OP Christmas

Posted by dkrashb on December 21, 2012

There are some things in life I really enjoy vicariously. As in, I don’t own them, I just appreciate someone else having made the investment I’m not willing to make. Two things that fall into this category for me are boats and Christmas decorations.

I really love Christmas decorations, but I hate getting them all out, putting them up, fixing what doesn’t work, and then taking them all down again and storing them–all when it’s really cold out. The amount of time you get to enjoy them seems disproportional to the amount of effort and space they require both during and after the holidays.

Hence, I decided to pursue OP Christmas lights this year. OP as in Other People’s. Fortunately for me, there were lots of opportunities to see Christmas lights. There was the Mainx24 event and parade. The Starlight parade. The Lighted Boat Parade. Rock City. And, now, the Chattanooga Zoo.

Rock City was a trip. We drove up to Lookout Mountain to see this popular Christmas destination. We got there before there was a line to drive into the parking lot, but there was already a 30 minute wait to buy tickets to get in the door.

When at long last we got through the gate, there was another 30 minute wait to get from the entrance gate to the main path. We found a way around to the upper trails, but Pat and Tisen hung out in the courtyard and waited for me so they didn’t have to fight the crowds. I took my camera and tripod and managed to politely force my way through the line to the alternate path.

After getting a few decent shots, but nothing really exciting, I was more than happy to call it quits and head back to Chattanooga. On the way back down, we passed bumper to bumper cars for at least 5 miles straight, all stopped as they waited to get into the parking lot for Rock City.

By comparison, I got a preview of the Chattanooga Zoo after hours. The reason why is too long a story to tell, but let’s just say it pays to know the right people. They stayed late after the zoo closed to let me in after dark so I could shoot their lights. It was the absolute opposite experience of shooting at Rock City.

Instead of long lines and jam-packed crowds, I got a personal guided tour, shuttled around on a maintenance truck, and was given plenty of space and time to shoot. I felt like a famous person or something.

While the Chattanooga Zoo would probably need to add at least 3 zeros to their bulb count to get to the number of lights at Rock City, I preferred the Chattanooga Zoo experience. I have a few more shots to share from the zoo tomorrow, but today’s shots were from the entry area. I had a particularly good time trying to capture the hippo’s head moving.

Stream of Unconsciousness

Posted by dkrashb on December 20, 2012

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It’s 11:08PM EST. I’m falling asleep as I type. I’ve been up since 5:00AM. At the end of the day, I pulled up the photos I’d processed for tomorrow morning’s post. They are from Rock City when I went up to shoot the Christmas lights.

Several things occur to me as I start typing. First, approximately 3 people will read what I write tonight. Odds are in favor of me being able to get away with saying anything.

In the interest of saying anything, here is an experiment in free writing when one ignores constraints such as basic grammar rules, logic, and even consciousness–who says you have to be awake when you’re writing? Instead, I’ve decided to see what happens when I write while I’m falling asleep.

A black and white dog approaches. The girl squats to get get down to his level.

The dog approaches and feels a pretty special in the most obvious of spots. He doesn’t growl at her–a first in his shot history of co-existing amongst higher-class humans than he was used to.

Instead, the dog takes his place in line, making a formidable barrier between those who would take what they need and those who are happy to earn it. Tisen is all about earnings. He has no comprehension of what we decided years ago for on prem licenses. But we are trying to accommodate.

I have to stop here for a moment, shaking my head trying to clear it of cobwebs to determine if I can possibly finish this point–or, more accurately, to determine if I had a point or if this is just random talk popping up as I nod off while typing. It’s mostly just random.

As I sit with finger tips hovering over key board, I start typing in a stream of consciousness fashion that won’t impact the embarrassment in honor of Christmas.

I imagine telling a partner that we’re releasing a small number of parts and contract agreements .

I re-read and realize I’ve just typed a series of sentences that make me think of collecting automated data details from the set top box of the cable solution. Oops–I’ve done it again–written in a way that sounds like one of those spam comments on wordpress. All this time, I’ve been wondering how they come up with the wording for those. Apparently, all you have to do is type while you’re nodding off.

My back is aching. My hips have had enough. I learn that only FedEx and UPS are handling these expert deliveries. I decide that Santa must have had enough too. After all is there enough “common caring” oil that a grower might be able to offset right before Christmas. Oops, I must have started to nod off while typing again.

