cherry

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The Parade of Lost Souls was a lot of fun and really worth the dressing up and the cold. It is a local take on the Celtic festival of Samhainn (Irish and Scots). Matthew and I honoured that and dressed as the red men of the Lords and Ladies of misrule. I made us rather realistic looking horns and Matthew of course, wore his kilt.

The whole night we were mistaken for devils, but that's okay too. You'll have to wait to see my makeup, but I'll be sure to post photos eventually. I spent much of the night taking infra red photos, which is a lot more complicated than it sounds. It was a really interesting and fun experiment to create an ifra red flash, and the flash becomes essentially invisible. In that regard it's completely unobtrusive and doesn't blind people. Not that most photographers there cared about such.

I often find myself disappointed at many community events in Vancouver. It seems so many people here are a photographer of some description and so many of them turn up to these events with no intention of getting involved but are there to take their photos and ruthlessly get in other people's way.

Personally I would much rather be a part of the event and take photos at the same time. I think that way you can really get a feel for the experience and capture the moments within. I guess I am just tired of having creepy photographers point their telephoto lenses at me, but are clearly too afraid to get close and become part of the action.

Enough of my tangential rant. I had a wonderful time, and again I am reminded of the community spirit and joy that lives in East Vancouver. It is a wonderful place to be. There were many houses along the parade route that were all dressed up and decorated with various autumnal and Halloween themes. I was immensely impressed by the Celtic bands and dancers that led the parade, considering we are so far away from Scotland and Ireland. I even saw a band of Morris dancers! It was like being back home.

We stayed through the duration of the partying after the parade and was highly entertained by a wonderful Mariachi band complete with Lucha masks and all. I believe their name was Mariachi Libre. It may seem strange to some of you, but anyone local to Vancouver could tell you there is a large Mexican and spanish speaking population here. They were one of the funnest Mariachi bands I've ever heard. The crowd was wild for them also.

Eventually I got too cold to even think and it was time to go home. Not before grabbing some Fish and Chips from a vendor to eat on the way. A perfect ending to the evening was sipping an ale at my favourite caf bar near to where I live.

Today, so far, I have gotten up late, finished reading another book and gone for late french toast breakfast at my favourite breakfast caf near the beach. We took a walk along the beach with a coffee afterwards to work off the giant meal. All in all, a truly magical Halloween weekend and I couldn't have asked for more. Thanks again, Vancouver, for yet another initiation into the city.