Solstice Parade: B.Y.O.S.

Simon wasn't thrilled about the idea of bundling up and hauling all the way to Fremont for a Solstice Parade that seemed quite likely to be rained on with gusto. But when he heard that Aunts Lauren and Lexi would be joining us, he reluctantly consented to be bundled and hauled.

We arrived an hour before start-time and found excellent seats on the curb. A scantily clad -- and probably freezing -- young woman handing out sidewalk chalk distracted us all from the pre-parade drizzle: soon people were scrawling flowers and hearts and birthday messages everywhere, then flopping down on the pavement to be traced by their friends. Simon, still in refusenik mode, wouldn't flop at first, so I traced his stubbornly planted feet:

Then modeled the desired behavior:

And then he was ready:

Now that's more like it, son!

Shortly after that, the Naked Bicyclists appeared -- our favorite body-paint treatments included Kermit, the Smurfs, Elvis, and Evel Knievel. And from then on it was just a matter of marveling at the enormous, weird things going by (a volcano that spewed stuffed animals, Jessica's 30' wide feathery botanical spider), whooping and clapping at the bellydancers (who seemed to get more cheerful and less goosebumpy as the parade went on and temperature rose slightly), singing along with the Singin' in the Rain Umbrella Girls, hugging the Hug Brigade, oohing and ahhing at the fabulous costumery, and dashing back out into the street every now and then: once to get Touched by the Noodly Appendage of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, once to navigate the writhing Sea of Holes, and once to flop down in front of the Giant Beach Ball (reprise from last year).

Celebrating the Summer Solstice when it's 50 degrees and raining, has been for a month, and looks to continue that way for the forseeable future, is the kind of foolishly optimistic leap of faith that borders on outright lunacy. So we want to give a huge shout out to all the crazy people whose amazing creative efforts succeeded in penetrating the gloom, and making even this homesick California girl feel like summer just might be around the corner... somewhere.

Some of these folks went all out with an amazing Yellow Submarine Extravaganza, complete with Blue Meanies, Apple Bonkers, Old Fred, the Nowhere Man, the aforementioned Sea of Holes, and a Beatles imitation band leading everyone in song:




Others pulled it off with nothing but some astroturf bellbottoms and a pair of rollerblades:



And some people looked out at the unrelenting chilly dismal drizzle and decided: Summer 2010 is gonna be Bring Your Own Sun.