Well, this post makes no sense. But, I’d love to know if you noticed. Leave me a comment or a like if you read this.

When I Grow Up . . .

Posted by dkrashb on December 19, 2012

Santa closes the parade.

Have you ever seen a more perfect elf?

The young boy sitting next to me had it own miniature santa.

I believe this guy was part of the Chattanooga Zoo entourage.

The Chatt Zoo mascott.

A serious color guard does the flag proud.

The Chatt Roller Girls pose briefly

Some girls grow up to be roller derby stars. This is a sport I think I can relate to–I’ve never actually seen a roller derby, so I’m only guessing. It just seems like if you’ve had a really bad day at the office and you like to roller skate, this would be the perfect sport.

With helmets, knee, and elbow pads, it’s enough protection to eliminate the whole fear of skin sticking to wood floors. I’ve heard there are often broken bones, but heck, broken bones grow back stronger.

This gets me thinking about the classic question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

I’m guessing not too many parents says things to their kids like, “Stay in school, get good grades, roller skate every evening, and you can get into the roller derby.” Yet, why not?

I think there should be a few ground rules for deciding what you want to be when:

Know your instinct. Before you knew people expected things from you, before you knew you had to make enough money to support a family, before you knew you would be judged for what job you had, what was the thing you said you wanted to be? Keep some of that with you.
Ignore what other people think. Many people don’t know what they want to be when they grow up. Even long after they’ve grown up. This usually happens when a person allows their sense of responsibility to overcome their desire to be happy. Don’t do this to yourself. A job you love is far easier to go do well every day, whether it meets other people’s expectations or not. A job you do well is a job that creates opportunities for you.
Think short term. Setting a course is just a direction; it doesn’t obligate you to decide permanently. Just because you wanted to be a firefighter when you were 7 doesn’t mean that at 18 you’re obligated to go off to firefighter school. There’s a lot to be said for experimentation.
Bring your best “you” to work. No matter what you do or how long you do it, it’s a job. It’s not a “come hang out and talk to me while I work” or a “come get a bunch of free samples”. And there are always people looking for the up and comers. Don’t forget to bring your character to work with you–don’t expect to receive what you don’t give.
Remember what’s important. Every once in a while, remind yourself you’re doing your job for 8+ hours a day, 5+ days a week and ask your internal child (the one that looks something like the Santa’s elf image) if this is how you really want to spend most of your waking hours.

BTW, my brother used to want to be a UPS driver–he thought delivering packages all year was far better than only doing it on Christmas.

Fear and Fear Itself

Posted by dkrashb on December 18, 2012

The hula hoop never seemed so exciting before.

Tonight’s images are from some of the most dynamic participants in the Starlight Parade. I think the gymnasts were the most thrilling. Although the fire twirlers are evocative, perhaps it just comes down to the degree of difficulty between twirling brands with burning ends and flipping and hand springing across asphalt–and, the probability of disaster.

While fire, of course, creates its own sense of danger and requires respect, the probability of lighting oneself on fire seems to be rather low, although I was concerned about one young woman’s choice to wear a gathered skirt. The probability of falling on one’s face mid-flip onto also-known-as-cheese-grater black top seems quite high.

It could be that this is just my personal experience. I feel relatively safe handling burning things and have actually never (knock wood) caused an uncontrolled fire. I’ve also never burnt myself playing with sparklers, candles, burning marshmallows (which strikingly resemble the firebrands twirled in the parade), campfires, camp stoves, or grills. I believe the only non-cooking-related fire injury I’ve ever suffered from was when I tried to light a bunch of birthday candles with a lighter and the metal part of the lighter overheated and burned my thumb. It was only a minor burn.

While I’ve had my share of bad burns in my lifetime, none of them have involved flames. What woman my age didn’t at some point accidentally brand her neck with a curling iron? Or get in a hurry and grab a pan out of the oven without getting a hot pad first? Or how about wipe out on a moped and get a third degree burn from the muffler? We’ve all done that, haven’t we?

And speaking about wiping out on a moped, this brings me back to the fear of asphalt. The most painful accident I ever had (including many broken bones) was when I took a ride hand turn on my bicycle way too fast for the space I had. I was turning onto a narrow side street coated with what’s fondly known as “chip and tar.” Instead of the smooth goo they put down for asphalt, they spread a layer of fine gravel and then spray it with a tar coating to stick the gravel in place and keep the dust down.

