Thursday, December 31, 2015

Pasadena Updates 12-31-15



Pasadena UPDATE #5 12-31-15

Greetings once again from sunny California!  A look at the calendar tells you one of two things.  It is December 31st, New Year’s Eve so it is the last day of the year or it is just one day until we get to begin living a brand new year.  It’s a matter of perspective isn’t it?  I suppose it depends upon how this year has unfolded for you, whether you want it to end and start over or if you are bemoaning the fact that it is already over and you are not ready to move on.

We Petal Pushers are ready to move on I believe.  We have had a tough three days of decorating and navigating California seven lane highways and traffic jams.  This time out here I have seen more traffic than any of the other years I have joined Ellie on her Petal Pusher adventures.  The only thing I can figure out is that everyone from Iowa must be here and on the highways!  We certainly have seen an army of Iowa people with their black and yellow shirts. 

There was a wide line of people waiting to get into the Rose Palace when we arrived this morning, far greater than any time I can remember.  The line stretched at least two long city blocks and they were all waiting to pay a price to climb the stairs up to the catwalk so they could see the finished floats in our building.  And the line didn’t shorten for over an hour.  We did not need to stand in line because with our Petal Pusher shirts, we walk right in and work on the floats instead of only looking at them from far above.

So, the decorating has come to an end and it is late afternoon as I am beginning to type this update.  We had told everyone goodbye last night when we left very late thinking we would not be returning today because everything would be done.  Our shift ended at four o’clock but most of us stayed until Steve Karlin and Glen, his photographer, came to do a story on our group for KCCI TV, channel 8 in Des Moines.  This was explained in my last update so I won’t bother with the details here.

When we headed back to our hotel, the uppermost thing of my mind was that we could sleep in with nothing scheduled until noon when the group was to meet again.  It was a well-deserved rest that I was looking forward to.  In the course of the night things changed, imagine that, and it didn’t work out the way I had pictured it.  Sandy, Heather and Staci returned last night to continue work while the rest of us went back to our beds.  They, overachievers that they are, didn’t stop working because they were needed and didn’t return to the hotel until five this morning. 

Ellie’s phone began ringing early this morning asking if we were coming back because, contrary to what we were told last night, much work still needed to be finished on some of the floats.  Everyone was roused and ate breakfast and we were back on the road to work again.  Many of our group were enlisted to put more finishing touches on the City of Glendale float.  The huge South Dakota float was pulled half way out of the building and a great many people were working on it, including many of our group.  Judging had been completed even with some floats not finished.  The Lutheran Hour float was done and looked stunning, especially since so many of us did so much work on it.  We are sure that is why it is so awesome!

Ellie and I were ‘runners’ a few times helping by getting materials to complete decorating.  I was asked to get half  a bucket of light lettuce seed.  Later I was asked to get two containers of white glue but since the crew manning the glue table had gone home, you had to pour your own out of a five gallon bucket.  Then I ran to the seed tent and got four containers of black seaweed to put on the outside of some tires on the Glendale float.  Before long our feet were aching so much that we looked for chairs and found two of them outside the building in the Lutheran Laymen’s booth.  Before we knew it, we were manning the booth, talking to people and giving away free material.  Can you imagine that, Ellie actually visiting with people!!

By one o’clock we were pretty much done and exhausted.  The three who stayed all night had also come back with us after having an hour nap.  It’s that old Iowa work ethic in action.  They are superstars, or crazy, depending upon your perspective I suppose.  It was time to head back to our hotel home and rest.  Vivian Ernst, former pastor’s wife from Iowa, now lives in Indiana and she and her husband, Gene, are part of the group.  She has been honored, because of her work in LWML, to ride the float tomorrow.  She will do us proud as she rides down Colorado Boulevard and waves to a million people!  Her night was very short as well for she had to be there at seven this morning for the judging because everyone riding the float must be in their position on the float for that event.

Ellie tried to organize the group as we left the Rose Palace, but there were so many variables that had come up and she finally just gave everyone options and each car decided what they were going to do.  Our car went past the Rose Bowl Stadium, drove on Orange Grove Boulevard and down Colorado Boulevard to see all the crazy people already camping out to hold spots for the big parade tomorrow.  Tomorrow will be a big party with a million people attending!

We returned to El Segundo and found a burger place to eat.  Our next event is a meeting tonight to get set for tomorrow and have devotions after another long day.  Let me be the first to wish you HAPPY NEW YEAR!  May God grant to each of us a wonderful new year full of His grace, protection and love.  We, the IOWAY Petal Pushers, are going to begin the new year as part of the big party out here in Pasadena.  Our feet will be on the curb along Colorado Boulevard as all the colorful and intricately designed and decorated floats make their way past our cheering group.  Many of us will be attending the game later in the day and the rest of us will watch it on TV from the comfort of our hotel.  GO HAWKS!

