The best thing about cherry bombs and ash cans was the waterproof fuses. So you could light them and they would explode underwater. It was always difficult to get your hands on fireworks in the northeast. But there was always some enterprise person that would go to Chinatown in New York City and score a big ball. I have a really fun story about fireworks that I will try to relate later as we are currently walking around Budapest. Hope everyone had a nice Fourth of July.
Since the statute of limitations expired long ago , we used to light various items including cherry bombs and i think M40s and toss them down sewers on a popular shopping street ( i will omit the actual location). Lets just say the bang was quite loud. No one was hurt. Enjoy buda and pest
My buddy had a wife (note the past tense) who would lie face down on a beach to nap in the sun, and undo the back of her top so she wouldn’t get tan lines.
Good so far?
She did this on the 4th of July, back in the late 70’s, when guys would still have firecrackers after the team’s spring trip to Florida back in March.
John tied a string of ladyfingers to one of the ends of his future ex-wife’s bikini top.
Hi Bruce one of many differences between the Northeast and Texas is outside city limits there are almost NO limits in fireworks sales or use. Safe travels.
I lived in Boston so, as far as I’m concerned, nothing beats the frenzied camaraderie of the Charles River Esplanade and The 1812 Overture at the Hatch Bandshell with the live cannons roaring and fireworks overhead. It really has to be one of the greatest events in the world, all-time.
The spring after my mother died, spouse and I visited Longwood Gardens in the Brandywine and caught their fountains-and-fireworks show -- accompanied by The 1812 Overture. It was as if, suddenly, I could be thrilled and happy again.
I’ve walked the Commons and stood where those famous speeches were made. What a great city! Funny story: Diet Coke Partner had a conference up there so I went to Sam Adams brewery where they wouldn’t serve me a shot and a beer at the same time. I went for a walkabout and saw a weird wall that looked like it had a door in it. I pressed it and walked into Fenway Park! Wow. I couldn’t believe it was so close in the city and the door wasn’t locked!
I lived in an old Victorian that was divided into apartments, on the top floor. I could sit looking out my dining room window and watch the nightly Disneyland fireworks. It was a spectacular show, with happy faces made out of fireworks, innovative colors and the over the top finale. The first 4th of July I can remember, I was 5 and fascinated by sparklers! Waving them in the air, watching the trail of light.
I worked at Disneyland for three years during college. You couldn’t beat their fireworks - even when it wasn’t the 4th of July! Such pure joy!
The last time we visited, just before evacuating California forever, even the fireworks were ONLY about promoting Disney productions: a constant stream of exploding commercials.
I'm glad I didn't see that. I dated a Jungle Cruise Captain. My son was a submarine Captain when Finding Nemo opened. I held my grandsons on my lap when they got scared of the talking Tikis. Walt would be spinning in his grave over what it has become.
So true. As you know, Walt even had an apartment over Main Street USA. Anyone ever go to Knott’s Scary Farm? I went on a psychedelically enhanced experience in law school.
In the beginning, before haunted attractions were heavily regulated, it was truly terrifying. While in college, most of my fellow theatre students worked it (I had a fiance who demanded at least part of my time). Later, many of my own students worked it. By the time I left California, it had toned down somewhat.
I remember the Apartment. A light was left on at night. I never went to Knott's Scary Farm. Friends still go. It seemed a bit harsh on the scary tactics. I have no wish to pee my pants in public. I went to Universal Studios Halloween bash with mt grown up kids. A masked man with a chainsaw thought about scaring the daylights out of me. I quelled him with a look. It was more fun, less scary.
I grew up in the northeast. The only fireworks I remember people having were sparklers and cherry bombs. There was a 4th of July carnival every year with fireworks which I attended with my family. I don’t recall people setting off firecrackers into all hours of the night when I was young. But when I moved to NC later in life everybody was shooting off everything into the wee hours. Guns too. Crazy. Due to bad weather last night it was quiet. No fireworks anywhere.
As a side note, NoreenL, back in my childhood, my people in middle Georgia did not set off fireworks on the 4th--due to lingering feelings from The Civil War. So, instead, they set off fireworks at Christmas. That's a long gone history now as I've noticed here in SC a LOT of fireworks stands.
Louisa My partner of 18 years went to Mercer for law school and grew up in NC. The first time she went to NYC she said she was shocked to see a statute of General Sherman in a park.
