It’s been a busy holiday weekend!

Our neighbor Todd gave us tickets to the Philadelphia Thanksgiving day parade on Thursday — the green tickets, the ones that let you sit in the bleachers across from the art museum. We had a great time: each of us had two chemical hand warmers in our gloves and two chemical foot warmers in our shoes, and we huddled in a mass with a lot of other Philadelphians. Todd was very much in evidence, zipping back and forth in a personalized golf cart with two sets of headphones on — one to catch the chatter from the broadcast truck, the other to catch the reports from the parade route. Todd’s legion of roman slaves were also in evidence, serving as hands-of-all work. When we arrived, they had been deployed on either side of the broadcast booth, holding twenty-foot gold lame standards, their sparkly togas snapping in the frosty breeze. They unrolled the giant American flag behind Daniel Rodriguez (“America’s Tenor!”), and they helped keep 600 volunteer tap-dancers within their alloted boundaries.

My favorite part of the parade was when Todd’s Roman legion donned tall, spiky centurion helmets — half Bob Fosse, half Gwar— and lined either side of the Art museum steps. The Art museum is built very much in a grand imperial style, and the double file of glittery, spiky centurions lent a barbaric, triumphant militarism to Santa and Mrs. Claus’s ascension.

Other highlights included seeing Alex Trebek, Helene from The Bachelor, and Deborah Gibson singing “Only in my Dreams”, all from about 15 feet away. Alex Trebek looked like a well-padded version of the Professor from Gilligan’s island. Anyhow, though, it was a lot of fun!

Kate’s been knitting: that’s a piece of a sweater she’s making, above!