HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Last year I Spent My New Year's Day With Roses (literally, while viewing the Rose Parade floats with my husband.)  This year, I'm also with roses - but they've been cut from my backyard and are in a vase!

We watched the parade on t.v. this morning - since my youngest son was on drumline in his high school  band and was priviledged to perform in the Rose Parade two years ago, we really enjoy watching the marching bands.  Did anyone see the float with the surfing dogs?

If you don't live close to Pasadena or in a climate conducive to roses in January, you can always make a trip with your kids to your library and find the book Bobbsey Twins: The Rose Parade Mystery. The Bobbsey Twins search to find the culprit who is sabotaging the floats for the famous Rose Parade in Pasadena, California (this book is a newer one, published in 1981)

The Bobbsey Twins series was probably the longest-running juvenile book series of all time. The first book was published in 1904 and new volumes were added as late as 1992. Who wrote the Bobbsey Twins books? Click HERE.

I SPENT MY NEW YEAR'S DAY WITH ROSES...

It's amazing to see the roses up close!

"In New York, people are buried in snow, here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let's hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise." - Professor Charles F. Holder, 1890...

Looking down Washington Blvd. at the floats on exhibition

What started as a promotional effort by the Valley Hunt Club to bring East Coast tourists to the warm Southern California town of Pasadena for a mid-winter holiday with games such as chariot racing, jousting, foot races, and polo, preceeded by a showcase of carriages adorned with fresh flowers, became a festival with marching bands and motorized floats and, starting in 1902, included a football game.

Happy spectators!

The Tournament of Roses has come a long way since its early days. The Rose Parade’s elaborate floats now feature high-tech computerized animation and exotic natural materials from around the world. Although a few floats are still built exclusively by volunteers from their sponsoring communities, most are built by professional float building companies and take nearly a year to construct. The year-long effort pays off on New Year’s morning, when millions of viewers around the world enjoy the Rose Parade. (from tournamentofroses.com)

The floats are traditionally displayed to the public the day after the Rose Parade.  The 47 flower-covered masterpieces were on display at Sierra Madre and Washington boulevards, up close and personal, for great photo-ops.

"CHILDREN'S DREAMS" FLOAT WAS ONE OF MY FAVORITES...

It looked absolutely illuminated...

CATS AND A COTTAGE...

"Purrfectly Healthy" float.

Children playing at pirates.

The floats are made up only of flowers and all-organic materials.

Framing the landscape of the beautiful San Gabriel Mountains.

A Chinese Dragon

The setting sun brought out the jewel tones of the  flowers on the floats...

Oops!  How did this one get in here?  (My cute hubby.)

LOOK FAMILIAR?  IT'S THE THREE LITTLE PIGS!

A BEAUTIFUL END TO A BEAUTIFUL DAY AND THE BEGINNING OF A NEW YEAR...

My daughter asked me if I "Painted the Roses Red..."