Hard to sleep last night. I really want to be here, but I'm miserably lonesome as well: I miss James and Pidgie and Willow something terrible. It's hard to be the cheerful cheerleader in those circumstances.

I had completely forgotten about an annual event (and I didn't think, afterward, that it was done on Sunday) until I heard drums rolling and looked out the front door to wonder why there were numerous cars parked outside. I said to my mom, "I hear drumrolls; are they doing something at the stadium? It sounds like a parade." (On clear summer nights you can hear baseball games all the way from the stadium half a mile away.) She looked at me funny. "It is the parade; it starts over at the school, remember?"

Well, we haven't ever been back for a visit around Memorial Day and I had forgotten: there's always a Memorial Day Parade here in Cranston, and it starts in the back of Hugh B. Bain Middle School, one block down and across the street (my old junior high). It marches down the short remainder of Gansett Avenue, turns left on Park Avenue, and continues until it gets to City Hall, which is next door to my other alma mater, Cranston High School East.

I said hurry, we can go see it, but she was still getting dressed slowly, so she told me she would stay put and I should go if I wanted to. So I went down to the corner of Gansett and Trainor and watched the parade kick off: your lovely almost small-town type patriotic parade, with the color guard leading and then the fire engines and the police cars, and then the rest: various ethnic clubs (Greek, Bolivian—these had beautiful crimson outfits with silver trimmings, another Spanish group with beautiful filmy multicolor clothing, Portuguese, and the St. Mary's Feast Society representing the Italians), a couple of dance studios, some Rhode Island guy who is a finalist on The Contender, a recycling truck, a fire truck from Pascoag, a North Tiverton band, the band and the majorettes from Bain, the Cranston High School East (yay alma mater) group, two count 'em—Elmos from Sesame Street and a Winnie the Pooh, parade clowns, a Portuguese band, the Boy and Girl Scouts, the Junior ROTC, even a group of little kids dressed up in camo and called the Young Marines.

One of the spectators brought what looked like a little West Highland White Terrier with an undocked tail, which curved over his back like a long fluffy boa. He was interested in everything. Then his people brought him across the street, where someone had a very large Boston Terrier which was twice the size of this little guy. That didn't keep the Westie from barking sharply and leaning on his leash trying to get at the interloper in his territory. That's a terrier for you!

We just stayed in this afternoon: we watched Undercover Blues,, which I brought with me ("My name...is Muerte!" "Hi, Morty!"). For supper we went to Boston Market, but it was rainy so we came straight home. Spent the evening watching PBS (WGBH Channel 2): the National Memorial Day concert in Washington, DC. They did several lovely tributes and I spent half of the show in tears. Mom has alternated between being tired this morning and more lively tonight (like me she's a night owl; you can tell where I get it), but when they asked the members of the audience to get up when they sang their appropriate service song, she got up when they sang the Army anthem, in my dad's place, and we both were singing "Let There Be Peace on Earth" and "God Bless America" at the end. Afterwards WGBH repeated the National Geographic special about Arlington National Cemetery.

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:21:00 PM

Comments: Post a Comment