Fireworks I Have Known

I have been around a long time and always loved fireworks displays.  The first ones I remember, but admittedly pretty vague by now, were scary displays sent out on the beach at Lake Erie.  I remember sitting with my parents in Adirondack chairs with other people watching a neighborhood display sent out over the lake after a huge picnic for all the cottage dwellers and their guests.  I can remember being scared from the noise but thrilled with the colors and excitement.

fireworks over the lake

After we moved to the suburbs my little village sponsored a yearly display on the golf course that the whole town would attend.  I was in elementary school and loved seeing all our friends and neighborhood kids running on the fairways waiting for it to start.  I can remember the fringed wool plaid blanket we sat on, too scratchy for  bed according to my mother, but fine for outdoor use.  For those years I am not sure if I was more excited over the social aspect of the night or the actual fireworks, but it was the 50's and the display was put on by the fire department so got pretty sophisticated with multiple send offs and a real finale.  It didn't last to the 60's because of the dangers involved, and we missed it for years after it stopped.

boo hoo, no more fireworks here

When I lived in Back Bay in the late 60's I would walk a block over to the Esplanade and stand and watch after the Pops played.  Back then the crowds were doable, and it was really fun.  Now one must go stake out space early in the day and sit there waiting all day and evening in order to see it cheek by jowl with half a million of your new best friends.  We have some classy friends with a condo that overlooks the Esplanade and we went there one year and saw it from their rooftop-  that was spectacular, but we had to walk all the way back to Brookline afterwards-  couldn't get near a subway and the crowds were surging down the centers of the main streets aiming for ANY means of transportation!  I hate crowds like that but soldiered on- got to the car two hours later (only about 2 miles).  You walked where they carried you-  no way could you get out of the mass of people!  

over the Esplanade

It used to be really fun to see displays with the kids and friends, I do miss it.  One year we were on a ski mountain near Bridgeton Maine-  that was the best.  All the townspeople were lying on the mountain, lots of space for families, and the display went off from a nearby mountainside-  spectacular against that completely black sky, and the kids still talk about that magical night.

on a mountain in Maine

Another year we were in DC for the 4th and they set off a major display there-  we had reservations in a restaurant overlooking the mall and it was wonderful until a young girl caught fire from something falling before it went off.  

spectacular in DC

No fireworks here last night, and I am dreading tonight with Molly who freaks out when she hears a distant rumble.  Every town around here puts on some sort of display and we can hear them all in sequence around us-  bet they will be big tonight and tomorrow, then sporadic on Monday as teenagers set off rogue clusters of leftover contraband.  But tonight I see it on tv with a shaking panting dog in my lap.  TY is in CT for the weekend and I am breathing free and in charge of my own remote.  Happy Fourth Y'all!  

in my own mind