Today Holly stopped by after riding her scooter for a bit and worked some more on the invitation we are making for the Holly dinner. Earlier this week she made a list of people she wants to invite, decided on the menu, and selected which scavenger hunter and neighborkid photos of herself to include in the celebration. Today, she arranged the pictures and typed up some more information for the invitation. Here is a picture of her sounding out her words to spell them as she types.
We’ll tell you more about the dinner when it happens next week…
Soon it was just after noon, so we telephoned the D’s to see whether they wanted to head over to the MLK parade that was getting started on Main Street in downtown Sarasota, which soon would be coming to our neighborhood. The D’s dad, Oscar, said Dareeona was getting her hair done but if we could wait until around 1:00, then she could go as well.
That gave Holly time to run home because she wanted to get her purse. Soon it was 1:00 so Dareeona and Da’Sean came over. Daree grabbed the copy of My Brother Martin that she’s been reading (it’s the book about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King as a child, written by his sister), to bring it along to the parade, and Da’Sean took along the 15th Street banner we made for last year’s parade and saved for special occasions like today.
Then Holly’s Me-Ma came to pick her up for their weekly Monday afternoon visit, and when Holly told her about the parade, Me-Ma decided to come along too.
We text messaged Tim to find out how far along the parade was, since he was marching in it. He said they were at 10th and Orange – perfect timing! So we decided to head up to the northern-most street in our neighborhood, MLK Jr Way, and then head east a few blocks to the corner of MLK and Orange.
When we got there, we could see that the parade was fast approaching – it was less than a block away!
While Da’Sean, Holly and Daree got the banner ready,
Gus and Holly's Me-Ma kept an eye out.
Soon Da’Sean, Daree and Holly noticed something incredible - there was an actual HORSE leading the parade! That was a surprise for all of us - since we live in the city, we don’t often see horses walking down the street in our neighborhood! Can you see it behind the police car?
When we realized the parade was turning down MLK Way, we decided to cross Orange to stand on the other side of the road. This was a perfect spot because we got to see some of our neighborhood stars in the parade, up close and personal, like Ms. Valerie and Commissioner Carolyn. Then Da’Sean saw his cousin, who was in the parade and waved! We saw the people who work at SCOPE too (which is where Gus and Tim work). We looked for Tim, but he wasn’t with them – he must have stopped marching a bit earlier. Da’Sean said, “That’s okay – it’s still fun!”
We were standing in a spot that was perfect for receiving all the treats that the people marching in the parade were throwing out to the crowd, like chips and candy. Here is a pic of some of the students from our neighborhood high school, Booker High, sharing chips. Yum!
After the parade passed by, we decided to head over to the MLK park in our neighborhood – it’s the same park we went to for the Juneteenth celebration this past summer. Since Ms. Allison is still recovering from having her appendix removed, Da’Sean kept hold of Gus’ leash. That’s when Da’Sean realized how much Gus has grown since the summertime – Gus is so strong now that Da’Sean had to use all his strength to keep him from bounding off, especially when he encountered other dogs he wanted to befriend!
We checked out the different booths and stands at the park but found none that were selling candy apples, so we decided to head back down MLK to a roadside stand where we saw some earlier.
Unfortunately, when we got there Ms. Allison realized that somewhere along the way she had accidently dropped the $5 that we were planning to use for candy apples. We were so disappointed! Since the apples cost $3.50 each, and we only had 2 other dollars, Da’Sean and Daree decided to buy something else from our neighbor Ms. Theresa who was running the candy apple stand. Da’Sean used his dollar to get 4 pickled eggs and Daree got a hot sausage, which left her with a quarter in change. Not the same as candy apples, but still very tasty! And it was everything we could do to keep Gus from eating the sausage and eggs on the car-ride home!
When we got home we used the apples in the fridge and the leftover dipping chocolate to make our own version of candy apples. As usual, Da’Sean proved how much he LOVES chocolate!
Daree got My Brother Martin out of the car so we could read the really good part together, but before she started reading she became curious about the “20 Q” toy that was left out on the counter.
This is the gadget that asks 20 questions and tries to guess what WE are thinking. We decided to see whether it could guess “Martin Luther King” if we provided it with answers to its questions. Then Daree and Da’Sean began giving it clues:
Is it an animal? NO.
Is it a vegetable? NO.
Is it a mineral? NO.
Is it bigger than a breadbox or a microwave oven? YES.
Here are some of the clues that they provided that made the biggest impression on me, because of what they revealed about who MLK is to neighborkids today:
Does it bring joy to people? YES.
Can you touch it? No.
Is it intelligent? YES.
Does it communicate? Yes.
Is it an abstract concept (in other words, just an idea)? No.
Is it a spirit? Maybe.
Do you love it? YES.
Moments later the D’s family was heading out to the store, so Da’Sean and Daree had to go, and Gus finally decided to take a nap.
There you have it – another rich slice of life on the block here in Central-Cocoanut.
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