Games, Sports, and Illuminations

John Adams thought we would celebrate our nation's independence on July 2.  On July 3, 1776, he wrote his wife:

The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

 Although we were short on Pomp and Parade and Guns and Bells and Bonfires yesterday, we did manage Games and Sports (if watching the World Cup counts) and Illuminations.  We were cheering for Germany in the first game (although Iain didn't think of blowing the vuvuzela until after they scored their first and only goal) and Colombia in the second (Lorenzo, our neighbors' golden retriever, is currently a house guest and he is from Colombia so we thought it only polite).

Then Kathy and Steve and Tom's friend Edgar came over for ribs, slaw, jalapeno mac and cheese, and peach cobbler.  After dinner the kids took Lorenzo for a walk and tried to guess the Spanish words for what they wanted him to do.  (Lorenzo is well trained, but in Spanish.  So we probably confuse him quite a bit.)

By then it was dark and it was time for fireworks.  We had quite a few left over from some previous purchase (New Years?  A previous 4th of July?) and Tom really wanted them out of the house.  So after it was dark we headed up to the church parking lot with a laundry basket half-full of highly flammable devices.  They were the kind that are legal to buy in Georgia, so nothing very big and not even anything that made all that much noise, but once lit there were fountains of sparks in different colors and colored smoke.  Our neighbors Sarah and Ben strolled up and joined us; it probably took a good half-an-hour to set everything off, including Iain elaborately combining the fuses of some of the smaller fireworks so they would go off more or less simultaneously.  In the distance, it sounded like the city was under attack, with the noises from the professional fireworks shows and closer ones from front yards nearer by.  Occasionally we would see a shower of sparks from someone else's fireworks, through the trees.

A nice enough 4th of July. For next year, we'll need more fireworks.

Fireworks!

Sometime before July 4th, Caroline went with her friend Sally on an expedition to Alabama to buy fireworks. She came back and said that there had been a raffle while she was there and she had won $100 worth of fireworks. Tom said, what was second prize - $200 worth? She did survive the 4th without injury.

One day last week I was driving home from work and ended up behind a long line of cars on Lenox Road, stopped for a train. In front of me was a white Volvo station wagon (you know, the kind of car people drive who really care a lot about safety) with Dekalb County plates. There were three people in the car. Then I see the passenger in the front seat stick an arm out the window, and he was holding something bright, like it was on fire. It was a sparkler.

At the intersection of Johnson Road and East Rock Springs, I ended up alongside the car at a red light. There were three boys in it - they looked like high school kids. I thought about rolling down the window and ask if they had anything more incendiary that sparklers they were thinking about lighting in the car, but I didn't.