I went to the Women’s March in Winters two years ago. Last year I had Gumbo rehearsal and could not go, but since I don’t have it this year, I wanted to go. There are definitely less options to go to this year, unfortunately. The ones within an hour of me were Sacramento, Napa, and Walnut Creek. I... just don’t want to go to protests in Sacramento. I don’t wanna deal with the parking and their website even pretty much said “if at all possible, don’t drive,” and I tried to find public transport that went to the Capital and uh...yeah, not worth that effort. Bugger this. So I was considering Walnut Creek or Napa--someone in one of my knitting groups recommended Napa when she went to Women’s March I and said they had lots of parking. However, their march started at 9:30 a.m. and was about an hour away and would require me waking up early on a Saturday, which made me think maybe I should suck it up and go to Sacramento after all because I need my sleep and don’t get any five nights a week as is.

Well, I ended up waking up around 7:55 a.m., got myself out the door and the car gassed up by 8:30 and made it to the protest before it started, huzzah.

They were, no joke, having ZUMBA DANCING going on during the gathering period. So I had fun doing that, even though I was wearing too many clothes for that activity and carrying a bag with my signs in it. But hey, wouldn’t have expected that.

It seemed like a nice bunch of people. Lots of quality pussy hats of differing nice yarns and even cablework on them. I have missed the pussy hats. After the march was over, I wandered into the nonprofit booth section and found that a lady had a project to knit 365 pussy hats. They were out of them and compiling a mailing list after they ran out. I still had two left over from my stint that I hadn’t found anyone to give it to, so I donated those.

They had singers and speakers, most notably their congressman, Michael Franti’s wife speaking about her own immgration issues, and one of Nancy Pelosi’s kids, who said she and her mother would be marching in SF later that day. I don’t think that happened because it looks like Nancy was stuck listening to stupidity in DC by guess who, but oh well.

They also had a “Best Sign” contest, which I loved, Last year’s was giant pink balloons spelling out Free Melania (according to their website, and this year there was a group with “Be Best” spelled out the same. Har. I mention one winner below, but the other one I could spot well said this:

Immoral
Moron
Petulant
Entitled
Arrogan
Cruel
Hot Mess

I saw a similar one with Impeach at the top, followed by
Tyrant
Racist
Unfit
Maniacal
Prick

Notable posters I saw:
* A collection of phenomenal women pictures
* A RBG-themed one saying “Lock her up till 2021 in bubble wrap.”
* A giant one which was stuck on a lady’s wheelchair and showed the front of Trump with a sign on hi msaying “Drumpfo the tweeter ‘n chief” and the back of him holding a poop and checking off a list of “sex offender, tax evader, climate denier, race hater, total LIAR...and a traitor” You can order some kind of boppy beatup doll from the company that produced this sign, apparently.
* One held by a white guy saying “Male” does not equal “in charge.”
* “I am Ovary Acting” and “Shutdowns are for Pussies.”
* “Bring Back Full Sentences”
* “I am not free while any woman is unfree even if her shackles are different from my own.” -Audre Lord
* A “no wall” one quoting the lyrics from “Stop! In The Name Of Love!” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”
* A guy who had written on the back of his sweatshirt, “I don’t care about U or your husband either Period!
* One had a Trump voodoo doll stuck to it (saying “Trump is a traitor to the United States of America”) and damn, I wish I’d thought of that.
* “Roses are red/ Knowledge is power/ Go smash the patriarchy/ You beautiful flower.”
* “The eyes of truth are always watching you.”
* I could never get close enough to read or photograph it well, but there was a Trump head with giant googly eyes.
* “Trust Women (We Get Shit Done.)”
* “The time is always right to do the right thing.”
* “You’re so vain you probably think this march is about you...”
* “Kompromat Impeach Now!”
* “He tweeted, I am a Very Stable Genius Like I’m Really Smart.”
* “Why Be Sexist When You Could Just Be Quiet?”
* “Strong Women Scare Weak Men” was another contest winner, along with her friends with stuff like “Girls Just Wanna Have Fundamental Rights.”
* “I Know SIGNS. I make The BEST Signs. They’re TERRIFIC. Everyone agrees. You could NEVER understand how great my signs are.” I wish that one had won.
* “Here’s what I don’t get: Why do billionaires want more money?”
* “Arms are for hugging, not hurting.”
* “Does this ass make my country look small?”
* A photo of Putin with “Not Ur President.”
* The Cat In The Hat: “I do not like your crooked friends, I do not like your facts that bend, I do not like your border wall, I do not like you Trump at all.” (Also shoulda won.)
* Trumpty Dumpty, falling off his wall.
* One by a kid saying that Trump needs to repeat first grade because her school rules are to be responsible, be kind, and no bullying.
* That Leia resistance poster, I like that one.
* Two posters of cat-covered shoes with a cat on the toes.

Costumes:
* Rosie the Riveter, by one of the organizers, with a “We Can Do It!” sign behind her.
* Wonder Woman (on one mom and two dogs)
* The Statue of Liberty, with a poster saying “Nation of immigrants, open your heart)
* Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose “I’m with her” Statue of Liberty poster was one of the best poster winners.
* The guy wearing a hat that said “Make Orwell Fiction Again.”
* Rainbow flag as a cape.

So that was fun and I felt better to be around like-minded folks and all that.

After that, I decided to hang around Napa for a few hours and see what there was to do. I got a rainbow mini-backpack at the thrift store and I went to a vintage clothing store and got a pink/purple/blue muumuu that was oddly enough, very slimming. Go figure on that, but it was my colors. They also had two bookstores and a yarn store, so I had fun looking in those. I ended up getting only one book, but that’s still pretty good. I ate in a delicious “Napa Noodles” shop that had exquisite da kine fried rice with all kinds of meat in it that was deliciously moist. I haven’t really been there before/in years (not that I remember anyway), so that was fun. There must definitely be a hippie crowd in Napa because there was a lot there to appeal to me!

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