tv time

Every year there is a golfcart parade on the Saturday of Resident’s Appreciation Weekend at my dad’s park. This year the theme was Classic Sitcoms; the Mid-Atlantic Club went with The Beverly Hillbillies. As per normal they went all in, this time turning a golfcart into the iconic long car from the opening credits.

Yes, there is a golfcart under all of that. Amazing, right? 

Here is our Ellie Mae, 
Jed,
and Grannie all costumed up 
and ready to go. 

I love the hat Miss Lorraine is wearing as Grannie; she made it from a plastic bowl. 

It is those sorts of details that really make the difference. 

It is always fun to walk around the golfcarts and notice the tiny things that elevate a good idea to a great presentation. 

BTW, that stuffed pig has apparently been in the Mid-Atlantic Club longer than my dad; no one could even exactly pinpoint which year he had been made for the parade, but now he is a staple. 

Speaking of my dad, he wasn’t in the parade this year; as the president of the club he was in charge of getting lunch started since Mid-Atlantic had drawn hot dog duty this year: however, you already saw that Shirley rode as Ellie Mae. 

Dad was able to come down for a little while during set up to say hi to everyone and hang out; here he is with Klinger from MASH. 

Parade time! 

gotta have color guard, fire trucks and a drumline

love the Mickey gloves for waving

This is the first time I’ve seen Shriners at the parade.

I am sorry to say for Rea’s sake that they were indeed clowns, but I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen a real calliope being played in a parade, so I’ll look past the whole clown thing. 

The Canadian Club also did the Beverly Hillbillies, 

I love that they had a real dog marching, he joyously barked at all the spectators.

Midwest did Happy Days and the spin-off Laverne and Shirley. 
They had women dressed as carhops handing out root beer floats. 
Yum! 




The winner this year was New England with a truly impressive M*A*S*H:

The lights flashed, the helicopter blades spun, the bloody patient was hooked up to a liter of whiskey: it was amazing. As my dad said, you don’t mind losing when there is really stiff competition. I’m glad I wasn’t a judge. 
Finally, let’s see our very own Mid-Atlantic in motion: 

yes, he rode the entire parade in the outhouse

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with next year.

Ravens' parade

Unexpectedly i went to the Ravens' Super Bowl return parade in downtown Baltimore on Tuesday.
Ron texted me that he was arriving back in Baltimore from New Orleans around 7am and would come pick me up to go downtown. Traffic was terrible, but we managed to find parking in plenty of time.
The stadium was open to the public and that is where he wanted to go to see the ceremonies and speeches. I love parades and wanted to stand on the street, so we split up. There is no way to describe the sheer number of people out on the streets.

I stationed myself at the corner of Pratt and Howard streets, right where the parade turned to head toward the stadium. It was a great vantage point.

With the team on flatbeds and humvees it was easy to see everyone, though most of my pictures did not come out.

The biggest surprise for me was that the Lombardi trophy seemed to have a gold tone to it instead of the shiny silver i was expecting; that might have been a reflection of the trucks desert camo paint.

Ray Lewis was at the end of the parade with only a trolley full of kids behind him. The crowd's energy boiled over at that point and we ended up jumping the barriers and filling the street.
The cops were very cool about the whole thing, not trying to stop the giant surge of people, but watching it closely to make sure no one got hurt.

So i was carried away into the parade, chanting and singing and screaming while marching to the stadium.

Ray and his horse mounted police detail was about 100-150 ft ahead of me and the trolley was right behind me.



I mean, right behind me.

beep, beep Niki

We went past Camden Yards where the Orioles Bird was out on a ledge wearing a Ravens jersey and throwing purple confetti (i wish this pic had come out because it was hilarious).







It was thrilling to be part of this surging mass of humanity because the mood was so elated. I can see how mob-mentality could turn bad really quickly, but everyone was there to celebrate and be joyful. Yes, i couldn't have stopped if i wanted to without being trampled and there was no choice in which direction to go; you went where the crowd went. But at no point did i feel in danger. There were cops everywhere and everyone was so freaking happy.
Unfortunately the stadium was closed by the time the crowd arrived because it was already at fire capacity; all of the seats and the field were full. I hung around for a while and then walked all the way back to the car. We knew i'd be done with the festivities first so i had the keys to the truck and was able to pick Ron up as he was walking back from the stadium.
It was an amazing experience.

Getting in the Christmas mood

December has flown by in a blur of jewelry and displays, but here in the Nikiverse I was able to find time to do some traditional preparations for the holidays.
For the first time i attended the Mayor's Parade in beautiful downtown Hampden.

