A quiet start

kw: parades, parade floats

When I began my year-end vacation halfway through December, I was asked by several people what we would be doing. I always answered, "As little as possible." After a busy, tough, strenuous year, and the prospect of a tougher year to come, I was all out of ambition. To me, the epitome of doing nothing is watching a parade on TV. This year, I was able to watch the Rose Parade on HD. Not quite like being there; it was warmer.

When I lived near Pasadena, my home town, I often went to the parade. January mornings can be a bit cool, even in southern California. Once I spent the night, which was a neat experience. But I am no fan of crowd scenes.

Just a bit of eye-candy here. This is the Rotary International float. They have a pretty good web site with pictures of current and past floats.

I like the floats the best, marching bands second best. Once in a while, a band from somewhere near my current home (that has varied over the years) gets into the parade. This year, the closest "hit" was the Penn State band, because their team played in the Rose Bowl (and lost, sadly, but if you gotta lose, it's an honor to lose to USC).

So, in the spirit of doing as little as possible, I'll end here.