Washington Park, Albany NY, during Tulip Fest
This lovely spring weekend, I had to take a break from all this hacking at the keyboard. In any case, the weather was bright and glorious, and it would have been a sin to waste it indoors! Besides, I am NOT monomaniacal, and I love other things other than Russia. Ya only live once, and the Good Lord is going to call you to account if you do not ENJOY the life He gave you!
Vendor’s Booth at Tulip Fest, Albany NY
Yesterday, your intrepid editor and her faithful Nicky were at one of the premier events in our town, Albany NY. Every year there is a weekend in the spring devoted to the Tulip Fest at Washington Park downtown. We didn’t have film for the camera, so, I am going to post up some shots from previous years. There are the usual booths of vendors, greasy fried food, and loud music. In short, tons o’ fun if you are a normal human being. Can you believe that someone was selling deep-fried PICKLES? I am a known and certified food gambler who shall try anything once and shall eat anything that won’t eat me, but, that did sound a bit too much of a muchness.
I did buy a pin with five little Matroshka dolls on it from a lovely Lithuanian gal, we picked up an advert for the coming Greek Fest next week, and the crowd was fascinating. I enjoy observing people and one can see all the variations of the sorts of the different social classes. Contrary to some declarations, America is not a classless society. Indeed, I would say that the social classes here are MORE rigid than they are in Europe. There are definite “styles” and folkways to each class, and one can peg a person by them. This crowd was definitely biased to middles and upper-middles.
What’s right to eat with oompah music? That’s right… sausages and sauerkraut, and PLENTY of both!
The only blot on the day was that was an overly-loud rock band playing at the Boathouse. Both Nicky and I thought that a more appropriate form of entertainment would be a German beer n’ wurst band. You know the sort. The fellows all are wearing lederhosen and those German hats, and each has a stein of cold brew under their seat. Or, a Polish hupaj-szupaj band playing the latest Jimmy Sturr polka and doing “In Heaven There is No Beer” on the kazoo. Now, THAT is proper for such a day and event!
Today, after liturgy, we did not head straight home as this was the second glorious day in a row. We did a little driving out in the countryside and all the greenery is good for the morale after the drabness of winter. For lunch, we decided to stop at Jumping Jacks in Scotia, which is an old-fashioned ’50s style hamburger shack with gazebos to eat under and nothing healthy on the menu (Thank God! Fie on PETA and all of its works). We had good ol’ fashioned hamburgers off the grill, hot dogs, greasy fries, and onion rings. No doubt, every dietician hearing this is having conniption fits. Shudder away, my dears, for Nicky and I enjoyed every bite and every moment in the outdoors.
Dedicated to Nicky, my beloved Russian “Bear”
You see, there are those who always advise “safety”, “health”, and “wellness”. I say such people are all wet and they do not have the courage to live fully. This lot does not love fully and truly, for love is a dangerous thing. You have to open yourself up to another, and that is RISKY. Most of all, you do not “move on”. Run away as quickly as you can from anyone who uses this foul term (that includes Herman Swaiko and Benjamin Peterson). You have to encounter others in their fullness, and “moving on” deprives us of our past, making us soulless and horrid Frankensteins. All psychobabble is evil, but “moving on” is the bottom of the barrel, it is the one psychobabble term most redolent of Hell and all its minions.
I hope that your weekend was as enjoyable and blessed as mine was. Bog blagoslovit! May God bless!
Vara Drezhlo
Sunday 11 May 2008
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