final count down...

It was a crazy (and fun) last few days...

With all the final painting of designs, glitter and whirlwind of costume making we still found time for a few good laughs (between cordless screwdrivers, impact drivers, screws galore, hot hot hot weather, costume issues, applying flamingos, and later flamingo leg warmers made from duct tape to keep them from falling through to the road and causing sparks)! Minor detail :-)

In the days before the parade I had been talking with John's mom and she wasn't sure if she was ready to come down to the workshop to see him. I hadn't wanted to call her until John was completly ready. On Thursday afternoon John's mom,dad and uncle joe all came down to the workshop. I'm not sure how it all worked out, but somehow in all of the business there was no one around in our area when they came, so they were able to have a quiet visit by themselves (and me and John of course). His mom was very overwhelmed and cried at first when she saw him. His dad and uncle joe were very happy with how it all turned out. Actually the whole family was very thankful and happy with how John looked. His mom kept commenting on what a great picture it was and how wonderful it was that he was smiling so brightly. I'm am so thrilled that they loved it as much as I did. How could you not help but smile when looking at him. It's funny those of us who knew John would talk to him as if he was there right along with us and people who'd never met him kept referring to him in the first person. It was perfect!! He still managed to make us laugh (and cry). We had some damned good memories to look back on.

We got him screwed up in the window minutes before his parents arrived- I didn't want to put him up too early since we were still messing with paint and glitter. He probaly wouldn't have minded the glitter one bit, but the paint would have been an issue

Here is his mom. She had just finished carressing his face and giving him a kiss. His dad insisted that she take a picture with him. It's a wonder this picture turned out since I was crying right before it was taken.

Sarah and Angelica getting the flamingos ready for their big moment in the sun...

Rebecca gets a sewing lesson from Michelle before being let loose in the costume area. She worked really hard and made a very cute skirt!

Sewing solo for the very first time...

Success! Almost done and still smiling.

Summer sewing the finishing touches. And, yes, she really was THAT happy to be finishing up.

Dance Rehearsal in the parking lot. 2 days to go...

Kristen giving her costume a first twirl. And yes, she actually wore it for the dance rehearsal.

Monica doing her best impression of a pretzel leans through the roof to put up the last (we hope) of the straw skirt/hut roofing.

Christine is finishing up drilling holes for the flamingo legs. A thankless job, but somebody had to do it. We had to lift the grass up to do it because once you drilled in the "grass" the hole closed up and you couldn't find it-very strange. Later Christine also finished up the bamboo fencing designed to keep the public off the grass..

Kim puts the final touches of paint and glitter on the float. Looks AWESOME!!

WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The float looked incredible! We had such an awesome group! Everybody pictched in and helped out with whatever was needed. No one complained and best of all their was a lot of comraderie and laughing.

YEA FLAMINGOS!!!!

four days to go...

The little grass shack/hut/house is really coming along! We added the hanging door thing-y, which is both a blessing and a curse since just about everytime you go through it something gets hooked on it and you get stuck. Amusing for everyone else :-)

Lordy it was hot!! I think this was the last day I wore my apron. I figured since we were done painting I could put it away for awhile. I sure did miss having the pockets though.
Here's my friend John. I was looking at this picture and thinking wow, he looks bigger than life, and then I realized...he really was that way. He had a smile that could quite honestly light up a room. His father has the exact same smile, which is a little strange sometimes. It's almost like seeing John as an older man. Now, it's time for us to put our focus on costumes...

I bought this fabric for Adrienne while she was living in Oregon many months ago. I described it over the phone and ended up buying some in a similar colour for myself. Great fabric!! It had a lot of movement to it. Adrienne and her friend blair prepare to start the costume magic.

Costume fittings over...she likes it!!...maybe we should add a little bit of tulle to the back...

final days before parade...

Monday Summer and her mom, who was in town for summer's 30th birthday party came down and helped put the finishing touches on the float. Here she is putting up some (fake) bamboo around the doors and windows for a tropical touch. The final product...as of Monday.

One more week...and counting

Sunday was get stuff done day...who knew? My new friend, Christine, came down and we just powered through stuff on the ever lengthening list of things to do. Christine even learned how to sew on Sunday! She was so excited she asked if I wanted her to sew my skirt too! And I said, "yes". Okay, so it did take her awhile, but part of that was the machines fault. It may have taken us a really long time in the hot hot sun, but we finally got those darned button-thingy's on the window frame and doors.

