(For Thursday through Thursday, May 21-28)

This holiday weekend, you can play cheaply by playing right here at home. Lucky for you, we’ve got it all planned out.

Your 72-hour Memorial Day stay-cation should probably start Saturday morning at the farmers market (8 a.m. to 1 p.m., 25 N. Worthen, Wenatchee) and end Monday evening with a slam-bam movie (”Terminator Salvation,” varying times, Columbia Cinema). The rest of the time, you can exhaust yourself on a full slate of affordable fun:

√ An Early Salute to Our Fallen Police and Soldiers (Thursday) — OK, OK, so this isn’t exactly on the weekend, but it’ll get you in the mood to honor our war heroes. The Chelan Memorial Parade, starting at 7 p.m., makes a downtown loop along Woodin and Johnson avenues and features local bands, floats, a phalanx of local dignitaries and — woof! — adoptable dogs (who have their own way of saluting) from the Humane Society. Free. Info: 1-800-424-3526.

√ Big Birthday Blast, and We Do Mean Blast (Saturday) — Orondo, famous for its fruit and crispy fried chicken (at The Market Place, junction of Highway 2 and 97), holds a huge community bash to celebrate 125 years of being, well, Orondo. Lots of food vendors, games, live music and historical displays will fill the grounds of the Orondo Elementary School, just north of downtown, from 4 to 9 p.m. Fireworks by the wonderfully-named pyrotechnics expert Marty Schmoker, Leavenworth, will cap the evening. Seems like Orondo should also celebrate having a name that so smoothly trips off the tongue, but we can save that for another year. All free, except for the food. Info: 784-1918.

√ Do They Only Sing in French at Vin du Lac? (Saturday and Sunday) — One of Chelan’s big-deal wineries (please, no drinking straws in the tasting room) tunes-up for summer with the start of their free weekend music series. On Saturday, The Bickles perform; on Sunday, The Martini Brothers. You cheapskates can go and just listen, but I recommend hitting the winery’s Bistro for a cup of french onion soup ($4.50) to go with your sipping samples. Music starts at 5 p.m. on the grounds at 105 Highway 150, Chelan. Info: 1-866-455-9463.

√ Parachute Festival Welcomes Drop-Ins (Friday through Monday) — What better place to fly kites and land ‘chutes than a wide-open turf farm? You can watch or participate at the new Kite & Chute Festival at Twin Firs Turf Inc., southeast of Quincy at 7735 Road L.5 NW. The kites will be fancy, of course, and the ‘chutes powered, so look up and look out! Recumbent bikes will also be demonstrated and on display. Live entertainment, games for the kids and food vendors will also be on-hand. Activities start around 8 a.m. each day, although parachuters could start at sunrise if the wind is right. Admission by donation. Info: 787-3795.

√ OK, This Is the Last Time I Mention the … Woo-Woooo! … Mini-Train (Monday) — I can’t help it. I love this thing. And I think the Wenatchee Miniature Railroad at Riverfront Park is one of the best, cheap, hands-on, turn-off-that-gol’darn-Gameboy, get-out-of-the-house activities for kids in the Wenatchee Valley. True, you just go round and round. But it requires no skills and is devoid of pressure to do well. Everybody wins by doing nothing but smile. On Memorial Day, the train chugs  from 1 to 5 p.m. at 155 N. Worthen St. Admission: $3 for adults, $2 for kids. Info: 663-2900 or 888-6245.

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Headed up to Lake Chelan last Friday morning looking for root balls along the beach planted by the Dept. of Wildlife. We knew about one near Campbell Resort and I photographed it from a few different angles, showing how the branches of the apple trees stuck out of the sand, looking very out-of-place. In the second picture you can barely see a boat going by in the background yet I waited a good half hour for something to pass by.

I figured I was done with this and headed to Manson to photograph the golf course that isn’t in operation anymore. That’s actually a green in the foreground.

When I was driving back to Chelan, I noticed a string of the root balls along a stretch of beach and stopped to take a look. This is the one I really liked from the whole shoot, with the limbs stretching up to the sky and the nice beach and rocks in the foreground.

I think the float lying there helps with the composition and the color as does the snow on the mountains in the background.

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Bernice Wells was just out for her daily walk, but it was windy so she donned this elegant head-scarf to protect her hair. It’s so simple, tied just beneath the chin, yet chic in a way my generation has a hard time pulling off.  Check out these style tips on how to tie a head scarf.

