Oh, the parade was a lot of fun. The crowd was good-natured and a lot of people clapped when they saw our group, Homes for our Troops, walk by. They have an annual Beautiful Baby Contest and raise funds for disabled vets through the baby contest.

The organizer invited everyone who entered their baby in the contest to walk with us in the parade, so we had a bunch of parents with their kids in strollers walking behind us with the banner. There was also a Mercedes Benz convertible carrying the winning baby. Cute.

Anyway, I didn't take as many pix as I would have liked becus when you're IN the parade, you only really see who's in front of you, who's behind you (sort of) and the crowds lining the street. Unfortunately, we had 7 or 8 heavy Army trucks and jeeps riding in front of us, and they belched diesel fumes that all those little babies had to breathe.


This is my favorite photo. I love these ladies in their hoop dresses from the Revolutionary War era. Like us, they were waiting for the parade to begin.


Here's another shot of people getting into line before the start of the parade. We were in Div. 1 so we started off relatively early.


Here are some of the crowds on Main Street. My neighbor and I drove over to the supermarket in the center of town, where there was supposed to be a shuttle bus to take us to where the parade started, but the shuttle was nowhere to be seen, so we ended up walking there, about a mile. The parade route itself was another mile. And since I didn't drink much before leaving the house becus i was afraid I'd have to pee and not be able to, I think I got a little dehydrated becus I am very, very tired right now.


We had a small group of famlies with their kids marching with us.


Another shot of the crowds.

At the tail end of the parade, I spotted CT Senator Blumenthal on the roadside. He saw our banner and started clapping. I like him. He used to be our attorney general.

The woman for whose group we marched invited me to her house afterwards, along with my neighbor, L., and her husband. I would have liked to go, but I am so tired. I called to let her know. She somehow whipped together a big filet mignon meal and full dinner, even while she organized the parade thing!

Tomorrow I was finally able to arrange to drop my car off at mechanic, just for routine check of everything that the dealer would overcharge me for. Since I'm driving 2 hours daily now, for that driving job, I thought I should get things checked out.

But to do this, I needed to coordinate with my mother so she can pick me up and then i have to hang out with my mother until i can pick the car up later in the day. And then i go and pick up J. from work at around 4:45 pm. I hope it all works out timing-wise. At my mother's, i can monitor my email and see if I get an early response from the PR agency to the first draft I turned in on the brochure on Friday.