Freude, schöner Götterfunken

Don't know how many years it's been it's been going on or if the Cinco de Mayo street party tacked onto it or the other way around. It's one of the reasons why I like living in STL. Some local artists cooked up an everybody-has-a-good-time freestyle parade, the People's Joy Parade. It heads east on funky Cherokee Street precisely at 1:11 PM (no idea why but it's a tradition). Nobody tries to sing Beethoven, which would be great for the theme except you can't march to it. Since the occasion is loosely Mexican, everyone strides off to Cielito Lindo. 

The cast of characters is engaging. We will meet more of them.             

AND THEY MEAN IT

Big Muddy is on a big rise. This was the scene in Laclede's Landing yesterday afternoon. It's been raining a lot in the region and some towns upstream are in serious danger. A distance beyond the water line here is a street with sidewalks on both sides and a cobblestone levee that is usually uncovered for some way down. The forecast is for more rise until Monday.

 

I have worked a short distance from the Mississippi for more than 40 years. I believe that it breathes, but oh so slowly - in and out, up and down. Right now it's doing a big inhale, swelling its chest. The circle continues. 

Anne Frank's memorial in the forest

.

In the final hour of daylight my town's touring group just made it to Ya'ar HaKedoshim, the Holocaust Martyrs Forest.

On the path leading to the new (2011) memorial to Anne Frank were signposts quoting her famous diary.

"The memorial is a sculpture created by designer Piet Cohen, and is the form of a room made of rusted steel. In the corner of the structure sits an uncomfortably high stool, from where the viewer can see an engraved image of the famed chestnut tree which Anne Frank wrote about so lovingly in her diary. The viewing experience is meant to recreate the feeling of imprisonment, isolation and discomfort while looking longingly through a window at the world outside." *

If you are ever in the Jerusalem Hills, look for this sign and follow it into the forest.
It is a moving experience.

* For  very interesting details about the Anne Frank Memorial Park and about the Martyrs Forest with  its six million trees, please see the Jewish National Fund/Keren Kayemet page
http://www.kkl-jnf.org/people-and-environment/kkl-jnf-projects-partners/dfu-2012/holocaust-martyrs-forest-anne-frank-memorial/
especially now, just a day after Yom Hashoah.
.

VIOLA AND PIANO

There was an intermezzo of sorts during the folkloric dance show seen earlier. Two women played selections of classical music that I did not recognize. From a distance I thought the one in the center was playing a violin, perhaps in its lower registers. Using my long telephoto lens I now see that it was a viola. The coordination and expression were excellent.            

Elegance

Our Chinese festival has a parade every year. It was smaller this time and I wonder if there were dropouts due to the rainy morning. This group of women, though, projected elegance and style. Their costumes made me think of spring and new flower shoots.