As I told Bruce and have said before, In Texas we play a more wide open style. Everything is permitted in fireworks unless burn bans are in place. We called cherry bombs “smoke bombs” thinking they are the same.
Our town displayed a beautiful fireworks show last night. My favorites were huge bursts of bright green or red that quickly dissipated, but left a surrounding circle of extremely bright white orbs which hovered for several seconds after the initial explosion had faded.
Unfortunately, there was no radio-station synchronized patriotic music to accompany the show this year, because the station is operated by the local university and, you know, Trump and all that.
The concert not so much though. What you see on TV is what a select group of people get to see as the stage is not visible to we hoi polloi who had to watch on big screens.
Thanks, Dunboy. I was going to mention the DC fireworks and music, which we went to MANY times when we lived there for about 35 years before moving to Maine for a retirement adventure. Getting home afterwards was always a trick as lines to the metro were long as the huge crowd dispersed.
45'ish years ago their was a section near the Lincoln Memorial where you could put up a tent, bring beer, grills, the whole nine yards. Even let you park on the grass in West Potomac park (try that today!). It was a 3 day party. :-) If you were standing on the Memorial steps it was the area to the right looking towards the Washington Monument all the way up the reflecting pool.
We had a surplus Army tent, it was huge, no idea how many folks it was designed for but it could hold lots of kegs and lot's of people. Even the police were impressed. Those were different times, before the world lost its mind.
Anyway... it never failed somebody who was military (ex-military? - my assumption) would show up with something truly impressive every year. One year it was some sort of star shell that launched itself out of the reflecting pool and descended on a parachute. Lit the place at up 0200 like it was daylight. I'll never forget that. Good times.
My feelings about 4th of July are rooted in nostalgia. It's just not the same for me due to the childless life, which isn't conducive to holiday celebrations. Also, as an academic worker, summer has historically been incredibly demanding, rendering the 4th a day of lying in bed recovering or worse -- grading.
I've been lingering over a particular memory of gathering in a field to view fireworks where we didn't normally watch them. I was about eight years old, probably wearing the lime green tunic with matching shorts that had a flower pot sewn on the front. It was fascinating to see all of the families come together for this celebration. An inveterate people-watcher, I remember wandering the aisles of cars, creating a taxonomy of families and their behaviors. The suburb NW of Chicago where I grew up was then at the edge of farmland, so there was the sweet smell of cornfields, and big tomatoes ripened in paper bags, and melting tarry roads.
The vastness of this particular field, row upon row of boisterous families all shouting with excitement into the smoggy night air -- it was the manifestation of spectacular. I ran around carrying a sparkler in my hand. We burned the black sulphur "snakes" on flat rocks, leaving black stains.
Somehow I wound up sick when we got home. I can still hear my parents wondering aloud whether I had 'touched something toxic and then put (her) fingers to her mouth.'
Anyway, the 4th was the holiday when everyone in our town gathered in one place, waving our American flags and stirring our sparklers in the air, and it was absolutely magical to me.
What a vivid well rendered memory Underdog! I’d shied away from fireworks purchases myself for many years having no kids but my last partner had a grandson so I broke down when he was about 9 and bought a bag from the stand down the road from my land. He refused to obey me with safety rules so I had to stop. “A taxonomy of families and their behaviors” is a great line. 👍
Lotta similar stuff here so the Rest of The Story: Late '80s in the local volunteer fire department I was one of a couple guys who on the 4th sat with the brush truck in the field from whence the ordnance was launched. Just in case. And a front-row seat... At the end of the night Captain Anal informed the fireworks people that he had counted one too few booms. They agreed, yeah, there was a dud. He told them (accompanied by a couple of the larger PD guys) that they weren't leaving until the round was found. And so, after an hour or so of walking the field with flashlights, it was found. And one of the fireworks crew, a Hollywood-casting-grade, older, dentally-challenged woman, proceeded to pick it apart with her bare fingers to show how it was made... different folks fer sher, but they did put on a good show.
Last night we were subjected to a literally continuous barrage from 8 pm to midnight and then one effing idiot had enough mortars to go to 12:30am. No respite
Ours continued last night until at least 3:30 AM, constant large blasts near and far rattling sleep despite the white noise of an old air conditioner. The air was smoky this morning.
