sophia went with me to the memorial day parade starting at 1:00 down highland avenue. the closest thing they have to this in england is remembrance day in november (our veterans day). since remembrance day is a somber occasion in the UK (wearing black, a moment of silence, etc.), she was appalled by the spectacle of the american memorial day, with our noisy parades and barbecues and frenzy of celebration. she was also unimpressed by the sorry state of local spectators. despite her unamerican attitude, she was quite boisterous with her clapping, perhaps to prevent people from knowing how much she disliked our country.

i remember memorial day as a kid, biking down to the local cemetery early in the morning to watch the commotion. i knew very little about what was going on, i was just there to see them fire the cannons. last year i accidently ran across the somerville memorial day parade. i viewed it briefly then went home, but made a mental note to revisit the parade this year.

they should just call it the shriners parade because for whatever reason there's a substantial shriners procession. i don't know anything about the shriners, just that they're some of kind of club that involves old men wearing fezzes, and that they do some local charity work. apparently they also have a thing for miniature transportation, from minihorses, to minicars, and even mini-semi trucks.

after we made it back home, i left soon afterwards for belmont, where i was having a barbecue with my family. my mother wanted to eat outside, but quickly changed her mind when a sudden torrential downpour hit our area. it only lasted about 10-20 minutes but that was enough to soak the lawn.