Independence Day
Last night I went out to a field along many other of the city's denizens for live music and fireworks to celebrate the Fourth of July. I don't know why the city celebrates it July 3rd, but whatever. First there were a couple of bands that were country-bluegrassy-sounding. I bought a funnel cake because I haven't tried it before, and set up my somewhat hideously bright yellow checkered plaid mat on the grass.
I ate an entire powdered sugar-covered funnel cake by myself. By the time I was done, I looked like a crackhead because there was white powder all over the front of my shirt, shorts, shoes, and purse. Anyhow, I learned a few things about this carnival food:
1) Funnel cakes are really good only when hot. When they cool, the sugar turns into an icky clumpy layer as it bonds with the oil.
2) They're a lot like doughnuts because they're fried dough.
3) The vendors were turning a huge profit because the funnel cakes were $5 a pop. Not bad for pancake/biscuit mix that's "watered down" with plain white flour and simply drizzled over a vat of hot oil. (I watched.)
4) They're like tempura-battered cheesecake in the sense that they're so oily and sweet that I can probably go at least 5 years without eating one again.
I was unable to get anyone to come with me, so I just sat on my mat and alternately listened to the music and read my (paper) journal. I was supposed to be writing in it, but it's been 8 months so I read it to see what I was doing last year. Thunder rumbled ominously a few times, we got a few stray raindrops and flashes of distant lightning, but the weather held out all evening. It wasn't terribly hot either for Florida in the summer. Better yet, no bugs -- guess that spray I used really does work. Earlier that day I had said to my coworker that I was OK if I couldn't find anyone to come with me because I would just lie in the middle of the field and write in my journal as I listened to the music. She laughed and said, "Aww, you're so emo today." And here I had thought I sounded more like a pretentious wannabe-artist. :-)
The city orchestra started performing at 9 p.m. As I stood and listened to the national anthem, I felt a surge of pride and affection for the USA...it's a great country with great ideals. It's just the people that don't know how to properly execute those ideals that screw things up. Yes, I'm talking about our current, arrogant, soon-to-be-exiting administration and its big business cronies. I try to not be a knee-jerk (moderate) liberal because I think we need more than one strong party to keep things in balance, but the Republican party and conservatives who keep proclaiming they are morally superior in every way have been irking me for nearly a decade. I happen to be a quasi-spiritual heathen with actual principles and standards, thank you very much.
The fireworks started at 9:40 p.m. and continued for about 25 minutes. The orchestra continuned to play throughout. It was better than I expected because I didn't think we'd be so close. It wasn't bad at all for something that's more of a small-city production. I tried to take photos of the dazzling display, but gave up after a few tries. I'm no pro and my camera-phone isn't that great. Besides, I was missing the show as I was trying to take crappy photos, just like when I was at that Travis concert last year. I don't know how to describe a fireworks display, except that it was nearly blinding at times, and beautiful. Many other writers have already done the job.
I ate an entire powdered sugar-covered funnel cake by myself. By the time I was done, I looked like a crackhead because there was white powder all over the front of my shirt, shorts, shoes, and purse. Anyhow, I learned a few things about this carnival food:
1) Funnel cakes are really good only when hot. When they cool, the sugar turns into an icky clumpy layer as it bonds with the oil.
2) They're a lot like doughnuts because they're fried dough.
3) The vendors were turning a huge profit because the funnel cakes were $5 a pop. Not bad for pancake/biscuit mix that's "watered down" with plain white flour and simply drizzled over a vat of hot oil. (I watched.)
4) They're like tempura-battered cheesecake in the sense that they're so oily and sweet that I can probably go at least 5 years without eating one again.
I was unable to get anyone to come with me, so I just sat on my mat and alternately listened to the music and read my (paper) journal. I was supposed to be writing in it, but it's been 8 months so I read it to see what I was doing last year. Thunder rumbled ominously a few times, we got a few stray raindrops and flashes of distant lightning, but the weather held out all evening. It wasn't terribly hot either for Florida in the summer. Better yet, no bugs -- guess that spray I used really does work. Earlier that day I had said to my coworker that I was OK if I couldn't find anyone to come with me because I would just lie in the middle of the field and write in my journal as I listened to the music. She laughed and said, "Aww, you're so emo today." And here I had thought I sounded more like a pretentious wannabe-artist. :-)
The city orchestra started performing at 9 p.m. As I stood and listened to the national anthem, I felt a surge of pride and affection for the USA...it's a great country with great ideals. It's just the people that don't know how to properly execute those ideals that screw things up. Yes, I'm talking about our current, arrogant, soon-to-be-exiting administration and its big business cronies. I try to not be a knee-jerk (moderate) liberal because I think we need more than one strong party to keep things in balance, but the Republican party and conservatives who keep proclaiming they are morally superior in every way have been irking me for nearly a decade. I happen to be a quasi-spiritual heathen with actual principles and standards, thank you very much.
The fireworks started at 9:40 p.m. and continued for about 25 minutes. The orchestra continuned to play throughout. It was better than I expected because I didn't think we'd be so close. It wasn't bad at all for something that's more of a small-city production. I tried to take photos of the dazzling display, but gave up after a few tries. I'm no pro and my camera-phone isn't that great. Besides, I was missing the show as I was trying to take crappy photos, just like when I was at that Travis concert last year. I don't know how to describe a fireworks display, except that it was nearly blinding at times, and beautiful. Many other writers have already done the job.