Somewhere I'm sure there are fireworks that begin at 9:30 and end at 10 PM, where families ooh and ah, and then everyone walks, happily, back to quiet homes.
I'm told the Macy's fireworks at the Brooklyn Bridge last night were stupendous, that next year's in celebration of our country's 250 years will be even better, and that six-million visitors will be coming to New York City to watch. I hope I can find the energy to see them and that I do not stay at home snarling about the noisy uneducable locals who make our lives a misery whenever they choose to.
My window unit kept my bedroom silent. Saw the NYC fireworks one year in Manhattan near some large government housing blocks. Crowds were overwhelming so it wasn’t particularly fun.
Same. My 26 year old son, who has Autism, was very agitated. He couldn't go to bed, as the noise was blasting at both sides of our townhome. Our cat and beagle-hound were very stressed, too. We put on movies that made him happy, so that he'd have a positive distraction. Someone was still setting them off at 12:40am. Fortunately, it was at the backside of the townhome, only impacting my bedroom and our family room. I was awake until 1:30. My son was able to get some sleep, though.
As a child, I loved fireworks. It was joyful and simple fun. I don't remember it being an obnoxious, never-ending display of noise. The boxes weren't huge, like they are, now. I've grown to truly despise personal fireworks. When we lived in Michigan, neighbors would set off endless strings of firecrackers, until all our nerves were shot. One year, in my townhome complex, someone set our trash on fire when they tossed the used fireworks. People start setting them off on the 3rd and I wouldn't be surprised if we were "treated" to more, tonight. Even in cities where they have a ban, people still set them off. It just does not feel celebratory to me. It's more like an aggressive assault.
My favorite fireworks are the professional ones, that we watch because we chose to. We go to the Christmas display at Mount Vernon. When we lived at Fort Belvoir, many years ago, they had a wonderful free display that our family enjoyed, until it was axed by budget cuts.
I used to love seeing fireworks also. When I lived in Alexandria, (went to the old mount Vernon HS) a few times we went to the mall or at least got near it. Spectacular. My Mom worked at Ft Belvoir and we used to live in Pinewood Lakes.
But you're right, people are aggressive anymore and it’s nowhere near celebratory if it’s just mortars and firecrackers. I was remarking to my husband this morning that last night would have been a perfect time to shoot people as who could tell what was a shotgun blast or a 9mm in the midst of all that noise.
Small world. One of the communities that banned fireworks is Alexandria. I have a very good friend who lives there and we were exchanging messages about the fireworks noise, last night. Having raised a son with many challenges, connected to Autism, going somewhere like DC has been out of the question, regardless of how close we are. I do love the ones at Mount Vernon and my son manages to tolerate them, because the environment isn't stressful.
Here in Idaho only safe and sane fireworks are allowed. Nobody listens. And nothing ever happens to those who don’t listen, except if they blow their fingers off or burn their house down.
Off topic, but we stood next to an incredibly nice family from Idaho Falls yesterday at our local parade. They were in town with their three kids visiting an aunt, and are off to Alabama today to meet the husband’s biological family for the first time. Hope it goes well.
I’m with you. Our little hometown always put on a great show over the lake that we would go watch, but I’ve also never much liked crowds, either.
I can’t bring myself to buy fireworks. So expensive for so little. Luckily, our neighbor puts on a good show at his parents’ property every year with lots of people who supply the fireworks. We supply 16lbs of pulled pork and a cooler of beer for those that supply the fireworks. The best part is watching the kids as he makes them all put on safety glasses and then lets them take turns lighting little stuff before the bigger show when it gets dark.
I just coat it generously with Byron’s Butt Rub with a little mustard as a binder and then let people pick out their own sauce from a variety we provide to top it off after I’ve pulled it. Seems to work well for big groups.
Best fireworks show I ever saw was in Italy, of all places. It was September of 1995, and three different companies were putting on demo shows as a competition for who was going to win a contract to decide on a provider for a future event. Each team had 30 minutes, and they used every second of those 30 minutes. You would think it could become boring, but each group was creative enough to make it hard to look away.
Similar story for the first laser show I saw. It was synchronized with Beatles music. I remember my face being sore from smiling continuously for what must have been at least an hour.
These things are like continuous visual orgasms! How else to describe them?
