Happy La Kermeese!

Happy La Kermeese!

I’m watching them set up for the block party right now. We got front row seats to the concert and fireworks and we don’t even have to leave to house! Can’t get out the front door right now, cause there’s a Slush Puppy machine and a hot dog stand in the sidewalk. The radio stations are setting up in front of my bedroom window. Such exicentment going on. I love it.

Wondering: Are any of you guys going to be here tonight?

For Those who don’t know, it’s a French festival celebrated in Maine. It celebrates the peace between Maine and Quebec and the mixed heritage of everyone that lives in the area. It’s headquarters are in Biddeford Maine, which is a predominaty French town, and they close off all of Main Street and the off streets and turn the entire city into a giant carnival.

It looks like the entire population of Quebec is here right now, you should see the traffic!

A green frog is the symbol of the festival, and everyone has got frogs on their shirts and frog hats, and kids are winning stuffed frog prizes at the game stands.

This is our first year living in Biddeford (we used to live in Old Orchard Beach on the other side of the river), so we’ve never gotting to see it like this before. We’ve only seen it after it was open. It opens in a half hour, but they started setting up last night, so we’ve been watching the whole thing.

They have fireworks off the bridg at 9. We are in the first house off the bridge, overlooking the river, so the fireworks are going to be shot off just a few feet from my window. That ought to be interesting.

EDIT:

They just started. Right now they are singing the National Anthem of the US, they’ll do the Canadian one next, and the one for Quebec. Everything the announcer says gets said twice, once in Engligh nd than again in French.

EDIT:

Only in Biddeford! There’s a guy with a “trash pick up claw” going around picking up the trash that is grewing steadily on the streets. An elderly man with a cane just came walking by, waked the trash-picker-upper with the cane, and now the two men are duelinging, with cane and trash-pick-up-thing, like it was a sword fight.

EDIT:

I’m back again. Had to go out and watch what was going on out there. The fireworks just ended. Oh it was just amazing! The La Kermeese fireworks are the largest fireworks display in Maine… 4th of July has nothing on La Kermeese. The fireworks are so big andthey shoot them up so high that they can be seen over most of Southern York county. So we always see them no matter where we happen to be when they go off each year. But this year we are living in the first house off the bridge, right on the river’s edge, so this year we got to see them up close. And boy did we see them up close! OMG! I’ve never seen fireworks so close before. They were shooting them off about 50 feet from our front door. I went out on the front porch to watch them. OMG! It sounded like there was a canoon in my brain! That thing they shoot fireworks out of is SO LOUD! Even with tens of thousands of people all talking at once and the big band music playing (live band too!) I couldn’t hear them, all I could hear was the firework’s canon-thing.

But seeing it was amazing! OMG! It was like we were right inside of the fireworks! They were going up straight over our heads. I’ve always seen fireworks from a distance, far off, away from the crowd; kind of on a hill “looking down” at the fireworks. But this time I was right underneath them!!!! Boy is that ever a change of perspective! Watching them fan out from underneath, was just undescribably amazing! I wish you guys could have seen it! I’ve never seen anything like that before!

Well, it’s all done down, so I cam back in. The fireworks lasted a full half-hour, and ended with a big “atomic bomb” looking mushroom display that just kept going up higher and higher. It was beautiful! Now the band’s playing again. It sounds like an old 1800′s ciruse out there, they are playing the old carousel/carvial type music. Like what you hear on a merry-go-round, only it’s being played live by a real band… and boy is it loud!

I love La Kermeese.

~~EK

National TV-Turnoff Week, April 23-29

Today is the first day of  National TV-Turn Off Week, April 23-29

I have decided to write a list of 101 things for you to do during this week of no TV, should you decide to take on the challange.

1. Go for a walk on the beach.
2. Read a book.
3. Write a book in 7 days.
4. Volunteer at the local  animal shelter.
5. Do a crossword puzzle.
6. Dress up like a pirate.
7. Buy a camera and use it.
8. Play an hours-long game of Monopoly.
9. Grow a crystal garden.
10. Catalog your book collection useing the Dewey Decimal System.
11. Plan a family budget.
12. Go on a camping trip.
13. Plant a vegetable garden.
14. Watch the stars.
15. Sew, knit, or crochet a blanket for a cause (Snuggles, Linus Foundation, etc.)
16. Raise a family of sea monkeys.
17. Answer all those unread emails.
18. Pay your bills.
19. Start a petition.
20. Take your family out to a fancy resturant.
21. Look for BigFoot.
22. Take in a foster pet.
23. Spend a few hours browsing in your local library.
24. Donate pet food to a local shelter.
25. Take a walk around the block.
26. Have a chat with your mom or dad.
27. Go fishing.
28. Organize your DVD collection.
29. Build a personal website.
30. Write a short story for a fiction magazine.
31. Volunteer at the local  soup kitchen.
32. Go sight-seeing.
33. Put the pictures into the photo albums.
34. Throw a “Just-As-You-Are” party.
35. Attempt to prove aliens are real.
36. Visit a local museum.
37. Take your family to an all you can eat buffet.
38. Invent something new.
39. Start to tackle the list of projects that has been getting longer.
40. Head to an amusment park.
41. Take a cruise.
42. Sew a new dress.
43. Get a family photo taken.
44. Take a child to the zoo.
45. Write a letter to someone you haven’t seen in a while.
46. Attend an art show.
47. Vacuum the car.
48. Refinish an old piece of furniture.
49. Write an article for a non-fiction magazine.
50. Go boating.
51. Start a blog.
52. Attend a book reading.
53. Solve a mystery: play a game of Clue.
54. Visit with someone in a nursing home.
55. Go to the circus.
56. Head to your local swamp to pick fiddleheads.
57. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.
58. Take a hike in the woods.
59. Visit an art gallery.
60. Open an online store (Zazzle, CafePress, etc.).
61. Take swimming lessons.
62. Quit smoking.
63. Plant a tree.
64. Cook a gourmet dinner.
65. Help your child with his/her homework.
66. Play a game of basketball.
67. Go birdwatching.
68. Wash the windows.
69. Get a makeover.
70. See a play.
71. Repaint your living room.
72. Read a story to a child.
73. Paint a masterpiece.
74. Go on a picnic.
75. Read a comic book.
76. Start a new career.
77. Organize a family reunion.
78. Study up on your family history.
79. Go on a diet.
80. Sing a song.
81. Write a poem.
82. Bake a cake.
83. Go horseback riding.
84. Set up an aquarium.
85. Write a letter to a prisoner.
86. Take up a new hobby, such as stamp collecting.
87. Spend the week looking for UFO’s.
88. Go rock climbing.
89. Dye your hair blue.
90. Wax your car.
91. Redecorate your bedroom.
92. Play video games with your child.
93. Write a business plan for your dream job.
94. Take dance lessons.
95. See a ballet.
96. Buy a box of crayons and draw.
97. Design your dream-house.
98. Make home-made ice-cream.
99. Dress-up and go to the opera.
100. Take you family out to a movie.
101. Visit a haunted house.
102. Write a list of a 101 things you can do.

Quote: “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” —Groucho Marx