July 06th, 2021

How was your long holiday weekend?  Independence Day!  Woohoo!  

We had a great time.  But then, we always do :)   Somehow, with no intention at all, we ate out more than usual all weekend and that's always a treat.  In fact, we ate at several places we'd never tried before - all good by the way. Chef Tim made some ribs last night that smelled amazing!  He said they tasted good too.  We spent time with some really fun people both in person and on the phone.

We got some things done around here and ran some errands, took some walks and, since summer time is traditionally TV re-run time, decided to old school it and found a 15 year old TV series that I had never seen before (though Tim had) and suddenly I am watching the Ghost Whisperer for the first time.  I guess that makes it an old new show to me.  

But of course the capper on the weekend was, finally, once again settling in on the beach to watch the firework show this year!  YAYAY!    Last year of course was Covid Cancelled.  The year before got rained out. Somewhere on this blog site is my post about that.  The previous year, I believe was the year one or the other of us was sick enough that we didn't go. But the year before that was our first summer here and it was a wonderful fireworks experience that we were delighted to repeat. Just didn't know it would take so long to see a second show!  Seems kidn of crazy when you realize that we are walking distance away!

Ok the fireworks on the beach show report:

First of all, there were roughly a zillion people in attendance. Ok not a zillion but a lot.  More people than we had EVER seen on this beach at one time. Even on a holiday during tourist season. No Joke!  Masses of people! Good thing it's a really big beach eh?  But, and here is the important part, everyone was happy. Everybody was having a great time.  It was kind of a carnival atmosphere, but without the neon.

Some people clearly had come for the entire day and stayed for the fireworks.  There were canopies and umbrellas set up with coolers and beach chairs.  Even as the sun was setting folks were still splashing around in the water, reluctant to give in to darkness.   Kids were throwing footballs and kicking soccer balls back and forth.  There were foot races and tag games going on. Somebody was flying a drone over head and someone else near us had music playing.  And, here is the thing, nobody was getting pissy about any of this.    In a time where some people seem to be super sensitive about everything, nobody was getting upset about anything at all. And that, in itself, was a pleasure.

Nothing fancy was happening as we all awaited. There were no famous or even semi-famous bands playing, no glitter, no Special Effects extravaganza going on.   There were no vendors of food or souvenirs, nobody campaigning for anything at all, no soapbox lectures or anybody asking for money. Just a beachful of people, sitting on the sand looking skyward and waiting for the show to begin.

Fireworks is a long time honoured tradition that is world wide.  It is believed that the very first fireworks were created in China somewhere around 400-600 AD.  By the 13th century they had made their way to Europe and of course came to the US by the earliest settlers.  It's not a new thing.  It's a wonderful magical very old thing.  And maybe that's one of the things I like most about it.  

At any rate, as we waited, the sunset wasn't as spectacular as usual, probably because it didn't want to outshine the fireworks show.

​Sunset:

As compared to:

It was awesome!  When it was done, everyone clapped and hooted and whistled their appreciation, just as people have always done.  

Then we folded up our chairs and walked through the darkness back home, listening and watching private fireworks shows happening all around us all the way back.

Great ending to a great day.  Hope yours was just as good, if not better.