A quiet morning here in coastal SC--with some much needed rain falling straight down, so the outdoor room on the screen porch is staying mostly dry. That won't last as we are having the first tropical storm of the season and, later, there will be wind. My only grandchick NOT on American soil right now is in the middle of the Atlantic ocean on a wooden sail boat that is approching the Azores. Daily blogs show a crew and the student passengers having a good time. So far, not much wind or any really high waves. A very loud July 4th last night as neighbors reveled in lots and lots of fireworks they set off for many hours. Lucky for them the night was fairly clear, given the approaching storm. I could hear lots of chatter and laughter. I'm sure the kiddos were delighted, if the doggies were not. Today I will work on some of the MANY quilting projects that are, always, ongoing here, will cook a lamb rack at noon, and will finish the current book I'm reading--one of the last of the Jan Keron Mitford books. On Audible, while sewing, I'm listening to and enjoying THE MEMORY PAINTER, which one of you recommended. It has a fairly novel plot and, of course, a mystery that is rolling out slowly but will be solved.
My favorite lately has become the parachutes. We spend the 4th with my neighbor and a lot of other families with kids. Lots of wide open space, and it’s always fun watching a gaggle of 20-30 kids zigging and zagging as they try to chase down and catch the little army men parachuting back to the ground.
The best thing about cherry bombs and ash cans was the waterproof fuses. So you could light them and they would explode underwater. It was always difficult to get your hands on fireworks in the northeast. But there was always some enterprise person that would go to Chinatown in New York City and score a big ball. I have a really fun story about fireworks that I will try to relate later as we are currently walking around Budapest. Hope everyone had a nice Fourth of July.
Since the statute of limitations expired long ago , we used to light various items including cherry bombs and i think M40s and toss them down sewers on a popular shopping street ( i will omit the actual location). Lets just say the bang was quite loud. No one was hurt. Enjoy buda and pest
Were m-40s the gayer, little brother of M-80s?
Lmfao. Kids here would have fireworks wars and throw them at each other
My buddy had a wife (note the past tense) who would lie face down on a beach to nap in the sun, and undo the back of her top so she wouldn’t get tan lines.
Good so far?
She did this on the 4th of July, back in the late 70’s, when guys would still have firecrackers after the team’s spring trip to Florida back in March.
John tied a string of ladyfingers to one of the ends of his future ex-wife’s bikini top.
Hilarity ensued. At least for us guys…
Oh that’s good!!!! Mine to follow shortly
I can see her being former. But he survived the killing?
Hi Bruce one of many differences between the Northeast and Texas is outside city limits there are almost NO limits in fireworks sales or use. Safe travels.
Tuna fishermen used to use M-80s to drive the tuna to the surface.
I lived in Boston so, as far as I’m concerned, nothing beats the frenzied camaraderie of the Charles River Esplanade and The 1812 Overture at the Hatch Bandshell with the live cannons roaring and fireworks overhead. It really has to be one of the greatest events in the world, all-time.
The spring after my mother died, spouse and I visited Longwood Gardens in the Brandywine and caught their fountains-and-fireworks show -- accompanied by The 1812 Overture. It was as if, suddenly, I could be thrilled and happy again.
Pretty emotional.
Beautiful, B
When you think of the sparkle and the effervescence of fireworks, they’re kind of like champagne for your eyes and ears!
I was there in 1976 listening to Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops!
My Boston pal Paulie asked me what Arthur Fiedler was doing lately.
"Decomposing," he laughed.
I’ve walked the Commons and stood where those famous speeches were made. What a great city! Funny story: Diet Coke Partner had a conference up there so I went to Sam Adams brewery where they wouldn’t serve me a shot and a beer at the same time. I went for a walkabout and saw a weird wall that looked like it had a door in it. I pressed it and walked into Fenway Park! Wow. I couldn’t believe it was so close in the city and the door wasn’t locked!
I lived in an old Victorian that was divided into apartments, on the top floor. I could sit looking out my dining room window and watch the nightly Disneyland fireworks. It was a spectacular show, with happy faces made out of fireworks, innovative colors and the over the top finale. The first 4th of July I can remember, I was 5 and fascinated by sparklers! Waving them in the air, watching the trail of light.
I worked at Disneyland for three years during college. You couldn’t beat their fireworks - even when it wasn’t the 4th of July! Such pure joy!
The last time we visited, just before evacuating California forever, even the fireworks were ONLY about promoting Disney productions: a constant stream of exploding commercials.
