Lawnmowers, Funnel Cakes, and Ferris Wheels

It was Labor Day weekend here in the United States and in my current home town, Greenbelt, this holiday is a big deal. Taking inspiration from FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt, the town was built with little machinery as a works project in the 1930s. It has a strong workers, left-leaning ethic in town of cooperatives. We don’t quite sing the International (I’ve done that in Norway actually on May Day), but something just short of it.

Part of celebrating Labor Day in Greenbelt is the annual four day festival, the 54^th annual this year. Rides, games, entertainment and all sorts of local community groups with stalls selling used books (my daughters’ elementary school), t-shirts (my son’s nursery school), and especially food. None of the food is good for you. None. Period. But boy do those Democratic Party funnel cakes taste great with powdered sugar.

We were down at the festival each day (it is only two blocks from the house) to volunteer and to play. The ferris wheel offers an incomparable view of our wooded neighborhood. Couple that with a skewers party we held at our house for friends and co-workers and it adds up to a rough week for dieting. So the needle hasn’t moved much or if so, slightly in the wrong direction. So I have not adjusted the pounds total this week.

Finally, the title of this post includes lawnmowers. Old fashioned reel lawnmowers to be exact. It has nothing to do with Berga or my weight loss efforts, but I witnessed a brilliant Labor Day parade show that could ONLY occur in Old Greenbelt. The Greenbelt Reel Lawnmower Society Precision Drill Team performed and was captured on video in what is what they call an instant classic. I wanted to share it here.