Happy Thanksgiving + 1, everyone! I hope you had a nice holiday. Mark, Joe M. and I went to the parade yesterday morning, after Joe received some tickets to sit in the bleachers at City Hall. The weather couldn't have been more cooperative, and the parade was nice. There was a bit of a holdup when one of the floats, a pirate ship, had to pause until they could figure out a way to get it and its tall masts past the two traffic lights at 16th and Market, both of which are on horizontal bars that extend far out over the street. I thought, "If that were a REAL ship, they'd be able to lower the masts to get it under the obstacle, but I doubt a parade float is built with that sort of consideration in mind".

They weren't able to lower the masts, but they did determine, after several minutes, how to loosen one of the horizontal booms on the mast. Once they got that rotated to a near-vertical position, the float fit between the traffic lights with no difficulty, and the parade was able to continue.

I wish that some of the groups would perform at least an abbreviated version of their routine when they reach City Hall. The way things are done now, the only performances that they do are at the endpoint of the parade, which is the Art Museum. Of course, the good news is that if you watch the entire parade at City Hall, then take SEPTA home to South Philly, there's still plenty of parade left to watch on live TV once you reach your living room. The way they pace themselves, it takes an hour or more for them to travel from City Hall to the Art Museum. So if you're willing to haul yourself out of bed at the crack of dawn, and arrive by 7:30 at your City Hall vantage point, you can have the best of both worlds if you live less than an hour's worth of travel from City Hall.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my sister-in-law's yesterday. She did a great job, as usual, bless her. I can't even imagine having dinner for 13 people. (And BTW, it would have been 14 if my younger nephew's girlfriend hadn't had family obligations of her own.) Never mind that I wouldn't have any place to PUT them all in a house this size - even if I could fit that many people, I can't imagine actually doing it. My nieces and nephews were all there, and I got a kick out of the fact that the eldest two of them baked the pies for dessert. And OMG did we ever have pies. I think the final total was two pumpkin pies and four apple pies. They inherited their mother's, and grandmother's, baking talent, which is a Very Good Thing.

This morning, even as I type, my dad is getting a nuclear stress test. He flunked a regular stress test a few weeks ago :o(, so they're sending him for this other test so they can get some clearer answers regarding what's going on. I hope that this provides answers regarding why his blood pressure has gotten high and STAYED high regardless of which meds they're using to try and control it, and also helps to determine how much of his shortness of breath is from emphysema and whether there is any (previously undiagnosed) heart trouble contributing to the problem. Argh. So send up a few prayers, if you don't mind, that all goes well with this test. Hopefully, the only issues that exist are treatable/manageable ones.

OK, those are the main things for now. Today should be fun -- there's a Flyers/Phantoms doubleheader at the Wach Center. Count me in for both of those! :o)