Well... by attend i mean that i was watching my friends' lovely antique store so that they could attend the parade. But the parade did go by the Parisian Flea so i was able to peek out whenever there weren't customers.







There were all of the necessary parade components: marching bands and drum corps from school and local clubs, dance troops dressed like santas,  drum and fife recreationists, and unbelievable pom outfits.

 I was surprised that there were actually big helium characters, like a sweet reindeer and the Raven.


It was hilarious to watch the handlers try to get them past the street banners.

As with any local parade there were businesses advertising with forced child labor: this construction business had an organ hooked up so that a little girl could play Christmas tunes.

Also there were groups of kids riding in the parade, waving and shouting and throwing candy, but somehow there is always that one kid who manages to be fast asleep in the middle of the mayhem.

There was a horde and a half of Shriners riding all types of various ridiculous vehicles, horses, a Harley club, antique cars and crazy pimped out hydraulic cars, but i was too busy selling jewelry to get pics.
I was barely able to catch a tail-end photo of the ginormous tree float that David (one of the Flea owners) had worked on with the local business owners - they were driving realllllllly fast, but David was able to jump in quick for a photo op.

For some real local flavor there were the winners of the annual toilet races (really) and the Oriole Bird, who got the biggest reaction of anything in the whole parade.

fTM Karen, Cricket and Nancy had me over for our tree trimming party. It is fun every year to see the ornaments again (except that one hideous glass Santa head that creeps me out, but Cricket loves so i have to put it somewhere that he can see it) and find new ways to place them on the tree. Cricket does tree construction and lights, Nancy is in charge of hooks while Karen and I make a bitchin' decorating team. We have the same homogeny/balance sensibility so we can work in tandem to get the job done right. There are no pics of the tree, however, cause i was kidnapped and whisked away to movie quote trivia with my old team. It was a super fun blast from the past and yes, we did win.
As i eluded to in a previous haiku i also made wreaths for the first time this year. My friend Sheri and I were meeting for lunch; she called right beforehand and asked if i knew how to wire wreaths as she was picking up a few greens.
Imagine my surprise when i found the entire backseat of her SUV filled with branches. I figured i'd spend some time helping her out since i knew the theory of wreath-wiring and she had no clue; seven hours later i was finally going home. Here is a quick and dirty tutorial for guerrilla wreath making.
Get some evergreen trimmings from local tree sellers, neighbors and your backyard. Have a friend carry them to your workroom (dining room), taking pictures of her along the way making it look like she is being attacked by foliage.

Sort out the branches by types (we have pine, spruce, cypress, holly and some wiggly stuff that i have never seen before and have no idea where Sheri found it) and lay out clippers, pliers, nippers and wire.

Decide on a shape - Sheri wanted a long swap for over her front door - and take long pieces of a sturdy wood to wire together as a backbone to your piece.

Be sure to check the size and shape for your chosen location.

Try not to laugh too hard as your friend tries to reach the base waaaaaay over her head.

Once you are happy with the base, wire together accent branches of various types, work them into the base and wire 'em in place

Now for the finishing touches: wrap the exposed wiring with ribbon, add a bow, wire in ornament clusters and hang that puppy up.

Sheri also had a square wire frame so i did a wreath for her by wiring layers and layers of branches directly to it, adding a simple bow and attaching it to an old window frame.

She insisted that i needed to make something for myself, but i was pretty tired by this point so i did a quick door swag of flat cypress, wired in some holly, added a plaid bow and a pretty gold bell.
Voila!

All that was left was to clean up the glittery, foresty devastation that was Sheri's dining room table.

Real wreaths smell so good and though it felt like it took forever to make them, I will probably do it again in the future.
I wasn't able to make it to AVAM's Sock Monkey Saturday this year, so i invited my upstairs neighbors down to make some at home. Anaya went with the traditional monkey shape in purple argyle to make Bob, but added a jaunty scarf and bracelet for the holidays.

Naomi decided to do a bear instead of a monkey, using striped holiday socks to create Candycane who is totally decked out from his starry eyes to his custom fur hat and boots.



Anaya and Bob

Naomi and Candycane

Some former co-workers and I tried to volunteer with toy distribution at the Salvation Army, but had the hours wrong so we ate stir-fry and did holiday baking instead.
Viva maple cupcakes with bacon, peppermint bark and the best candied almonds ever!
The last thing i did to really get ready for the holidays was drive to Ohio in a snowstorm - best idea ever!

It took 12 hours to go 440 miles, but i made it.
Mom and i have been busily decorating our new-to-us tree (my sister got a bigger tree this year so she gave us her old one- it is beautiful), finishing wrapping presents and preparing to host Christmas dinner for 10.

 

Hope you are all having a wonderful time surrounded by friends, family and love.