Cinco de Mayo

I had a fine time at the Cinco de Mayo festival at El's elementary school. Got there about 11:20 and the small parking lot was already filled, so I had to park at the overflow one up the hill, but that was okay. Chairs were set up behind the all-purpose building--the weather is so benign here that they can confidently plan a lot of events for outside. Almost all the little girls wore bright and colorful fiesta dresses, with long, full skirts and pretty blouses. Many had pom-poms in their hair and/or braids with red, white, and green ribbons.
The different classes sang and danced to Mexican tunes and there was a hirachi(?) band from the high school. A lasso twirler did his thing and four dancers--they looked to be 14 or 15--danced. It may have been a tad long, as some classes or combination of classes performed several numbers, but it was wonderful fun. Ellen's third grade class acquitted themselves well, all singing and gesturing enthusiastically.
I had a seat in the front row and the children sat on the grass. The little ones were so exuberant, so agile, so filled with life and so careless of their good fortune! Most are of Mexican descent, common in California and especially, maybe, here in Ventura. They will inherit the earth, I'm convinced, and let it be. It seems to me there's nothing intrinsically superior about people from Europe, although that seems to have been an abiding belief for centuries.
Ellen invited me back to her classroom after the festivities and I got to meet her students. Beautiful kids, and seemingly they're all destined for futures of health and happiness. May it be so.
Once the children were all on their buses or at the after-school program in the auditorium, El and I decided on Jasmine Thai for dinner. It was only about 3:00 at that point, so she said she'd pick up takeout and we'd eat at her place. Fine by me, and I went home and changed.
Back at El's at 5:30, we enjoyed our dinner (curried shrimp for me) and made our plans for Mother's Day. El asked for a lunch suggestion and I said Ojai Beverage. She made a reservation, then asked how about going to a favorite park of her and Greg's after? Yes, indeedy, sounds like a plan to me.
A good, good day in a good week.