Category: All Souls Parade

Where’s the Blog?

Yes, well, I’ve been having lumbar disc-related pain the last 3 weeks, aggravated by sitting (which puts the most pressure on the lumbar spine) so I haven’t been sitting much, hence not sitting and updating my blog.

But I’ve done plenty of non-sitting things recently; and I’m feeling better enough, and optimistic enough, to park myself here to get back my good blogging habits.

First off, I had one particularly sore night and went–I must say–for the Screech (OK just one drink); and then I made preparations for sausage rolls:

Above, you can see the sausage on the left. I got it from the University of Arizona Collegiate Cattle Growers weekly meat sale; it was too salty I thought, but, I wasn’t about to taste-test raw pork ahead of time to check, so I didn’t know until the rolls were done.

Below, the rolled out pastry. Made with lard. I mean, the sausage is already there, right? Crisco would hardly make any difference.

Here’s the actual sausage roll before being cut and baked…

…and here’s the finished product. I took these to work for a potluck.

A few days later, I had the women in my art quilt over for an afternoon of fabric dyeing. Here is everyone having a go at scrunching wet fabric and pouring dye on top. Even my mom made it!

After all the work, a well-deserved break while we wait for the dye to work for an hour.

Here’s Bearbear, clearly intent on learning how to knit. It’s about time he started making some sort of contribution around here so I’m completely in support; perhaps he could learn how to spin during the 8 months a year he sheds.

The next week I had an Octoberfest dinner at my house for friends from work and their kin. I made bratwurst and sauerkraut, german potato salad and a single-layer black forest cake. It was superb. As you can see, there was plenty of dopplebock:

And then yesterday was Tucson’s annual All Souls Procession; here’s a shot of a couple of skeletons at sunset:

Also, during this blog hiatus I started the steps for a bathroom remodel….and….I ordered a new Juki straight-stitch sewing machine for machine quilting. More on that later.

Tucson’s All Souls Procession

Tonight was the 20th anniversary of the All Souls Procession, an event Tucson should really be proud of; it was packed, of course, probably more so because of Calexico playing at the Rialto at the end. I wish I’d spent some time making a puppet and walking in the procession, or at that I at least had some face paint on: it’s fun to be disguised, after all.  If my back wasn’t bothering me, I would’ve stayed out late for the final inferno and great music.

Thank you to all particpants in the parade; I really appreciated seeing such a genuine expressions of creativity and heart-felt sentiment from everyone there.

Here are some shots before the parade got started, in the staging area at University/4th Ave.  as folks were getting ready: that bell skull-guy is holding, by the way, really gets the mood going:

All Souls Parade Tucson 1

 

All Souls Parade Tucson 2

All Souls Parade Tucson 3

All Souls Parade Tucson 4

I briefly talked to the guy above on the bicycle; he said he thought he was crazy, and, I had to agree with him. But what a great effort!

Of course, the fiddler caught my eye:

All Souls Parade Tucson 5

There were lots of great puppets, but I only got photos of a few of them:

All Souls Parade Tucson 7

 

All Souls Parade Tucson 6

Once the parade started,  both the now-defunct Tucson Citizen walked by, as did the Public Library: the parade is, after all, largely about what we’ve lost, or are actively losing:

All Souls Parade Tucson 8

All Souls Parade Tucson 11

 

All Souls Parade Tucson 10

All Souls Parade Tucson 12

Finally, I considered myself lucky to get at least a partial shot of the parade’s “totem” this year, the moth: it wasn’t an easy shot in the dark, and it was all by itself flying over the parade:

All Souls Parade Tucson 13