Saturday, July 18, 2009

The Hit or Miss Parade

The village street was thronged with excited spectators as the floats rolled past.


The always impressive motorcade.

A village house on Main Street all decked out for the celebrations.

The village I live in has an annual summer event called Steeves Days. It's named after a large German family who settled in the area after the Acadians were booted out by the British. "Steeves" is an anglicized version of "Steiff" as in those wonderful stuffed bears. Not to insinuate that German people resemble stuffed bears! The week-long event is kicked off by a modest parade down Main Street--modest being the key word here. As I am not of German descent and do not attend any of the several Baptist churches in the area, I am not much part of the community in which I live, in spite of the fact that we have been here for 16years. As a consequence, I am usually not in the loop of the goings-on of village life. It happened again this morning, as I was languorously sipping my second cup of Italian roast organic coffee and nibbling at a piece of strawberry shortcake for breakfast, I heard what I first thought was the sound of an extremely large and aggressive band of mosquitoes that had followed us home from Harvey Hall (see post below). I quickly divined, however, that it was more likely a hired gang of bag-pipers who were leading the Steeves Day Parade down the main drag. It was the perfect opportunity for me to rush out and get some pictures to post on my blog to illustrate the charms of village life but by the time I'd hot-footed it the 2 blocks to the parade, it was all but over and starting to rain.
***
SONG SATURDAY
As I proposed this idea last week, to post a tune on Saturdays, here's this week's offering. I thought I'd keep with the bent banjo theme. Harry Manx is a recent favourite of mine:


14 comments:

  1. Wonderful! And I like that banjo boy....does he not have a tail? is that why he's a Manx?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmm, strawberry shortcake and ground coffee sounds great... is there anything left other than crumbs and grounds ? If so, I'm on the way...

    A little local color is always fun... saw a parade like that on Drummond Island, Michigan once years ago... must have some pictures somewhere, if I can find them...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh boy, the Saj and I were here almost simultaneously... how's that for timing ! Hope she doesn't see the comments on the post below this one !!! She'll be blushing too... people on three continents will have been blushing... no if that does not illustrate the power and beauty of blogging, I don't know what could !

    PS loved your Bookmobile story... that's better than a batmobile for sure... :-D

    ReplyDelete
  4. PPS and oh drat, meant to say already, your new header is cool !

    ReplyDelete
  5. Saj! As Harry is not a soprano, I suspect, in spite of his Manxy name, that he is not without a tail to wag!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Owen: one piece of shortcake left...and I'm always happy to brew up a fresh pot of java--you don't have to suck on the grounds!

    Saj might be willing to concoct something a little stronger for us all, though, seeing as this seems to be becoming the local tri-continental hangout.

    YOU would have been happy to stay in the bookmobile! Once I went out to put something in it (storage) and when I tried to leave, I didn't know how to open the door. I thought I'd had a stroke or something because I kept looking at the door and thinking "What's wrong with this picture? I don't know how to open the door!" It was WEIRD! And then I realized--the handle had fallen off! It took me about 20 minutes to figure that out--20 minutes of near-gibbering terror! But then, I calmly picked up the handle, stuck it back on, and exited.

    Hey, thanks for noticing my new look! Glad you like it. I made the banner myself.

    ReplyDelete
  7. PS. I suggest you check on the post below to make sure you didn't forget your wallet or anything. It turned into kind of a wild night.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous19 July, 2009

    Hi Lynne!! That's something I really miss around here. It seems that this area of Quebec has completely forgotten about parades, they didn't even have one for St-Jean! I love the bagpipes! I used to joke (yes, it is a joke), that hearing the bagpipes makes me want to go to war (said with Scottish accent of course). :) The College of Piping is in Summerside (I think) and it's going to be one of the first places I visit when I ramble over to PEI! My move is back on btw! Happy joyjoy!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good morning,
    how nice to read about what's going on in other places of the planet.
    Steiff Teddys were part of my life and are currently again, eventhough not original Steiff.
    What a nice way to start the day too, maybe even the 'best' moment to rain, as I remember best things coming to an 'end' due to rain, being remembered ever since. Very nice picture with the kids. Please have a nice new week.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Well, at least the vandals didn't steal the handle...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Robert--how lovely that Steiff bears were part of your childhood and the tradition is being carried on!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Owen--If you find this message, you'd better jump down a manhole, light yourself a candle...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous22 July, 2009

    With regard to the "Floats" -- is that the Stanley Cup finally coming home to New Brunswick?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yes, I do believe it is! The team was later to assemble at Snider's garage to drink some home brew from it.

    ReplyDelete