I'm glad I didn't see that. I dated a Jungle Cruise Captain. My son was a submarine Captain when Finding Nemo opened. I held my grandsons on my lap when they got scared of the talking Tikis. Walt would be spinning in his grave over what it has become.
So true. As you know, Walt even had an apartment over Main Street USA. Anyone ever go to Knott’s Scary Farm? I went on a psychedelically enhanced experience in law school.
In the beginning, before haunted attractions were heavily regulated, it was truly terrifying. While in college, most of my fellow theatre students worked it (I had a fiance who demanded at least part of my time). Later, many of my own students worked it. By the time I left California, it had toned down somewhat.
I remember the Apartment. A light was left on at night. I never went to Knott's Scary Farm. Friends still go. It seemed a bit harsh on the scary tactics. I have no wish to pee my pants in public. I went to Universal Studios Halloween bash with mt grown up kids. A masked man with a chainsaw thought about scaring the daylights out of me. I quelled him with a look. It was more fun, less scary.
Yes, he would. Poor Walt!
I grew up in the northeast. The only fireworks I remember people having were sparklers and cherry bombs. There was a 4th of July carnival every year with fireworks which I attended with my family. I don’t recall people setting off firecrackers into all hours of the night when I was young. But when I moved to NC later in life everybody was shooting off everything into the wee hours. Guns too. Crazy. Due to bad weather last night it was quiet. No fireworks anywhere.
As a side note, NoreenL, back in my childhood, my people in middle Georgia did not set off fireworks on the 4th--due to lingering feelings from The Civil War. So, instead, they set off fireworks at Christmas. That's a long gone history now as I've noticed here in SC a LOT of fireworks stands.
Louisa My partner of 18 years went to Mercer for law school and grew up in NC. The first time she went to NYC she said she was shocked to see a statute of General Sherman in a park.
You had to have connections. In Chinatown or the mooks in Brooklyn.
We even got M-80s and some rockets.
As I told Bruce and have said before, In Texas we play a more wide open style. Everything is permitted in fireworks unless burn bans are in place. We called cherry bombs “smoke bombs” thinking they are the same.
Our town displayed a beautiful fireworks show last night. My favorites were huge bursts of bright green or red that quickly dissipated, but left a surrounding circle of extremely bright white orbs which hovered for several seconds after the initial explosion had faded.
Unfortunately, there was no radio-station synchronized patriotic music to accompany the show this year, because the station is operated by the local university and, you know, Trump and all that.
The fireworks in DC are magnificent.
The concert not so much though. What you see on TV is what a select group of people get to see as the stage is not visible to we hoi polloi who had to watch on big screens.
Thanks, Dunboy. I was going to mention the DC fireworks and music, which we went to MANY times when we lived there for about 35 years before moving to Maine for a retirement adventure. Getting home afterwards was always a trick as lines to the metro were long as the huge crowd dispersed.
Really? Weird. TV Fox News Live just showed the fireworks which I enjoyed. They were switching to fireworks displays all across the country.
45'ish years ago their was a section near the Lincoln Memorial where you could put up a tent, bring beer, grills, the whole nine yards. Even let you park on the grass in West Potomac park (try that today!). It was a 3 day party. :-) If you were standing on the Memorial steps it was the area to the right looking towards the Washington Monument all the way up the reflecting pool.
We had a surplus Army tent, it was huge, no idea how many folks it was designed for but it could hold lots of kegs and lot's of people. Even the police were impressed. Those were different times, before the world lost its mind.
Anyway... it never failed somebody who was military (ex-military? - my assumption) would show up with something truly impressive every year. One year it was some sort of star shell that launched itself out of the reflecting pool and descended on a parachute. Lit the place at up 0200 like it was daylight. I'll never forget that. Good times.
Wow. Sounds awesome. In 76 in Boston they were supposed to have the biggest firework EVUH. Turned out to be a dud. 🎆
My feelings about 4th of July are rooted in nostalgia. It's just not the same for me due to the childless life, which isn't conducive to holiday celebrations. Also, as an academic worker, summer has historically been incredibly demanding, rendering the 4th a day of lying in bed recovering or worse -- grading.
