Hi, everyone!
Even more of my flower friends are blooming now! When we got back from visiting Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara and James, the deciduous azaleas at Sodus were in full bloom! They’re very pretty, and they smell nice, too! The azalea by the porch was in full bloom, too. I was glad it was warm enough that we could eat breakfast right beside it!
Grandma took me back to Highland Park, so I could see my lilac friends before they stopped blooming. Guess what? The peonies were in bloom, too! I made some peony friends and a new dogwood friend. Some of the lilacs had stopped blooming, but a few of my lilac friends waited to see me! The goldenchain tree was blooming and more of the azaleas and rhododendron blossoms were opening. There is something pretty to see in Highland Park every time I go!
The beginning of Memorial Day weekend was very cold and windy! My rhododendron and white azalea friends at Sodus didn’t mind, but I did! When we went to the beach to watch sunset, the wind was blowing so much sand around that we had to stay in the car! It was a pretty sunset, but we couldn’t walk out on the pier to watch it because the waves were splashing water all over!
Grandma didn’t want to go out in the kayak because it was cold and windy, so we came back to Fairport on Saturday. We bought some plants on the way back to put in the planter by the living room window. I was a good helper and made sure all the plants were in the right places! Then I visited my rhododendron friend in the back yard. My buddies Joe-san and Nancy-san came for dinner. After dinner, we all took a walk. It was still cold out, and Joe-san helped me stay warm on the walk! I’m very lucky to have such nice friends!
Monday was Memorial Day. That’s the day that everybody thinks about soldiers, especially the ones who died fighting wars. Grandma says the holiday used to be called Decoration Day, because that’s when everybody put flowers and flags on the graves where dead soldiers were buried. Where Grandma and Grandpa live, there’s a parade to honor soldiers: both the ones who died and the ones who came home. The ones who came home are called veterans. Grandma took me to the parade! There were lots of other people along the street watching, too! I got to see the marching bands and the color guards and the fire trucks. Some of the oldest veterans rode in fancy cars with no tops, so everybody could see them! The scouts in the fire department explorer post let me be in the parade for a little while, and I got a ride in a fire engine! After the parade was over, I got to make friends with a big white sousaphone and with the high school band director! Grandma says Uncle Bill played a white sousaphone just like this one when he was in high school and used to march in this parade. The band director knows Uncle Steven and Bill-kun and Karin-chan’s daddy, too!
There was a ceremony after the parade. There was a big banner thanking veterans. Lots of local officials made speeches saying “Thank you”, too. Some ladies put a wreath near the statue honoring soldiers who died in wars. A reporter from the television station was there, interviewing some of the veterans.
After the ceremony, I asked Grandma if we could decorate Uncle Bill’s grave for Memorial Day. Grandma said that Uncle Bill doesn’t have a grave, so we have to remember him some other way. She asked me if I wanted to wear Uncle Bill’s military identification tags today and I said yes!
Love,
Lion-san
Moose-san said he felt bad about not seeing you but he was sleeping with some other friends. It is nice that they remember Veterans on Memorial Day. I heard on the radio that it was started in 1867 for the civil war soldiers that died and Joe-san said it started in Waerloo, New York.