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Saturday morning I attended the Apple Blossom Youth Parade. Okay, so I didn’t exactly attend the parade per se, I was more a part of the parade if you want to get technical.

Allow me to explain.

My assignment was to cover the event while riding a float along the parade route. I happened to hop on board a float with the stipulation that I had to ride next to a clown. Snicker, a delightful and extremely happy human being, ended up being my clown companion for the morning.

I’ve covered all sorts of things while working at The World — including carnies, wildfires, plane crashes and strange criminal cases — but riding in a parade with a clown takes the cake as far as interesting assignments is concerned. I had a blast chronicling the parade from a float’s-hand-perspective. In case you missed it Monday, you can read about my clowning around at the Youth Parade here.

I took lots of photos while riding in the parade, some of them are below. You can also see lots more Apple Blossom photos over on The World’s Apple Blossom page.

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I covered the Wenatchee vs. Eastmont tennis match Tuesday and what I think is one of my better shots won’t run in the paper because the player lost her match.

This isn’t that uncommon with news photographs where the situation dictates how or if a photograph appears in print.

Photographers in my profession sometimes find themselves rooting for a team (internally) because of a picture they know they have nailed.

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I went to the crowning of the Apple Blossom junior royalty at Sunnyslope Elementary School on Wednesday, video gear in hand. I was perplexed at how to shoot the event, initially thinking I would get a frame grab from the video but because there were so many people there, to be crammed into a school room, I went back to the car for the still camera, trusting from my 20+ years of experience shooting stills vs. one month shooting video, that I would come back with a usable image.

I still shot video of the scene and the moment the new queen realized she was queen, but quickly switched to my wide angle lens, still camera when the queen’s mother gave her a quick hug.

It worked well I think to have Queen Carlie Heuple reading her winning essay as the interview with scenes from the announcement running over it for the video. I think the best part of the whole video is at the end when a bicyclist rides past in the background the second she finishes her speech.

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Okay, I know I said I was done shooting basketball but Eastmont played last night and it happened to be my night to work. Seems having a couple days off from the sport helped revitalize me and I’m happy with what I came back with. It was a physical contest which makes for some great moments.

I decided to run this photograph as the dominant picture in today’s paper. It shows the nature of the game and plays to the determination of both teams to get to the next game in the tournament.

And then a secondary photo of Travis Yesiki hugging Eastmont coach Mike Waters after the game.

Check out Kathryn Steven’s images of Chelan girls and Brewster boys at the state 1A championships from Yakima on www.wenworld.com soon after the conclusions of the matches today.

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I think I need a rest from basketball. From Wednesday to Saturday, I shot nine games; eight in the Sundome in Yakima and my last one at West Valley High School in Yakima. Check out the galleries at http://wenatcheeworld.com/section/PHOTO

They are exciting games - playoff games where the action can be intense - but my body starts to ache and my eyes become weary following the movement of the ball. After the first couple of days, I begin to look for different angles to shoot from and end up for half of each game in the stands shooting with a 300mm 2.8 lens. It’s actually a nice break from the low angles that are still my first vantage choice.

I’m handing the baton off to staff photographer Kathryn Stevens who heads to Yakima for the 1A tournament starting this Wednesday. Have a great time Kathryn!

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I wanted to do a video on the first day of basketball tournaments in Wenatchee and kept my eyes - and ears - open to find a suitable subject to focus on. Jade had walked by while I was getting ready to shoot the first Entiat game and I noticed her shoes, thinking that might be an interesting photograph so at halftime I looked for her in the stands and to my surprise there she was, the most vocal person in the crowd. I wired her with a remote microphone and spent the first half of the boys game telling her story in video.

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Photographer Kelly Gillin was out with reporter Jay Patrick, looking for places that might be in trouble for not keeping the sidewalks clear of snow. I was headed home for lunch, just starting to cross the George Sellar Bridge when I spotted Amaza Clothier having a difficult time as he began the journey across the bridge making his way along a narrow path of tramped down snow and ice. I crossed the bridge, trying to decide if I should try to get the photo and called Kelly to see if they had found anything yet. They hadn’t so I made my way back to Wenatchee across the bridge then back across and found a place to park. I ran to a spot on the East Wenatchee side with a minute to spare as Clothier walked the final few feet across.

I’m glad I went back for the picture and missed a few minutes of lunch.

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