PS:  Update on Sandy’s elbow.  The x-ray showed that nothing was broken but it is painful.  We are thanking God for that.

Exhausted Petal Pusher, Lynn Menz


Pasadena Update #4 12-30-15



UPGRADE #4 (Our day on TV)

As the sun peaked over the eastern California horizon this morning, the drivers of the IOWAY team were peaking through their windshields and heading back to Pasadena to continue to decorate floats for the Rose Parade.  We were on a mission for the Petal Pushers are responsible for decorating nine floats this year with the Lutheran Hour float as the primary one.

What a day it has been!  In the early morning as we eagerly anticipate what our day will be like, there is no way to know how it will unfold.  At this late hour, near midnight, some of us have just returned to the hotel.  Some were exhausted and returned after their shift was finished and are getting some much needed rest.  Others on our team took a break, went for food, and returned to work into the wee hours of the morning because many floats are not progressing fast enough to be finished in time for the parade. 

The cool temperatures are keeping some flowers from opening as they normally should and the cold is affecting the glue used to attach some of the floral items.  This has slowed the process and is created what is known around here as “crunch time” when work left and time to do it do not match.  The City of Los Angeles float was worked on by many of our group today and work continues tonight.  It has a long way to go for completion and judging is tomorrow morning!

Many of us, myself included, spent the morning hours sticking yellow and orange roses into the many ‘pods’ on the Lutheran Hour float.  That began to create the awesomeness designed into that float and work continued all day to further enhance it.  As we left this evening, many willing workers were applying blue Iris all along the sides and front of the float to create the water area.  White baby breath is being added as foam on the waves.  A great many red and white roses along the sides make a stunning sight as this float nears completion.  Judging of floats will be done tomorrow morning and the directive went out that the shift ended only when the float was totally finished.  This will be in the wee hours of the morning.

That is an overview of our day of decorating.  But, there were some exciting events happening while the decorating was progressing.  Channel 8 TV’s Eric Hansen came this afternoon to see the decorating process and the Iowans in action.  He was given mums to glue onto the float.  Once he had tried his hand at decorating, he did an interview with Staci Hansen and Kathryn Sprecher, both from our group, and put it on KCCI Facebook, so be sure to check it out.  We now have two celebrities in our group!

This evening Steve Karlin, also of KCCI TV, channel 8, came after his live broadcast from the Rose Bowl to the Rose Palace.  He filmed our group of IOWAY Petal Pushers beside the Lutheran Hour Float.  Ellie and I were interview and we gave Steve and his cameraman, Glenn, a tour of the flower tent and watched them film the decorating process in action on many of the floats.  It was cleared by the crew chief for both of them to put some Iris flowers onto the front of the Lutheran Hour float so they could have a first-hand experience at decorating.  Then we took them up to the catwalk so they could see and film all ten floats in our building from above.  It was an awesome experience and a real hoot to be an integral part of it.  Both of the men were very personable and it was fun to share with them what we know and answer questions they had.

During the middle of the afternoon, three couples from Iowa came to the Rose Palace.  Ellie had invited them to join us when they arrived because one of the couples is friends of ours.  She wanted them to see what we were up to as long as they were coming to enjoy the Rose Bowl Game on New Year’s Day.  We had a great time, and hope they did as well, for we put them to work in the flower tent.  They helped cut and vial yellow roses, orange and then white Gerber Daisies.  In a couple of hours we processed at least five hundred individual flowers.  Then we gave them a tour of the building and all the floats under construction.  They were amazed at the hum of activity and the unbelievable detail that goes into each float.

Part of our team enjoyed a special meal and party event this evening sponsored by Lutheran Hour Ministries.   There was special food and desserts with elaborate floral arrangements on the tables and small group tours afterwards.  This party is a fundraiser event and our team was given a special invitation.  It was wonderful to be included and honored in this way.

There was one less than wonderful happening today and at this time I do not know the outcome.  Sandra from Indiana, part of our group of thirty-four, slipped off the City of Los Angeles float and fell onto the floor.  In the process, she broke the fall with her elbow and was having it X-Rayed when we left this evening.  On the next update, I will share what the doctor found.  We hope there was nothing broken but that same elbow had been broken not too long ago and supposedly was healed.

Needless to say, the day unfolded in ways we could not have predicted early this morning.  What a day it was!  Be sure to check out the TV interview of KCCI Facebook page and watch the whole group on Channel 8, KCCI TV, on the Thursday evening news at 10.  We have no idea how much of our interview will be shown or how goofy we may look, but for a laugh and a hoot, please check it out.

Enough for tonight.  Goodnight Iowa and Indiana!!  Sleep well for we certainly are planning to.

Lynn Menz, IOWAY blogger and newly interviewed TV person.  J

Wednesday, December 30, 2015



Pasadena UPDATE #3

Tuesday morning dawned early for thirty-four, purple shirted petal pushers from the Midwest.  The California sun was still sleeping as we filled the breakfast area of our hotel at 6:15, trusting the sun would eventually catch up with our schedule.  There was time for a quick breakfast and then into the meeting room for a short devotional and prayer to start off our day. 

