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
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