It's that time of year again! Time for our Poker League to make its appearance in the Purcellville Christmas Parade! It was cold again, but not nearly as cold as last year. I had the bonus job of driving the truck, so I got to sit where it was nice and toasty.
Notice the kilted pipers in the last photo? Becky tried to get a photo of them, but she's not used to my fancy camera, so it came out all blurry.
Christmas is quickly approaching, and with it, the annual Christmas Parade! This year's parade proved much warmer than last year, which was a blessing, indeed.
This was our second annual showing of the PMPL parade float. This year, also, Eddie walked the parade route with his Mountain View chorus group.
Kicking off the parade was an awesome vintage drum and fife corps, followed by the Mountain View kids chorus. Though Eddie is in the throng of children, and you can hear Becky desperately calling out to him, I have yet been unable to find him in the crowd.
We got the usual reactions as we floated through town--a mixture of surprise, disbelief, appreciation and jealousy. Surely everybody was wishing to be on the PMPL float this year!
Becky was able to catch the parade this year (unlike the disaster of last year, when I gave her the wrong time!). Give her all the video credits.
Two of our PMPL brethren decided to watch the float from the sidelines. Of course, this met with our strict disapproval, so they were promptly pelted with hard candy until they forced to find shelter from our taunting.
Even jolly ol' Santa Claus made an appearance, asking us to deal him in on the last hand!
Of course, we must give credit to our Sorority House Mother, Harry, for arranging the whole ridiculous (but very entertaining) endeavor!
Poker night! Sometimes you're lucky, and sometimes, you're not. For me, last night was lucky. I don't often come out as the big winner of the night (that esteemed position is usually held by Mike M.), but not so last night. This was one of those nights when I just couldn't lose.
Some nights, you don't win a single hand all night, and your chips just seem to evaporate from in front of you. You look at your watch and it's only 8:30. Much too early to go home now. Crap. Drag out the wallet.
But not last night. Last night, I won what seemed like every other hand. Fun, fun, fun! Pick Your Hole, Night Baseball, Wild Card Louie, Follow the Queen, even an experimental Night Wild Card Louie. All were going my way. Natural straights, straight flushes, five of a kinds--it was a very good night.
Here's a little video of the festivities. Not too long, but I thought it was fun to capture some of the antics of the night. Parental warning: Harry drops the f-bomb a couple times in the video. Thanks, Harry, for keeping it clean! At least you didn't talk about your extensive collection of Corn!
On a completely unrelated topic, the sunrise this morning was absolutely breathtaking. Red in the morning, sailor's warning. Maybe some rain today? For those of you out there who do care about things like pixels and macro lenses (Sorry, Sharon), I did not touch this photo in Photoshop. I haven't adjusted the saturation at all. This is the exact image from this morning. Stunning!
My friend, Harry, has gotten himself possessed. Yes, possessed. Possessed by a sorority girl. I'm not sure how, but a Zeta Tau Alpha has taken up residence in his body, and that is why I found myself sitting in 20 degree weather, on a float in the Purcellville Christmas Parade.
Yes, Harry decided it would be cool to register a float for our poker team, the Purcellville Men's Poker League, or PMPL (pronounced, very eloquently, as "pimple" for short). He got banners, and elf hats, and a trailer, and soon, we all found ourselves rolling down Main Street playing a few rounds of dealer's choice poker.
Actually, once we got into it, and once our toes froze beyond the pain, it was actually quite funny. We got a lot of flabbergasted laughs and waves from the crowd. Harry was grinning like a Cheshire cat. This was his day in the sun. (Even if that sun was only 20 degrees.)
Next year, though, let's do the July 4th parade. My feet are still thawing out.
"If we are to have peace on earth ... our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone, no nation can live alone, and as long as we try, the more we are going to have war in this world. We must either learn to live together as brothers or we are all going to perish together as fools."
Martin Luther King, Jr. 1967
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