I've been lingering over a particular memory of gathering in a field to view fireworks where we didn't normally watch them. I was about eight years old, probably wearing the lime green tunic with matching shorts that had a flower pot sewn on the front. It was fascinating to see all of the families come together for this celebration. An inveterate people-watcher, I remember wandering the aisles of cars, creating a taxonomy of families and their behaviors. The suburb NW of Chicago where I grew up was then at the edge of farmland, so there was the sweet smell of cornfields, and big tomatoes ripened in paper bags, and melting tarry roads.
The vastness of this particular field, row upon row of boisterous families all shouting with excitement into the smoggy night air -- it was the manifestation of spectacular. I ran around carrying a sparkler in my hand. We burned the black sulphur "snakes" on flat rocks, leaving black stains.
Somehow I wound up sick when we got home. I can still hear my parents wondering aloud whether I had 'touched something toxic and then put (her) fingers to her mouth.'
Anyway, the 4th was the holiday when everyone in our town gathered in one place, waving our American flags and stirring our sparklers in the air, and it was absolutely magical to me.
What a vivid well rendered memory Underdog! I’d shied away from fireworks purchases myself for many years having no kids but my last partner had a grandson so I broke down when he was about 9 and bought a bag from the stand down the road from my land. He refused to obey me with safety rules so I had to stop. “A taxonomy of families and their behaviors” is a great line. 👍
Thank you. And good that you took the privilege away for not obeying safety rules. Hopefully, that boy learned a valuable lesson.
Yeah. Don’t do them when adults are around.
Sadly...
Beautiful, Under Dog!
Lotta similar stuff here so the Rest of The Story: Late '80s in the local volunteer fire department I was one of a couple guys who on the 4th sat with the brush truck in the field from whence the ordnance was launched. Just in case. And a front-row seat... At the end of the night Captain Anal informed the fireworks people that he had counted one too few booms. They agreed, yeah, there was a dud. He told them (accompanied by a couple of the larger PD guys) that they weren't leaving until the round was found. And so, after an hour or so of walking the field with flashlights, it was found. And one of the fireworks crew, a Hollywood-casting-grade, older, dentally-challenged woman, proceeded to pick it apart with her bare fingers to show how it was made... different folks fer sher, but they did put on a good show.
Last night we were subjected to a literally continuous barrage from 8 pm to midnight and then one effing idiot had enough mortars to go to 12:30am. No respite
Hopefully they have none left for tonight.
Ours continued last night until at least 3:30 AM, constant large blasts near and far rattling sleep despite the white noise of an old air conditioner. The air was smoky this morning.
Somewhere I'm sure there are fireworks that begin at 9:30 and end at 10 PM, where families ooh and ah, and then everyone walks, happily, back to quiet homes.
I'm told the Macy's fireworks at the Brooklyn Bridge last night were stupendous, that next year's in celebration of our country's 250 years will be even better, and that six-million visitors will be coming to New York City to watch. I hope I can find the energy to see them and that I do not stay at home snarling about the noisy uneducable locals who make our lives a misery whenever they choose to.
My window unit kept my bedroom silent. Saw the NYC fireworks one year in Manhattan near some large government housing blocks. Crowds were overwhelming so it wasn’t particularly fun.
Same. My 26 year old son, who has Autism, was very agitated. He couldn't go to bed, as the noise was blasting at both sides of our townhome. Our cat and beagle-hound were very stressed, too. We put on movies that made him happy, so that he'd have a positive distraction. Someone was still setting them off at 12:40am. Fortunately, it was at the backside of the townhome, only impacting my bedroom and our family room. I was awake until 1:30. My son was able to get some sleep, though.
As a child, I loved fireworks. It was joyful and simple fun. I don't remember it being an obnoxious, never-ending display of noise. The boxes weren't huge, like they are, now. I've grown to truly despise personal fireworks. When we lived in Michigan, neighbors would set off endless strings of firecrackers, until all our nerves were shot. One year, in my townhome complex, someone set our trash on fire when they tossed the used fireworks. People start setting them off on the 3rd and I wouldn't be surprised if we were "treated" to more, tonight. Even in cities where they have a ban, people still set them off. It just does not feel celebratory to me. It's more like an aggressive assault.
My favorite fireworks are the professional ones, that we watch because we chose to. We go to the Christmas display at Mount Vernon. When we lived at Fort Belvoir, many years ago, they had a wonderful free display that our family enjoyed, until it was axed by budget cuts.
