The Happy Faces of Octoberfest Parade - Part II

I've had just enough time to...   hunt for smiles

A Generous Smile

Around the fire, the hunter illustrates

A sea of faces is not the best hunting place

Crowded heads and hurried paces produce only

Frozen smiles with insipid tastes, we hunt

The wild antelopes that leap from hidden bases

A Cheer-ful smile

A Bald Smile

 

A Smile in Every Direction

The best lure for smiles is another smile

Dredged from the depth, still smelling of blood

Excites the hearts, setting them aflame

Spreading quickly through the land of game

Smiles will rise like a flock of startled birds

On a sudden charge of stampeding herds

Smiles after smiles the hunter aimed

Smiles after smiles the hunter claimed

A "watch out for the horse shit!" Smile (woman) & A Careless Smile (old man)

A Hidden Smile

A Saluted Smile

A (not so successful) Covered Smile

That cold October morning, the hunting was good. I hunted and caught smiles after smiles. I hope to catch a few with this post. I still remember the lesson taught - “the best lure for a smile is another smile”.

Prancing Smiles

Many Colourful Smiles

A Juliet Smile (where's Romeo?)

And finally the smile I tried hardest to capture. Saw the lady in uniform controlling the crowd. She was serious in her task. I willed her to smile and finally my long distance mind control worked and I caught her smile! :)

The Happy Faces of the Octoberfest Parade – Part I.

I've had just enough time to...   capture smiles

My favorite smile of Octoberfest 2012

The Octoberfest is here again. It had been a year since I was last there. When friends and acquaintances learned I went to the festival, they inevitably asked “what are you doing there?” This incredulous reaction is because beyond the first glass on occasion, I don’t drink. When I told them it was accidental, I just happened to be there at that time; they shook their head as if saying it was wasted on me.

A straight line smile

A well-armed smile

Innocent smiles

That is because the Octoberfest is overwhelmingly associated with beer drinking. But it is not only that – though copious amounts of beer does flow. For the 16 days Octoberfest 2012, one source estimated that 7.5 million of the one-litre Mass glasses were consumed! That was a lot of beer and a lot of “beer corpses”. There were a lot of lost and found including 93 children, a French horn, a hearing aid, two wedding rings (someone is getting into BIG trouble) and a pair of trousers. The last item was a really strange one, wonder what he was wearing if any. 

A shy smile

A cheeky smile

A Colgate smile

But there are other sides of Octoberfest and we have explored several themes such as the weather "Fun In October Rain" and even clothing "Why Men Dress UP?" among others. For this post, I just want to make everyone happy. And what better ways than to look at happy people and hope that it will rub off on us and make us smile to see others smile.

A complacent couple smile

A royal smile

Smiles by the dozen

A smile is a very fleeting thing. You got to catch it when it appear. It can disappear before you ready to capture it. So unlike other posts, this is not about good photography. It is about good smiles. Pardon the photography and appreciate the smiles. They are for you :)

A holding-something-back smile

An unstoppable smile

The Flower Outside The Fence

I've had just enough time...   to admire the flower that strayed outside the fence

Saw these lovely flowers inside a fence during a casual walk in Munich...

There was a flower that would not stay

Where it is safe and orderly

Her contented sisters warned

Of a cruel world waiting but

She said -

“I know we all live and die

And even if I were to die earlier

I want to die outside the fence”

...and saw this adventurous flower sticking outside the fence

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above 

Don't fence me in 

Let me ride through the wide open country that I love 

Don't fence me in 

Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze 

And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees 

Send me off forever but I ask you please 

Don't fence me in

Bing Crosby - Don't Fence Me In 

Oktoberfest 2012 - And The Rain Keeps Faliing.

I've had just enough time to...   go out in the rain.

Cupid points the arrow in the wrong direction

Now he can’t stop the rain from falling

That doesn’t stop the crowd from coming

Life goes on in stormy weather

But if it is too heavy, let seek shelter 

For under the same roof, all men are brothers

The rains on all heads drop

Alike on Gods and mortals

Why don’t you come in where it is warm and nice?

Sometimes it is safer in the rain

Will you go for a spin in the rain?

While others hurdles under the umbrellas

Or take a ride up to the clouds

Taking it up another layer

Will you live Life to the fullest?

Whether the day is sunny or it’s stormy weather?

________________

Whole world on my shoulders

Feeling older than I ought to be

Breathing in the cool air

Wet hair, I don't care 'cause I feel free

Walking In The Rain by Dan Koch