Honora's Excellent Fremont Adventure
Dateline June 18, 2005: I have had the nicest weekend, much of which took place in the Center of the Universe (aka Fremont, to Seattlites).
It began with drinks in Fremont on Friday evening . . . a lovely group of gals (yeah, you know who you are) at Nectar on 36th. Setting aside the hassle of parking in Fremont the night before the Solstice parade, there was a certain "pre-show" buzz in the air. The staff at Nectar putting up signs for the next day's festivities, vendors arriving, booths going up - it had that vibe of anticipation . . .
Winding up around 8:30 or so, it only made sense to continue on to karaoke beginning at 9:00 (well, okay -others don't seem to perceive this as inescapable logic like Karol and I do). But Ann came along anyhow (and was a good sport audience member).
The next day, the fun dialed up quite a few notches. Ann, Sabra and I met at 10:00 am to meander thru the Fremont Fair booths before the thundering hordes arrived - good plan, as it turned out. At the last minute, Jesse decided to join us. We all found parking with relative ease and, armed with water bottles, joined forces at the old Redhook Brewery and began shopping. Ann said she'd suck me into her vortex of shopping and . . . well, we all know how determined she is. :) But first she and Sabra bought great shirts with a chick saying "I am not a nugget!" Funny - different colors. I suppose it's anticlimactic to mention they are both vegetarians.
After much meandering, we stopped by Ann's office for a bathroom break. Then we explored the Art Cars - my personal favorite was the Sashimi Tabernacle Choir car. For the record, it took over 200 Billy Basses to set that sucker up (later in the day, I discovered one of my co-workers helped build it). And after doing the Hallelujah Chorus followed by Rawhide, those little crustaceans and fishes grabbed my heart forever by doing the theme to Mighty Mouse (y'know, the one AndyKaufman did all those years ago on Saturday Night Live?). The goth exterior car (including working fountain) had a live clown in traditional makeup in the front seat - the incongruity was disturbing. The High-Heel Shoe car was pretty cool, too.
I purchased some lovely green wool (next knitting group, anyone? Ann said she'd do it for me, but also offered to mentor me thru if I want to do it myself .. . 'course, I still haven't finished my hat . . . ) and a very lovely ear cuff (whose design nicely complements my existing Star of David stud in that ear). We headed up toward the main drag as parade time was growing near. My friends Ruth and Brian live in the new apt bldg. that everyone hates (the one with the funky metal sculptures on it). They were throwing a Solstice party so we stopped there for a drink and another bathroom break, then headed back up the stairs next to Blue C Sushi (Brian's place is a live/work loft midway down the stairs) to watch the parade.
It was an hour and one-half of wackiness but here are the two highlight moments of the day:
We got henna tattoos. We listened to some music (mmmm, the blues and a shirtless handsome keyboardist. . . ). We saw some teenage kids we think were doing a minor drug deal. Note to kid - when wearing a huge, bright green cardboard marijuana leaf hanging from your neck, avoid standing in the shadows of buildings surreptiously digging in your pockets (although I AM happy you made friends at the NORML booth).
At 4:00, we wandered back to Brian's to say a quick goodbye. About two hours later, Sabra said her farewells. By then, four young'uns (early 20's) had joined us . . . nobody knew them, but that was okay. They certainly added to the joviality . . . and Jesse's interest level. So for the next hour, I nudged but she really didn't want to leave until the cute guys did. So . . . we finally said farewell around 7:30.
Sunday afternoon, my women's writing group suffered from summer weekend / Father's Day malaise. So May and I met and did a writing exercise about taking memories and making them into characters. We each thought about people we'd known between six and twelve, and wrote about that one person who could push your buttons - who had some kinda power over you. It was a really good exercise.
I went down to St. Martin's shelter on the waterfront Sunday night and served with the Friends of Francoise monthly 3rd Sunday dinner. I've served on holidays in city parks and I've *cooked* for 3rd Sundays at St.Mark's, but this was the first time I served *at* the shelter. Seeing the rows and rows of narrow mattresses on the floor (they paint rectangles on the floor so it's easy to lay out everything) and the signs with all the rules associated with group sleeping arrangements . . . it's quite a leveler.
Makes me all the more grateful for nice weekends. I have a mild sunburn and a pretty overt henna tattoo running across the back of my entire left hand and slightly up my arm, my daughter has thanked me something like six times for such a great weekend, and I feel pleasantly refreshed despite being so busy.
It began with drinks in Fremont on Friday evening . . . a lovely group of gals (yeah, you know who you are) at Nectar on 36th. Setting aside the hassle of parking in Fremont the night before the Solstice parade, there was a certain "pre-show" buzz in the air. The staff at Nectar putting up signs for the next day's festivities, vendors arriving, booths going up - it had that vibe of anticipation . . .
Winding up around 8:30 or so, it only made sense to continue on to karaoke beginning at 9:00 (well, okay -others don't seem to perceive this as inescapable logic like Karol and I do). But Ann came along anyhow (and was a good sport audience member).
