A Most Spectacular Fourth of July Parade

 

A Fourth of July Parade in western Massachusetts is a 200 year tradition.

 

 

It's filled with marching bands, awesome musical offerings, marching groups of hard-working firefighters and police officers, fire engines and floats, representatives of numerous businesses and organizations including the local Berkshire Community College,  gigantic balloon 

 figures, dancers, and on and on.

 

The colorful event takes place every July 4 in the town of Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

 It's worth driving to that small city just to see the parade every year.

 It is always sure to be a heart-pounding experience.

Groups come from many places, including other states than Massachusetts,  to participate in this extravaganza. 

 Some people among the hundreds of spectators have driven many miles to come to see the patriotic parade goings on.

The photos in this post show you a tiny glimpse into this truly wonderful event. 

The photos were taken for you!

Enjoy!

 The Pittsfield Parade Committee who planned this year's event should be congratulated on all their hard work. 

 The Parade Committee members pulled off another top notch event this year that gave spectators two solid hours of fun, pride, and patriotism most of us have always felt for our beautiful country.

From its beginning, America has been a place that is "the land of the free, and the home of the brave." 

Almost everyone in the USA can be considered an immigrant, with parents, grandparents, and great grandparents from all cultures having come here from other countries so that we could all have better quality lives.

That is what has made this a respected and loved country for so many people. 

DO YOU HAVE A FOURTH OF JULY PARADE WHERE YOU LIVE?  

 It is Independence Day in America.

Our beautiful flag will be flying in every state.

May we never, ever take Democracy for granted.

May we always strive for our freedoms and our beliefs.

May we protest and let our voices be heard when we see something happening that is wrong.

May we fight for justice and for the oppressed.

May we find our greatest treasures, not in our bank accounts, but in our families.

May we honor God for letting us live in this great country.  

ARE YOU DOING ANYTHING TODAY TO CELEBRATE?

A Little of This and That

One thing discovered, in the midst of downsizing, is that I am really lousy at getting rid of pretty decorative things.

Glancing around my small apartment, at shelves, table tops, cabinets, and even drawers, makes me realize there are many items that are literally hard to part with.

Take the angel girl, shown at the top of this post,,,,,,,I got her for $9.99 at a thrift store. 

Her wings have since been spiffed up with gold spray paint. She's really quite lovely.

Her hand is up in the air and, almost surely, once held a horn, trumpet, or some other instrument that is now among the missing.

My thoughts when purchasing her were that at yard sales this summer, I'd be on the lookout for a perfect instrument to fit into angel's hand. 

So far, there has not been a shred of luck.

Then there are these darling little glass dollies. 

They are very small.  The biggest one is not even two inches high.

There used to be four of them and I don't know, for the life of me, where the baby went.

Perhaps it's in the bottom of a storage box somewhere, hovered in the corner.  

This little pink bird makes me smile all the time.

She should be in a nest somewhere, but, instead, she's at the base of a framed photo of my late husband. 

These are three of dozens of items around here. 

Some people can pick up an item and toss it but I'm not one of them.

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHAT DECORATIVE ITEMS GO AND WHICH STAY?

A New Month Begins

The year was 44 BC.

A Roman General named Julius Caesar had a special commendation made in his name.

The Roman Senate at that time honored him by naming his birth month, in Latin, July, after "Julius."

 All of this is information is according to online reports.

So here we are at the onset of July.

The sun is shining.  Temps are warming up. Humidity is high in many places. 

It's a great month for barbecues with sizzling burgers and hot dogs, macaroni salad and peach iced tea.

Here's hoping it will be as good a month as possible.

There are parades with marching fife and drum corps, all kinds of bands and dancers, and gigantic floats in some places. 

Some people head to the ocean in July while others enjoy socializing on their decks.

Here's to all of the celebrations! May this July be memorable in good ways.

Little Book with a Big Message: The Dollhouse Bible

 

Reading the word of God in the Bible can be very powerful.

There are answers to all kinds of problems in there and soothing messages when one's world looks dark and hopeless.

Naturally, being a lifelong miniatures afictionado, there had to be a Bible in the dollhouse.

Imagine my shock and utter delight when I found the tiniest Bible imaginable.

Even more amazing is that every single page of it is filled with teeny tiny print that contains all the Books of the big Bible!

It has a gold tone and white cover with a gold tone cross on top, an itsy bitsy latch, and a red ribbon marker. 

The Bible shares a table in the dollhouse living room with a bouquet of flowers in a picturesque vase.

  Happy Sunday everyone.

 Enjoy every moment!