My rear wheel slipped across loose pieces of gravel. I went down hard enough to slide about a foot or so.

When I got up and looked at my knee, I pretty good chunk of it was missing. I looked more carefully and realized there were fine curly-queues of a substance resembling wide dental floss coming out of my knee. I later learned they were “shavings” off the tendon below my skin. Still gives me the creeps to think about it.

In the end, I have come to the conclusion that the human brain works very simply when it comes to fear: We fear what we most know to be terrifying.

This woman is marching, looking straight up, and twirling firebrands. I’m impressed.

Father and daughter watch the parade next to me.

Graceful and dangerous–very entertaining.

I was really worried she was going to catch her skirt on fire.

Gymnast and shadow about to be re-introduced.

This guy was fearless on the asphalt street.

Bring on the Parade

Posted by dkrashb on December 17, 2012

Not sure if there’s still room to sleep in this camper, but the tree sure looks nice.

It’s hard for me to look at my parade pictures today. I remind myself that every child shouldn’t suffer because of the 20 lost on Friday. Perhaps the loss makes Christmas (or whichever holiday each family celebrates), hope, and cheer that much more important.

I realize the feeling I have is the same one I always get following a tragedy. It’s best described as “heightened visceralness” (even if it’s not a real word).

Most of the time, I go through life thinking about what I need to do in the next hour, the next day, the next week. I push aside any bubbling sensations in my stomach, throat, or guts and stay focused on what I need to get done.

In the process of disconnecting from my visceral reactions, I also seem to disconnect from my own life. I often walk into rooms and wonder why I’m there, fail to realize my husband has come home or left, or drive somewhere without being able to recall any part of the drive.

When I am reminded how tentative life can be, first I choke. My throat closes, I have trouble breathing. Then I cry. Then I am left with rumblings in the pit of my stomach that I suspect are the disquiet of knowing I am doing nothing to change anything.

I have a sneaking suspicion that these visceral reactions happen every day, but until I am literally choked with tears (which doesn’t happen often), I refuse to pay attention to them.

Now that I am paying attention, I am reminded once again that I must pay attention to now. To the moments I have. Like the moment I am in right now sitting on the sofa, typing, dog curled next to me with a warm foot pressed against my leg.

To fail to notice each moment because I’m so distracted by the news is to give a piece of my life to a dead gunman in Connecticut when it’s far too late to make a difference.

And so, I close my browser full of news feeds and videos about Sandy Hook elementary. I pull up the photos I’d prepared for yesterday’s post. I think of all the smiling children at the Chattanooga Starlight Parade with a warm feeling akin to a mental hug. I say to myself, “Bring on the parade.”

“And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.”

~Gilbert K. Chesterton

That said, here are the next set of photos from the Starlight Parade in downtown Chattanooga. I’m normally not that excited by cars in a parade. But, I did enjoy the creative decorations folks came up with. I especially enjoyed the children around me calling out the names of familiar characters they saw go by.

This VW bus makes for a more creative way to enter a float.

The lawn mower racing team made a striking night time appearance.

Smiles adorned this float.

This ancient fire truck hitched a ride so it too could make an appearance in the parade.

The Chattanooga Zoo opted for simulated animals instead of live ones.

Not a great shot, but I love thinking about how much more fun the Grinch would have had taking this down the mountain!

A brightly lit Rudolf adorns this collectible car.

14,016,000 Hours

Posted by dkrashb on December 16, 2012

I completely missed the news on Friday. By Saturday morning, posts on FaceBook were furiously popping to the top of my newsfeed about the shooting. Several were a photo of a beautiful young woman who, at 27, is believed to have died huddled over her first grade class.

I made the mistake of going to the WSJ page that profiles the victims. Every loss I’ve ever felt seemed to rise up from some place outside my consciousness and stick in my throat. These tiny children. These innocent, unsuspecting children with an entire lifetime ahead of them. All gone. In minutes.

Another post appeared on FB. It was a line from comedian Andy Bororwitz. It’s too true to be funny: “Maybe I’m a dreamer, but I wish mental health care were as easy to get as, say, a gun.”