The next day, the fun dialed up quite a few notches. Ann, Sabra and I met at 10:00 am to meander thru the Fremont Fair booths before the thundering hordes arrived - good plan, as it turned out. At the last minute, Jesse decided to join us. We all found parking with relative ease and, armed with water bottles, joined forces at the old Redhook Brewery and began shopping. Ann said she'd suck me into her vortex of shopping and . . . well, we all know how determined she is. :) But first she and Sabra bought great shirts with a chick saying "I am not a nugget!" Funny - different colors. I suppose it's anticlimactic to mention they are both vegetarians.
After much meandering, we stopped by Ann's office for a bathroom break. Then we explored the Art Cars - my personal favorite was the Sashimi Tabernacle Choir car. For the record, it took over 200 Billy Basses to set that sucker up (later in the day, I discovered one of my co-workers helped build it). And after doing the Hallelujah Chorus followed by Rawhide, those little crustaceans and fishes grabbed my heart forever by doing the theme to Mighty Mouse (y'know, the one AndyKaufman did all those years ago on Saturday Night Live?). The goth exterior car (including working fountain) had a live clown in traditional makeup in the front seat - the incongruity was disturbing. The High-Heel Shoe car was pretty cool, too.
I purchased some lovely green wool (next knitting group, anyone? Ann said she'd do it for me, but also offered to mentor me thru if I want to do it myself .. . 'course, I still haven't finished my hat . . . ) and a very lovely ear cuff (whose design nicely complements my existing Star of David stud in that ear). We headed up toward the main drag as parade time was growing near. My friends Ruth and Brian live in the new apt bldg. that everyone hates (the one with the funky metal sculptures on it). They were throwing a Solstice party so we stopped there for a drink and another bathroom break, then headed back up the stairs next to Blue C Sushi (Brian's place is a live/work loft midway down the stairs) to watch the parade.
It was an hour and one-half of wackiness but here are the two highlight moments of the day:
- Parade Heckler guy - This tall, fashionably dressed man stood behind me at the curb (I was sitting on the street) and kept yelling at the parade participants ("hey! hey! What number are you?!?" while waving the parade guide; or worse, "stop!! stop!!" for no reason) but most of all, he kept yelling at any NON-participant just walking by on the street ('cause they couldn't walk down sidewalks), "Hey, you! Are you in the parade? Then you should be NEKKID!" or "Are you in the parade? Take your clothes off!" He was so obnoxious but with a wonderful deep, rich voice and I found it slightly fascinating - like Improv by Beckett . . . repetitious with lots of people waiting and murmuring crankily. Eventually, the crowd was revolting (ba-dum-bah!). No, seriously - the bride&groom contingent marched by and pulled a woman out of the crowd. Then a couple of them stood in front of us and everyone in the vicinity started yelling and pointing, "Him! Him! Take him!! And don't bring him back!!!" And THAT message had to happen twice (later with the Q-13 cameraman) before he settled down even slightly. Interestingly, when given a microphrone by the Q-13 dude, he totally wussed out and hid.
- Purple Naked Tall Bike guy - There were many penises flapping in the breeze (note to non-Seattlites - the Fremont parade is famous for the naked bicyclists) but one took honors for the day. The guy was riding an old-fashioned tall bike and . . . my. My, my, my. Anyhoo, amused and impressed looks had been traded each time the guy went by (the naked bicyclists make a LOT of laps of the route). Later, Parade Heckler yelled "Stop" yet again and Purple Naked Tall Bike guy came over, jumped off his tall bike, cocked his hip (so to speak) and said, "What, already!?!" It was very amusing. He has been designated Phallusaurus by the partygoers at Brian's.
We got henna tattoos. We listened to some music (mmmm, the blues and a shirtless handsome keyboardist. . . ). We saw some teenage kids we think were doing a minor drug deal. Note to kid - when wearing a huge, bright green cardboard marijuana leaf hanging from your neck, avoid standing in the shadows of buildings surreptiously digging in your pockets (although I AM happy you made friends at the NORML booth).
At 4:00, we wandered back to Brian's to say a quick goodbye. About two hours later
Sunday afternoon, my women's writing group suffered from summer weekend / Father's Day malaise. So May and I met and did a writing exercise about taking memories and making them into characters. We each thought about people we'd known between six and twelve, and wrote about that one person who could push your buttons - who had some kinda power over you. It was a really good exercise.
I went down to St. Martin's shelter on the waterfront Sunday night and served with the Friends of Francoise monthly 3rd Sunday dinner. I've served on holidays in city parks and I've *cooked* for 3rd Sundays at St.Mark's, but this was the first time I served *at* the shelter. Seeing the rows and rows of narrow mattresses on the floor (they paint rectangles on the floor so it's easy to lay out everything) and the signs with all the rules associated with group sleeping arrangements . . . it's quite a leveler.
Makes me all the more grateful for nice weekends. I have a mild sunburn and a pretty overt henna tattoo running across the back of my entire left hand and slightly up my arm, my daughter has thanked me something like six times for such a great weekend, and I feel pleasantly refreshed despite being so busy.
posted by honora | 8:06 PM
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