Penultimate at the Procession

My favorite Procession photo of this year. Not sure why.

Before the brewery's steam whistle blows, before the first rush of forward and pulse of drums and crowds, the Procession is a different thing. The energy is still a bit pent in this penultimate moment; people are more relaxed. A lot of them show up looking like humans, and all through the staging area you see them transmogrifying into their procession species.

Herd, pack, flock, swarm, school, colony, skulk, convocation, dissimulation, smack, pod (or gam), and probably a parliament and shrewdness.* They all coaslesce. There's a check-in, and Earth, Water, Fire and Air creatures have their street to gather in, but it looks like things just sort of happen on their own. People find their groups, talk to friends, and check out the other species.

It's a good time, this Procession penultimacy. 


* You recognize most of these alredy, and if you know them all, then I salute you. In case you don't, though, here's the breakdown: skulk of fox, convocation of eagles, dissimulation of birds, smack of jellyfish, gam of whales, parliament of owls, and shrewdness of apes.
Oh, and yes, I do own James Lipton's masterpiece, An Exaltation of Larks, thanks to the thoughtfulness and generosity of my sister.