I find myself imagining Daniel Barden going to swim practice today. Olivia Engel twirling around in a tutu. Catherine Hubbard swinging on a playground swing, snug in a warm winter coat. Chase Kowalski grinning ear-to-ear while tossing a baseball. Jesse Lewis drinking hot chocolate with bright pink cheeks, having just come in from the cold. Emilie Parker making homemade christmas ornaments for her teacher. Noah Pozner growing up and going to his bar mitzvah.

I read through the list of names that seems to go on forever. I have to stop imagining the futures that will never come.

A friend posts a quote from Mr. Rogers on FB: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers — so many caring people in this world.”

I adore Mr. Rogers. There is no one more comforting. But I remain troubled that all the helpers in the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy–and there were many–couldn’t stop one man with 3 guns from killing 26 people in minutes. Not just 26 people; 26 futures. About 1600 years of future were lost amongst just the children killed on Friday. 1600 years, 584,000 days, 14,016,000 hours of future. How many hours does it take to cure cancer, end hunger, solve health care, find a way for us to peacefully co-exist? What did all of us lose because we collectively haven’t found a way to prevent these tragedies?

Another friend shares a post from Maya Angelou, one of my personal heroes:

“Our country is grieving. Each child who has been slaughtered belongs to each of us and each slain adult is a member of our family. It is impossible to explain the horror to ourselves and to our survivors. We need to hold each other’s hands and look into each other’s eyes and say, ‘I am sorry.’”

I am deeply, deeply sorry.

Electric Eclectic

Posted by dkrashb on December 15, 2012

Carefully arranged dancers make an artistic float.

Let’s talk about the word “eclectic.” According to dictionary.com, it means “deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and divers range of sources.”

I think the Starlight Parade qualified as eclectic.

Is this a giant Elmo or am I just out of date on kids characters?

Let’s see:

Semi Trucks
Santas on Harleys
Vintage VWs
Marching Band
Cheerleaders
Lawnmower racing team
Ballerinas
Flame twirlers
Lighted twirlers
Roller derby-ers
Military Color Guard
Antique Fire Engine
Rescued Dogs
WWII Duck
Gymnasts
Corvette collection
Bread mascot
Double-decker London tour bus
Soccer players
Chinese dragon
Baseball mascots
Soccer mascots
Girl scouts
Hula hoopers

This little ballerina reminded me of an impressionist painting I have a vague memory of.

Oh, and, how could I forget:

The cast of all 6 Star Wars episodes.

If rebels and empire-ists can ride together peacefully, can’t we all get along?

Now that I think about it, just the Star Wars characters decked out in Christmas decorations alone was probably enough to qualify for “eclectic” status.

Of course the best shot of a storm trooper I got was of the only one with no Christmas lights.

“Eclectic” has sometimes been used as a polite way of saying “messy,” “cluttered,” or even, “no taste.” But sometimes being eclectic works quite well.

In the case of the Starlight Parade, all divergent themes were tied together by the overarching theme of Christmas. As such, it kept the interest going for the full hour the parade lasted. You just never knew what was coming next.

This mascot stopped long enough for a family to get a picture.

And, yes, we saw the lawnmowers and VWs and cheerleaders in the Mainx24 parade, but that was during the day. See the difference? This time it was dark. And they were wearing lights. Completely different effect.

I was slightly disappointed with the Star Wars group, I must admit. I kept waiting for Yoda to pop up with a lightsaber and start flipping around while fighting Count Dooku. If Yoda was there, he was quietly meditating behind so many Christmas decorations I couldn’t see him.

No acrobatic lightsaber fights erupted during the parade.

The Star Wars characters were courtesy of two local chapters of a national organization of Star Wars costumers. One is called Rebel Legion. These folks are serious about dressing like the heroes of the Star Wars episodes. If you want to dress like a villain, however, you have to join the Fighting 501st Legion instead.

This is a hobby I’ve never considered. Tutorials on their website teach how to create authentic costumes. They include advise on Wookiee hair punching (which confused me until I saw a photo of a mask with hair being punched through it to create a hairy face), making your own blood stripes (which turn out to be red bars sewn on a sleeve), and creating a realistic lip curl (a mechanism to get a Wookie mask to snarl when roaring).