Out to the parking lot where eight rental cars roared to life and lined up, their drivers and copilots eagerly anticipating the day’s adventure out onto the California Interstates and our arrival in Pasadena at the Rose Palace.  Even though it was early morning and sleepiness still covered many of us, I could sense rising excitement for the day that lay ahead.  The day would be a first for most of the Petal Pushers, an adventure not very many people ever get to experience.  Finally, with everyone’s two-ways turned on, we were off and running.  As we left the parking lot the sun was just beginning to tickle the tops of palm trees along the way and our new day had dawned.

Onto El Segundo Boulevard the eight-car caravan went, then a right onto Sepulveda and a few blocks further we merged onto California I-105.  A few miles up the road, we fed through the tangle of cement ribbon highway I like to call the spaghetti works where we change to I-110 and head north, eventually driving past the tall buildings of downtown Los Angeles and into the dry canyon country as we near the city of Pasadena.  It’s an exciting drive past man-made and natural wonders.   Interstate 110 ended and became Arroyo Parkway so we were nearly there and ready for what God had in store!

We were called into the building, given assignments, and we became part of the hum of the place as we adjusted to our new roles.  Some in our group went to the flower tent where thousands of flowers awaited preparation.  Our team worked to vial pink and then yellow roses.  Over two thousand roses were stripped of their leaves, stems cut to length and inserted into plastic vials of water.  Phil laughed that he finally became a stripper!  It was his job to strip the leaves from the long stems.  Sandy and Roxie cut the stems to length and inserted them into vials.  It was a special day for Sandy because it was her birthday and everyone in the flower tent joined together and sang happy birthday.

Many of our team members trimmed the tiny ends of purple status flowers for later use.  Others removed flowers from long stems of Christmas Red Mums and put glue on them.  They were glued onto the Lutheran Hour float later.  Many of our group worked on the City of Los Angeles float gluing flowers on the lower parts while Larry, Gene and Staci worked high in the air on scaffolding above the float.  Darwyn and Heather were also on scaffolding on the Lutheran Hour float gluing brown beans into rows high over our heads.

When our shift was over about four o’clock, our caravan of cars drove to the Soup Plantation less than two miles away for a meal.  We headed home in the dark only to be involved in the worst traffic jam I have ever seen out here.  We crept along for maybe twenty miles before we could move at normal speed the last ten miles or so.  It was quite a sight as we drove slowly past downtown Los Angeles with all the towering high-rise buildings and their myriad of lights.  It was a slow end to an exhausting day on the road.

 We met in the meeting room of our hotel for devotions and discussion of the day’s events.  Ellie led a Bible study based on the book entitled “Joining Jesus on His Mission.”  We shared stories of the day’s events.  Following are a couple of examples.

A petal pusher in the flower tent encouraged a bunch of petal pusher workers to sing, “Jesus Loves Me” while they were working.  A teenage girl who was placing bunches of flowers on the table to be processed said in a matter of fact sort of voice, more to herself than to anyone else, “I have never heard that song.” Was God at work there today?
Later two of our group in the flower tent got into conversations with some young people who were on rehab from drug challenges and were able to visit and share with them because they knew people in their own lives who had similar challenges.  As they parted ways at the end of the shift, the young man told them thanks for being part of their journey. Was God at work there today?

At the Soup Plantation a worker told one of our group that he was impressed with our large group because we didn’t leave a mess in the restaurant.  The crew chief for the City of Los Angeles float specifically asked members of our group to please return and help again tomorrow because of the job they did today.

At devotions I asked people to briefly share impressions of the day we just had experienced.  A few were written down including, “totally awesome” and “overwhelming” and “unbelievable expectations” and “what a way to reach out to other volunteers.”

I have a personal story to share.  As our shift was ending a nicely dressed lady came up beside me and asked what float it was as she pointed to the Lutheran Hour float.  I told her and she motioned to the guy who was following her.  I turned around and saw a TV cameraman begin shooting video of the young lady.   She began pointing to the float and talked into a microphone in a language I could not understand.  When she was finished, I asked what she was filming and she told me, this time in English, she was filming for Direct TV and was covering the Rose Parade in the Vietnamese language.  You never know whom you will meet or what will happen next in this arena.  Had I known what was about to happen I would have shared much more about the float and the Petal Pushers but evidently it was enough for her story.

Tomorrow we will be doing a repeat of today but I am sure there will be more interesting and challenging things happening.  Again, time will tell what is in store.  It’s time to get some sleep because we need to be on the freeway as the sun rises again tomorrow.  God’s blessings from California!

Lynn Menz – Petal Pusher in the much warmer land of palm trees, sunshine and no snow!