For some reason, I thought the big Somerville Memorial Day parade was going to be on Monday. Was kind of shocked when, up in my room reading, I heard actual bagpipes after the sirens. Grabbed my camera & a couple of batteries to see what I could see:
What a profile.
Anchors Aweigh!
Okay, the Shriners rock. If I'm not too tired, will have a whole post on these folks. Love them.
Rock on, Shriners, with your figure-eights and all.
What's a parade without pipers? Two groups (that I heard/saw) this parade.
Boston's Best brought up the rear. There were representatives from Somerville, Medford, Arlington, Cambridge, Boston and Brookline. Made me think about this person. Don't know if he goes to parades, but hope he realizes that there's an awful lot of people who think good thoughts for him and his colleagues.
Happy (and Holy) Memorial Day to everyone out there. This is an important holiday in an awful lot of places in the world. Please keep that in mind. And if you don't know why, please read or listen a bit outside your normal scope.
(More pictures here.)
2 comments:
Thanks for the awesome parade pictures. My dad was a member of the Aleppo Temple Shrine so I really enjoyed seeing them. On the Cape the Shriners are much more subdued. I loved the Aleppo Temple Beanpot - what the heck was that about? Shriners love their charitable work and obviously can't resist parades can they? Dad marched every Memorial Day but usually with his VFW unit.
Glad you liked the pictures! I remember Shriners in Buffalo and in Philadelphia (New Year parade) as being a bit more wild than here, but those are childhood memories. The Frenchie has a hard time wrapping his mind around the notion that we have such large, largely secular benevolent groups that do things like open hospitals, take care of the blind, and then dress as clowns. Needed to get the motorcycle pictures up so he could see these guys in action.
Ran into a couple neighbors from the old 'hood - mentioned how weird it felt to see a parade and not actually take part in it or even know someone taking part. (My dad used to march w/his VFW group. The neighbor from the old across the street used to do the same.)
Wasn't the beanpot great? In my flickr set - there's a trolley carrying a fire hydrant and a giant dog in a trailer behind it. A ragtime band was playing within. I think it was the trumpet player who was hollering to me - took a while for me to understand that he was yelling that he loved me! I blew him a kiss, he caught it, thanked me and continued playing. :-)
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