Happy Independence Day!
It's not every Fourth of July that you get to see fireworks displays in a half-dozen different towns, but that is and experience that I can claim for myself this year. Of course, most of them are betwen five and fifteen miles away, and fireworks that are silent and about a quarter inch high on the horizon aren't quite the same as those you get to see (and hear) exploding right over your head, but it's still quite an experience. The trick is, we're staying here at a house in Wellfleet that's pretty much right on the beach, and we can see pyrotechnic displays from all the way down the Cape, from places we can't even see over the horizon in the daytime. Seeing six or seven simultaneous fireworks shows, however miniature, is quite an experience in any case.
I'm reminded of the last time I was down the South Shore for the Fourth. It was in Scituate, and we were similarly staying in a place right on the beach. We watched the fireworks, and they were impressive as you would expect. A little while after the show was over, though, a thunderstorm came up, or came down or whatever, right on top of us, and the constant lightning strikes across the horizon put the fireworks to shame. The noise was pretty impressive too. Just because I liked that natural display better than our national pastime of blowing things up, though, doesn't mean I hate America. Really! I love the USA!
Happy Fourth of July, everyone!