My friend John, on the left, passed away in January. After many years of being together for Solstice (and knowing him for over 20 years) I just couldn't imagine not having him around this year. So, we had him blown up and a friend of ours cut him out so we could put him on the float. I used an old photo I had of the two of us and asked the photo lab if they wouldn't mind changing the shirt and scarf colour from red to pink for this. Happily they obliged. He is shown here with a beautiful banner of Dorothy, another parade mainstay for many many years who also passed away. Below he is getting prepared to be cut out. I have to say I did shed a few tears when this was going on and had to look away a few times. Keep reading all the way to the bottom for an amazing thing that happened once he was finished that day. ..
Now, we're getting somewhere! It's the end of Sunday and we're happily posing with the finished (for today) product. We got soooooo much done! A HUGE thanks to Christine!

It's hard to see as the floats were starting to stack up on top of each other, but here is a back view of the float.
...and a clearer side view. We're almost done with the doorways, the bamboo doorway is up, the "roof" is on, and we've started putting up the "grass" roof on the hut/shack/house.

Okay...I have to tell you a little story about something special that happened with John, but first a little history. Many years ago I was working as a Preschool teacher and I was trying to decide whether or not to do a huge project. I was out on the playground trying to decide what to do when I got a drop of water on my arm. I remember looking around and thinking, 'okay, there's no rain, no birds, no anything...what was that?' Then, it happened again, only this time a little girl who was playing in the sandbox leaped up, ran over and said, "did you feel it?!" "Feel what?", I said

"The Angel Tear. Did you feel it?", she said.

"Why are the angels crying? Are they sad?" I asked

"No, they're crying because they're happy", she says

So...fast forward to me working on getting John ready for the float and parade. I've been working on him for about an hour. He's been cut out, glued down, and I've just finished putting some twine-fabric stuff around the edges for a more finished look. I put John inside the float to protect him. I decided to sit on our fake grass and have a little snack before going home. While sitting on the grass I get a wet plop on my arm. My first thought is, Damn! A bird just pooped on me!, but I can't see anything but a clear bit of what looks like water on my arm. Then it hits me...IT'S AN ANGEL TEAR!!!

I quickly ran inside to get John's best friend and took her outside to tell her the story. What a great treat! It's nice to know he approved...of himself:-) and that he's happy with what we did.

Love ya Juanito! (my name for John)

80's here we come!!

Well, here we are at the 80's birthday party. I've gotta say, as bad as some of the new fashions are...none will ever compete with the fashions of the 1980's! The crowd really outdid themselves. It was a lot of fun! Summer rented a school bus for us to ride down to the skating rink on.
Here's the birthday girl! That's Summer on her first day of being 30. So far, so good.





We played 80's trivia on the bus and even got prizes. I was darned good at it...if I do say so myself.

My friend Adrienne didn't think she'd be able to make it to the party, but at the last minute she was able to come. She met us in the parking lot after we'd all arrived at the skating rink. I "forgot" to tell Summer that Adrienne was able to come....
As you can see it was a HUGE surprise!!! The last she'd heard was that there was no way that Adrienne would be able to make it. I'm so glad I didn't ruin the surprise.
Some of the guys had a little bit too much fun dressing up in 80's garb. This is Chuck, Rebecca's husband.
This guy just made me laugh everytime I looked at him! He came with a group of three guys who outdid themselves in the costume department. The best part was that they all had a really good sense of humour about it and didn't mind a little ribbing. Here's Monica showing off her prowess along with some sassy gloves and headband.

Margaret and Rebecca in all their 80's finest.
Even the cake was in theme.

Here's the whole scary group-well, most of it. Some had already taken off their skates to relax and others (like me, weren't skating, but taking pictures). I figured that skating was probably not a great choice since I was still recovering from breaking my arm.

It was a really fun party!!

Weeks before the big day

Humble beginnings...














These are two high school students that came down to the workshop to volunteer and ended


up helping me put primer on the float.


















As you can see it is slowly (very slowly beginning to take shape.














































Flamingo Keara came down to help put some colour onto the float. Good thing she's tall. She was able to reach all those places that the rest of us needed a ladder for :-)

In my "spare time" (about 20 minutes around 6am) I managed to make this apron for my friend, Summer, who was having an 80's themed party. She loves to cook and loves Strawberry Shortcake. I bought the pattern from Sewmamasew.com. And while it was "fun" to make I had a lot of problems understanding the pattern-much to my mothers chagrin. She's a professional seamstress and can't quite get over the fact that I'm not a great sewer and don't understand things the way she does. In the end she ended up helping me, albeit grudingly, to finish the apron in time for the party. I don't think I'll plan on making anything during the week leading up to the parade again.. It was waaaaaaay too stressful. I was working on my skirt and top and then the apron also. It was just crazy and I don't recommend it.