Current mood:

chipper

Today has been a good day.
It started with getting up at a nice hour, taking a leasurly shower and heading to Whole Foods for a heaping box of bacon, fruit, and biscuits. And a cherry strudel, but I digress. Then it was on to the Fremont Solstice Parade. This will take a bit of explaining. For those unfamiliar with this, it's sort of Mardi Gras, a pagan ritual, an art show, and a phish concert all rolled into one. It's where the people of our fair city take all the leftover winter depression and our infamous Northwestern reserve and say, "Fuck it."

So, it starts off with naked people on bikes (and Rollerblades, and the occasional scooter--oh, and one horny devil on a unicycle). And not just a few. They're all painted in strange and entertaining ways--one was wearing a luchedor mask and cape and for a brief moment I thought I had an El Camino sighting, but then I realized his cape wasn't a Cornoa beach towel. But I digress again. Anyway, then the floats start with a team of Brazilian dancers and a live band. I think you see where this is going. It's all to easy to picture the whole thing as a ritual, with the skyclad folk summoning a long stream of fae and associated mystical creatures (like the occasional undead). It was all too easy to pick out the varieties, the eshu dancing like dervishes, a ton of nyads and other fae of the water, some sidhe and their servants, a scattering of dryads, even a winter fae snuck in, a troll or two, and a couple of satyrs and their woodland friends. I think one of my favorite little bits were the people with air cannons that shot rose petals over the crowds. Suffice it to say that the summer court is definitely in session.

Anyway, after that revelry was the first of many excellent barbecues of the season. Less photographed if not less photogenic. Followed by a side trip to water some of my parent's plants and now home with wine and chocolate cake. This will do, lad, this will do...