I don’t see myself turning into a costumer in the near (or distant) future, but the diversity of interests in this world is pretty amazing. What really amazes me is these folks spend a lot of time and money creating these costumes all for the purpose of appearing at charitable and community events in exchange for smiles.

Much like the car decorating hobby, I don’t quite get it, but I appreciate the effort at creating joy.

The lighted sign appeared like a thought bubble above this curious baby’s head.

Rebel without a Cause

Posted by dkrashb on December 14, 2012

This little guy led the high school band like he was ready to graduate.

Since the Starlight parade was held after dark, I was hesitant to take my old 40D as my second camera. The 40D doesn’t do well at higher ISO settings. Fortunately, my husband was willing to share his new Rebel T4i, which has better ISO performance and higher resolution than my out-dated 40D.

I don’t think anything could distract this cheerleader.

I had to think long and hard as to whether I wanted to put my wide angle lens on my 5D Mark III or on the Rebel. The last parade I shot, I put my wide angle on my 5D and my telephoto on my 40D. This seemed logical since the 5D is full frame and the 40D is a cropped sensor. If you want to go wide, go wide. If you want to go tight, go tight, right?

This little girl watched intently throughout the parade.

But, when I was shooting the parade, I found my 24-70mm lens on my 5D was often too wide and my 70-200mm lens on my 40D was too tight. Plus, when I shot the subject loosely so I could crop to the framing I wanted, I was cropping a lower-resolution image from the 40D. As a result, I concluded I should have reversed the use of the cameras so that I would have had the higher resolution for the photos I was doing the most cropping on and a wider field of view on both.

This young woman gave quite a show twirling her baton and tossing it well into the dark.

But introducing the Rebel T4i into the mix was a new problem. It’s lighter to hand hold than the 5D, but not well balanced with the 70-200mm lens, which out-weighs the Rebel by 2 pounds. This makes holding it somewhat precarious. However, by holding it by the foot on the lens, I felt a little more confident I wasn’t going to drop it.

This was the youngest twirler performing big tricks–I guess that’s how she got the sash.

In the end, I decided to go with the same plan as for the previous parade: cropped sensor with telephoto and full frame with the wide angle. The decision was made easier when I realized I didn’t have a bracket for the T4i to attach it to my tripod.

It does look really stupid to walk around with a T4i with a 70-200mm lens on it. I instinctively held my hand over the T4i when I spotted another photography coming my direction.

Grainy close up of some of the girls on the tiny tots twirlers float I mentioned yesterday.

That said, other than the flip out touch screen on the T4i, which I found annoying, and the imbalance with the lens, I really liked the tiny Rebel. The shutter was quiet and handled rapid fire shots faster than the 5D (probably because of the slightly lower resolution).

The flip out touchscreen will be handy for shooting video and does make viewing images in bright light easier. I just don’t like to put the camera up to my face with the flip screen open and then get annoyed when I have to open it again immediately following a shot to check an image. In the end, I was pleased with the images, although they were a bit noisier than I was expecting.

This little guy was very energetic throughout the parade.

The Next Parade

Posted by dkrashb on December 13, 2012

Well, it’s that time again: the next Christmas parade. If the Mainx24 parade was challenging with it’s bright daylight, the Starlight (aka Street light) Parade was even more with its very dark setting.

With my 5D Mark III on a tripod with a ball head attachment that also allows for panning, I was able to pan with the parade. This is the only way I was able to get anything in focus.

I started out with a non-panning shot of the crowd in front of the Tennessee Aquarium.

In honor the celebration, the Aquarium displayed candy-cane-stripped lights

The Tennessee Aquarium has glass pyramids on its 3 separate buildings. The two buildings in the image each have two lighted edges. From some angles, you can see all four lighted edges. From other angles (like the view from our balcony), one of the lighted edges disappears behind the front glass surface.

This is a fun phenomena when walking along the riverfront. If you start at the West end of Renaissance park, all four edges are visible. As you walk East, the one edge gradually disappears from view. I have thought about putting a mark on the sidewalk at the point where the one edge disappears completely. I might be the only one who notices.

The crowd was getting pretty excited by the time the parade started. People kept surging into the street to see what was coming.

What was coming was a fire engine, fortunately with its sirens silenced.

