A three day week-end was just what I had needed, and this has turned out to be a good one -- equal parts relaxing and gathering with friends and relatives (and friends that ARE relatives).
Saturday
The phone rang at 9:00 a.m.
"Hullo". I had been asleep (up too late the night, er, morning earlier). I couldn't think who I was hearing.
"This is Dan. We're going to the parade if you want to meet us."
"Parade...parade...what time is the parade?"
"Oh 9 o'clock," the answer came.
"Uhhuh...and what time is it now?" I was starting to wake up.
Now I knew the parade was actually at ten, so I did arise and get ready. It was a cold cold morning. Brrr. I dawdled a bit. And...I missed the parade.
I got downtown at 10:15. I parked near the end zone of the parade, and got up to Capitol Avenue just in time to hear the last band play. *sigh* According to the paper there were 150 spectators in this parade and 250 marchers. Too quick for me (and of course they would start on time).
Later, as I walked up Michigan looking for Dan and family, I saw an elderly couple sitting on folding chairs in front of the Capitol. Occasionally they would peer down the road. They had such good seats. Too bad the parade had passed them by.
Sunday
We've had such lousy weather that we weren't able to get out to do the urns at the cemetery until Sunday. The cemetery is a little country one where we have scads of relatives including two sets of seventh generation grandparents (made tracking those families geneologies easier). The cemetery is behind an old country church with the name of Needmore Church. I kid you not! It's the name of the road actually, but it's more fun to just attach it to the church and leave it at that.
Setting out the urns is something we've done for a long time now. When we were children, my grandparents tended the graves. After Dad passed, Mom and my sister would also go out to do the urns. As the nieces and nephews came along we brought them with us. There were nine of us on this trip, and because the kids know
what to do the five urns were completed in record time. They know where to go dig the clay that we put in the base of the urn. They need a little instruction to remember the components of the urns: a spike, two geraniums, an ivy, two foliage one dusty miller and one dark red and petunias to fill. They do a grand job, their swift little fingers pinching the plants out of the trays.
Dan had cement in his truck, which was a good thing. Both of the great-great-great-great-grandparents monuments had lost their tops. He stuck them back on...whether they hold or not we'll find out later, but it made them look nicer for the holiday.
Monday.
Monday Monday, oh any Monday that I don't have to go to work is just fine by me.
Blogged some in the morning (half of this), learned where the Weblogs list was (it is fun to see who is updating their blog), then headed over to Mom's for the official picnic. The littlest cousin, who is three, was the hit of the picnic. He had never been to Mom's (he's a third cousin) and he had the best time exploring her garden path, making friends with the scarecrow family, and chasing rabbits with a net.