Is anyone celebrating or observing Memorial Day? It seems to be shaping up for me as a somber day. I feel the loss of several people famous to many or only to me and my circle. I'm actually on my way to the mountains for a memorial service today. A young man in my horticultural society drowned in a white water rafting accident. The rivers are very full and violent and he shouldn't have been doing that. Also, I've been dreaming about my parents and other ancestors.
I'm sorry to hear that, FRiend.

I'll spend Memorial Day itself at a park on a lake with my friends I've had since high school. It's a tradition -- we gather there every Memorial Day and Labor Day. This year will be even more festive; we're organizing a big weekend in August to celebrate our 50 years of friendship. Not counting spouses and a few who joined us in the following few years, we all became friends in the summer of 1973.
We're planning pretty elaborate festivities: a Friday night party just for our core group and a larger Saturday night party that will include other people we know. Also a boat ride and a tour of the little town we grew up in (it's a Minneapolis suburb, but it's also a cute small town with a big park and main street buildings from the 19th century).