The Howard High School marching band soon followed. They had also marched in the Mainx24 parade. I found myself wondering if they have a shortage of funding for band uniforms–their drum corps was wearing matching sweatshirts and beanie caps.

They stood in front of us for a long time, waiting for the traffic in front of them to make the turn ahead at slow speed. The drum corps continued to drum a beat and the rest of the band swayed in time. The young man to the left seemed to be grooving. It was fun to watch.

While the band waited to move on, the horn section swayed to the beat of the drum corps

The same dog shelters that were at the Mainx24 parade were also at the Starlight Parade. However, they opted for more vehicles and fewer dogs. What they lacked in numbers, they made up for in size.

A giant inflatable dog made up for the lack of live dogs–hopefully they all got adopted

Instead of mini-cheerleaders, this parade had twirlers. I’ll share some photos of individual twirlers later, but this was their float with the tiny-tot-twirlers riding and waving instead of twirling. I imagine this was a wise decision.

To avoid chaos, the tiniest of the twirlers traveled on a trailer

A group of girl scouts walked by next. they all wore red pajamas and santa hats. Most of them seemed to be busy talking amongst themselves, but one girl scout gave me a long smile while I panned with her.

While the rest of the girls scouts chatted, one girl scout smiles for the camera

Through all of this, Tisen clung to Pat’s side at the curb while I kneeled in the street shooting. Doesn’t seem like he likes parades much.

Tisen kept giving me “when are we leaving” look

Lighted Boat Parade

Posted by dkrashb on December 12, 2012

A long exposure of the lighted boats circling in front of Ross’s Landing

The Lighted Boat Parade is a Chattanooga tradition, if a relatively new one. Boaters decorate their boats with thousands of Christmas lights and then parade down the Tennessee River to Ross’s Landing where thousands of spectators watch. Here, they are joined by the Southern Bell–a longer-lived Chattanooga tradition that offers boat cruises to tourists. Then, they form a giant circle.

The Southern Belle provides the center of the boat parade circle.

Since the boat parade immediately follows the Starlight Christmas Parade, we had to high-tail it back across the bridge to find a spot I could shoot from in Renaissance Park. Having walked Renaissance Park 3x a day for nearly a year now, I feel like it’s really my yard. And what a lovely yard it is. While I’m not into yard work (making a park the perfect yard), I do pick up litter. Part of me thinks this small contribution to keeping the park clean should entitle me to first choice of places to shoot from.

I love this look–who can resist Santa on a Harley?

Plus, I really thought I had the insider’s track on a good spot to shoot from–the launch ramp under the Market St bridge. After all, how many people even know the launch ramp is there? The kayakers, a few fishermen, maybe a stray cat or two.

This boat was tough to keep up with while panning with a telephoto lens

No. As it turns out, about 5000 people know about the launch ramp and they all showed up there to watch the Lighted Boat Parade.

There probably would have been fewer people on the boat ramp if the park itself hadn’t been closed off along the riverfront. The fireworks were fired from there, so this forced the crowd off to the edges of the park.

I set up my tripod somewhat precariously on a rock retaining wall held together by chicken wire. This allowed me to get the long exposure shots I so love.

The lead boat caught me off guard, but I got this light trail from my camera on the tripod

I also borrowed my husband’s new Rebel, unashamedly put my 70-200mm lens on it (I really should post a picture of what that looks like–it’s pretty humorous to see this big, heavy, amazing lens stuck on the tiny body of the Rebel). I used that for panning with the boats.

This clean-lined boat slightly resembled a shoe

I am getting better at panning. Considering how dark it was and how slow a shutter speed I was shooting at, I was pretty proud that I got any closeups of the boats at all. You can tell which ones were shot while panning because the background lights have a bit of a trail. I especially like this effect on the candy-cane lighting the Tennessee Aquarium opted for in honor of the celebration.

Panning with the boat caused the candy cane lights on the aquarium to gain a trail

The best boat in terms of entertainment value was one that had spot lights that would turn on, revealing a group of women in santa’s helpers costumes doing a dance to very loud music. It was great. I think they may have set a new bar for the other boats for next year’s parade.

This boat really went all out on entertainment value

It’s not entirely clear what the dancers are doing, but it’s funny

As for great decorations, I think this boat takes the prize:

I think this boat’s decor was a really crowd pleaser for anyone looking for tradition

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Monthly Archives: December 2012