I used to love seeing fireworks also. When I lived in Alexandria, (went to the old mount Vernon HS) a few times we went to the mall or at least got near it. Spectacular. My Mom worked at Ft Belvoir and we used to live in Pinewood Lakes.
But you're right, people are aggressive anymore and it’s nowhere near celebratory if it’s just mortars and firecrackers. I was remarking to my husband this morning that last night would have been a perfect time to shoot people as who could tell what was a shotgun blast or a 9mm in the midst of all that noise.
Small world. One of the communities that banned fireworks is Alexandria. I have a very good friend who lives there and we were exchanging messages about the fireworks noise, last night. Having raised a son with many challenges, connected to Autism, going somewhere like DC has been out of the question, regardless of how close we are. I do love the ones at Mount Vernon and my son manages to tolerate them, because the environment isn't stressful.
Here in Idaho only safe and sane fireworks are allowed. Nobody listens. And nothing ever happens to those who don’t listen, except if they blow their fingers off or burn their house down.
Ha! Let me know If you need defense counsel, Unwoke. Aim well. 😂
Off topic, but we stood next to an incredibly nice family from Idaho Falls yesterday at our local parade. They were in town with their three kids visiting an aunt, and are off to Alabama today to meet the husband’s biological family for the first time. Hope it goes well.
It's been astonishingly quiet here in northern PRNJ. No explanation.
I’ve always thought maybe there’s something wrong with me that I just can’t care about fireworks.
Sure, they’re pretty for a few minutes but meh. Whatever.
I also think I read/heard that they are bad for the environment. Not sure on that one.
EVERYTHING is bad for the environment. To some.
I’m with you. Our little hometown always put on a great show over the lake that we would go watch, but I’ve also never much liked crowds, either.
I can’t bring myself to buy fireworks. So expensive for so little. Luckily, our neighbor puts on a good show at his parents’ property every year with lots of people who supply the fireworks. We supply 16lbs of pulled pork and a cooler of beer for those that supply the fireworks. The best part is watching the kids as he makes them all put on safety glasses and then lets them take turns lighting little stuff before the bigger show when it gets dark.
I’d love a taste of that pulled pork but I hope y’all don’t use that vinegar BBQ sauce. Not a fan.
I just coat it generously with Byron’s Butt Rub with a little mustard as a binder and then let people pick out their own sauce from a variety we provide to top it off after I’ve pulled it. Seems to work well for big groups.
Celia, I will do my best to send you some pictures today.
You can have my fireworks when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.............which are lying right over there in the gutter.
Perfect!
Best fireworks show I ever saw was in Italy, of all places. It was September of 1995, and three different companies were putting on demo shows as a competition for who was going to win a contract to decide on a provider for a future event. Each team had 30 minutes, and they used every second of those 30 minutes. You would think it could become boring, but each group was creative enough to make it hard to look away.
Similar story for the first laser show I saw. It was synchronized with Beatles music. I remember my face being sore from smiling continuously for what must have been at least an hour.
These things are like continuous visual orgasms! How else to describe them?
A quiet morning here in coastal SC--with some much needed rain falling straight down, so the outdoor room on the screen porch is staying mostly dry. That won't last as we are having the first tropical storm of the season and, later, there will be wind. My only grandchick NOT on American soil right now is in the middle of the Atlantic ocean on a wooden sail boat that is approching the Azores. Daily blogs show a crew and the student passengers having a good time. So far, not much wind or any really high waves. A very loud July 4th last night as neighbors reveled in lots and lots of fireworks they set off for many hours. Lucky for them the night was fairly clear, given the approaching storm. I could hear lots of chatter and laughter. I'm sure the kiddos were delighted, if the doggies were not. Today I will work on some of the MANY quilting projects that are, always, ongoing here, will cook a lamb rack at noon, and will finish the current book I'm reading--one of the last of the Jan Keron Mitford books. On Audible, while sewing, I'm listening to and enjoying THE MEMORY PAINTER, which one of you recommended. It has a fairly novel plot and, of course, a mystery that is rolling out slowly but will be solved.
My favorite lately has become the parachutes. We spend the 4th with my neighbor and a lot of other families with kids. Lots of wide open space, and it’s always fun watching a gaggle of 20-30 kids zigging and zagging as they try to chase down and catch the little army men parachuting back to the ground.
My favorite kind of fireworks is the kind that nobody in the neighborhood sets off after 11pm, when I’ve finally been able to fall asleep.