A grandmother is a mother who has a second chance

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Glue, roses, and walnut shells

Well, we managed to avoid the dreaded falling glue while working on the float. Turns out the glueing and building and scaffolding thingies were done a day or two ago and today was prepare-the-flowers day. So we spent a large portion of the day cutting roses and putting them in little vials (see really exciting photo below). Felt a bit like being in high school science class, only it smelled much better! The cuts had to be specific with five rows of one-inch flowers in the back and five rows of 2 inch flowers in the front. Or vice versa - whatever.



The table we were working at was at the back of the area. There was a steady stream of tour groups who actually pay money to get to walk on the perimeter of the bulding where we build the floats. They're mainly on a walkway one level up and all of them have cameras. So we waved as we walked to our work station and they acted like we were celebrities. Next to our station the groups got to floor level so we had many observers oohing and aahing about our skillful scipping of the roses and placement in the vials. One man asked Ed, "So, how many flowers do you think you've cut?" He was filming and expected to hear some astonishing number. Since we had just started, Ed said, "Oh, about 25 so far!" Geesh. We wound up being in a lot of photos that the tourists were taking. They kept asking Ed and I to pose with the flowers because we were at the end of the table (I doubt that it was because we're so cute!!). So we'll wind up in a lot of photo albums across the country where years from now people will look and say "Who the heck are those people??" There were even film crews from the local TV stations. One guy kept following me from the flower racks to the work table with my palettes of roses. Dang, if I'd known I'd be on TV I would have put on more makeup!

About an hour after lunch, Ed and I took a little break (hey, we were volunteers!!) and walked around to look at all the floats. When we got to the NAR float, we asked if they needed help with anything and they did! This was much more exciting (!!). I got to crawl under scaffolding on my knees, and sweep up excess ground walnut shells. Do any of you know how much it hurts your knees to crawl around on ground up walnut shells!?!? I didn't think so. I have little red dots on my knees even now. I also had visions of hitting the scaffolding with my back and bringing down the whole float. Now THAT would have been worthy of tv coverage.

Ed got to climb up on the scaffold and vaccuum something off the roof. Then we both placed some evergreen branches on the float and a few other things. It was a nice diversion from the roses in vials project.

It's amazing how many flowers there were in the building where we were working. Here are a few photos.



Here are a couple of flower critters.













All in all it was a really great day. The weather was perfect - around 72 and sunny (sorry for all you who live in those snow places). They fed us - a lot. And it definitely cured me of any desire to ever work in a flower shop!

So, if you watch the parade, look for the float with the house on it (the NAR float) and think of us!

7 comments:

Daisy said...

Wicked Awesome, Sandi! Thanks so much for sharing!

namaste said...

wow! that sounds like fun! and it must have smelled awesome for the first half hour, huh? you and ed have so much fun together! i love that!

:)

Jenni said...

I'll TiVo the parade for sure!

ba and the boys said...

i am going to actually watch the entire parage to see your float! too bad you didnt meet al roker!

It's Me said...

What a great memory!!! Sandi on the floor getting knicks on her knees from walnuts and Ed posing for America!! LOL...

God Bless ya'll and Happy New Year!

Luz said...

WOW! I would love to someday see the parade in person. I'll be sure to watch and look for that special float! Happy New Year. Missing our friend Cheryl, btw.

Anonymous said...

Happy new year!