For perhaps the seventh time, Lauren and I attended the Pinedorado Parade in Cambria, California. It was held yesterday, Saturday, this Labor Day Weekend. Our friend Doug is visiting and the three of us parked our chairs along the parade route with other viewers. To me the parade is quintessentially Americana - with everyone in town involved, from the nursery school children to pets, from the Grand Marshall to the Foreign Exchange Student, who is this year's Honorary Mayor.
This year there was a Trojan on a horse - was he really a USC representative? The Santa Monica Band was there, as usual; this consists of a dozen people who I'm guessing are all related. We always clap and cheer when they march by because of the Santa Monica connection. This year, Mozzi's Saloon had a lively float with a live band and saloon gals; Mozzi's has just opened. It used to be Camozzi's Saloon (open since the 1800s) but then the business closed and has now reopened as Mozzi's.
In past parades, a group of older ladies called the Daffodillies, clad in tights and frilly outfits used to do a dance routine, but after a couple of years they stopped. I've always wondered what happened to them.
Anyway, after all of that plus the Shriners and vintage cars, there is a carnival in the Veteran's Hall grounds. There are little kid rides and booths, and food like corn, pies, and barbecue with beans. The corn is usually very sweet and buttery. The barbecue lunch is piled on a paper plate and it looks messy and unappetizing.
They used to have a gambling parlor booth, but some men (including Lauren) started playing serious poker and the authorities got rid of the booth.
Labor Day Weekend and Thanksgiving weekends are times when Cambria is full of visitors and is in a festive mood.
I love Cambria. It has a population 5,000 and has great restaurants and shops. It has a slogan: Cambria, where the pines meet the sea.
Yesterday we saw 4 does sitting under some pines. And today, we saw a doe cross a street and go to some shrubs to eat the leaves. It wasn't even afraid of us.
I'm getting incoherent and will stop now. It must be because of the sea air and food and wine.
About Me
- Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
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- Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.
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