the internet. Thank you for your input. (The survey will be open for 1 week, unless weird stuff happens.)

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

You can also click here to take the survey. Thank you!

Happy Halloween!

Is this not the Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch you have ever seen? We managed to get 5 pumpkins this year. Four of them were mostly orange.

In case you're counting, I had already picked one (hence, ouch).

And did you know that those stems are prickery? I actually used sandpaper on them so I could pick them up--after experiencing some serious ouch.

 Also, before it's no longer pertinent, I wanted to pass along this recipe for Carrot-Ginger Quinoa Pepper Jacks which sound really good, though I doubt I'll be able to get them so picture-perfect. Just the thing with leftover Snickers.

Braaaains!

Happy Halloween!

Garden update, July 2

It's a beautiful day and I should be out in it, but I wanted to fill you in on new developments in the garden.

We'll start in the front yard with the sad failure of the hollyhocks.

It's like the Boulevard of Broken Dreams in plant form. The one I'd been holding up with stakes and string finally collapsed and I had to pull it out. Soooo depressing. I have one proud hollyhock, which planted itself between the boysenberries and the beans:

I take comfort in that.

The green beans are going great guns! I had some earlier this week, just go out and pick a handful and steam 'em up.

They're really good.

I keep trimming the tomatoes but they still look mighty jungly. Andy is back there looking for an opportunity to steal some green beans.

"Don't mind me; I'm just being photogenic."

The cuphea I started way back when is blooming and I think is a mighty interesting plant. Harper thinks so too. And since Harper likes to pull up plants and bring them to you, I'm a little worried about the fate of the cuphea.

"Oooh! What's this?"

I've managed to keep most of the dahlias from being trampled to death by dogs of all sizes and they are starting to bloom. Pretty dramatic.

The ursinia and alonsoa have also survived ravaging puppies and are coming along. I love the colors, though you can't see them very well in this photo.

On the other side, the hydrangeas are still clamoring to get in the house while the gardenias are more ladylike about it, insinuating themselves by scent.

"Let us in!"

The "view" from my office window.

"We will seduce you with our heady perfume."

Last for the front yard, the sunflowers and sweet peas do make a very nice combination.

In the back, I've planted some pumpkin seeds. I think having pumpkins would be great fun! We'll see what happens.

Remember last month with the empty back beds? Well, I've made progress:

Now things just need to grow up and fill in.

Rudbeckia, alstroemeria, dahlia

Flycatcher, coreopsis

The corn will allllllmost be knee-high by the fourth of July. I also planted the other half with corn and the front row with peas last week, but no sprouts yet.

We did have carrots. Until Harper got to them.

I got to eat one of them.

On the other hand, the radishes are insane! And those huge lettuces behind them? That is the heirloom iceberg lettuce. It ain't no bowling ball head o' lettuce, that's for sure.

I'm always looking at the details, but what's great about doing this monthly check-in is that I take a look at the garden as a whole. And I have to say, it looks pretty good.

Off to enjoy the outdoors.  I hope your garden is blooming, wherever you are.