Floating on air – the Fremont Solstice Parade

The day dawned bright, clear and cool – perfect weather for a parade! Getting the six-piece band and all their gear on board and working was, er, fun. Then we had to find room for two dancers!

Jeff and Denny getting ready to rock the city.

Before the official parade – the famous naked cyclist invasion! 480 body painted wobbly bits and chafed thighs zipped past us – some beautiful, some less so but all eye-opening (and happy)!

Finally, it was our turn to hit the street. Bart and I (plus six other hardy souls) were pushing, the band cranked it up to 11 and Karen was shaking her booty out front.

Getting tired about halfway through but the crowd (about 100,000 strong) really kept us going.

Here’s a good view from above, near the end.

And this is our artist and break dancer Gil enjoying the fun

If you want to see other pictures of the parade, the Seattle P-I has a good gallery here. Then it was beers and the sad process of tearing the float down again for next year.

Midnight float roll

The night before the Fremont Solstice Parade, all the floats have to be finished off at the Powerhouse on Fremont Ave then rolled down the hill and through Fremont to the starting position.

We spent the afternoon frantically sawing and drilling the final bits, then stressed out about rolling the biggest and heaviest float in the parade down a steep hill at midnight (with dignitaries on board).

Luckily, all our best pals showed up to help (thanks Trika and Bart!), plus some random boozers. As we were the last float in the parade, we were first down the hill – fun!

Floating building #2

After we got the panels on the side of the float, it was time for the talent to get to work. Gil Brace is a superb local graffiti artist, break-dancer and all-round b-boy. He effortlessly transformed the float into a Brazilian favela.

Then we just added some telephones and some gold trailers – voila, instant urban graffiti-scape!

We also bodged up some T-shirts for the pushers to wear. Yes, we know the artistic flair looks like seagull vomit. 

Float building #1

I’ve been slack keeping up with this blog because of the Fremont Solstice Parade, which basically hoovered up all of our spare time in June. It all started on a sunny evening under the Ballard Bridge…

This is where the floats live for 345 days of year, providing toilets for nesting pigeons and gathering dust. Pretty yucky.

This is the float as we got it – piled up with last year’s papier maché goodies and frankly in a bit of a state. We got to work with the help of other Girasol samba dancers – there would be about 40 dancers on the big day, plus a full band on board. Here’s carpenter Russ and Nancy getting busy…

I don’t know what you lot are looking so happy about, we actually wanted those poles brown.

At the end of the first weekend, it was looking much sprucer. Can you see what it is yet? No, neither could we.

Men only hiking!

Ted and his pal Ron Robinson dragged me out of bed at some ungodly hour for a mid-week hike up to Wallace Falls State Park. This was slap-bang in the middle of the hot spell – 30 days without rain that reached in the mid-90s, so an early start was essential.

The walk was wonderfully cool among the trees but never out of earshot of the raging river. Here are the middle falls – with the helpful warning sign “Falling Can Be Deadly”.

And the views at the top? Sublime!

 

Here’s a wonky vertical panorama that might or might not work on the blog – click through to see it a bit bigger.

A weekend in Vancouver

My birthday treat! A weekend in Canada, with a fantastic train ride each way. Brits simply won’t believe the ride: two carriages of seats so comfortable and large you can’t touch the one in front; plus one enormous dining car where you can sit, drink beer and play cards the whole time. Stunning views as you chuff along the coast – and all for 30 bucks each way!

However, it did take five hours (!) each way and was fairly chaotically organised. Here’s me looking at some trees:

 

We jumped straight on our B&B’s bikes and explored the city. Lots more skyscrapers than I was expecting – but I loved the international atmosphere – and the game of cricket in Stanley Park.

The totem pole collection there was fairly awesome. Here’s an especially gruesome one that got away:

Would you believe I went swimming? In the sea, in Canada? It was chilly but gave a great view of downtown. In the evening, we headed up to see my old school mate Kevin Murphy, and his son Michael.

The next day, more sightseeing, some lovely nibbles at Granville Market and some gentle ferry riding around the city before our train home. Most civilised!

Memorial Day at Harstene

Whoa, sorry I’m so far behind with blogging! Here’s a quick catch up with some snaps from a sunny Memorial Day (last Monday in May) on the island.

Fun project #1 of the weekend was scrubbing the yurt. Woo-hoo!

Fun project #2: Invasive species clearance. Much Scotch Broom eradicated – but the poison oak took its revenge. Who would have guessed that seaweed is as stylish a fashion accessory as it is soothing a balm?

Fun project #3: Totally building the stairs between the woodshed and Raleigh’s cabin. Power! Tools!