3 Nights of Fireworks

I spent the afternoon on the couch, nearly comatose, recovering from three nights of kabooming and kapowing as we celebrated the nation's birthday all across south-central and south-western Indiana driving a Subaru Forrester so loaded down with fireworks that I'm sure we violated some sort of law. It's a good thing we didn't have any collisions because we'd all likely be in pieces floating somewhere around Evansville right now.

It all started with a day of hooky and a night at the Sweetwater Lakehouse where Jeff gave Team Vielee-Reed a sampling of what was to come. It was a fun day at the lake where Alison dove right in -- clothes on-- playing mostly with the boys at the new beach and going down the dock slide about 750 times.

We'd planned to make it to the Linton, IN 4th of July parade but between a late morning start and rain that just wouldn't end, we didn't make it. We did, however, make a few stops at fireworks stands along the way. Not that Jeff cheated on Tom Vielee -- we just had to shop the wares....

Friday found us at another lake -- this one in Greene County and the property of my cousin Howard's brother-in-law, Jeff Blanton. Jeff is also the brother of one of my best friends from school, Lea Anne (Blanton) Stone. It was my second visit to the place -- the first last year for a high school reunion-ish party where Jeff made the mistake of telling me we could come back anytime. The gathering was a mix of friends and family -- much like the whole town of Jasonville is. I'm pretty sure we'll be there again...

My sister Nancy's daughter Acacia is now best friends with Lea Anne's daughter Karetta. (I know I'm spelling that wrong.) I can only hope they have as much fun as Lea Anne and I used to have. Jeff and Howard were the fireworks kings, and they managed to limit us to only one near miss. They were firing across the lake when one tipped over, skipping straight at us across the water like a perfectly flat stone. The water saved us.

Saturday we were at Donna's house for another huge collection of friends and family. Brother-in-law No. 1 Jim Bradbury fixes beans over a wood fire in a black witch's cauldron every year, and he was in fine form for it this weekend. Donna made (from scratch) three kinds of bread, 6 pies and laid out an assortment of fruits and veggies that must have cleared out the produce aisle of at least one supermarket.

There was talk of home-made ice-cream but Debbie was in charge of that and it mysteriously disappeared. Becca and I tried our hand at a pineapple upside down cake, but I mostly kept close to my specialty: cleaning up. You can't really poison anyone cleaning up, and it's a chore that needs doing.

Jeff, who'd worried that he'd not blasted enough fire the night before, fretted all day Saturday thinking he didn't have enough. He managed to keep us looking skyward for at least an hour. With no water to shield us, the fireworks seemed to be exploding right on top of us. (Some claimed shrapnel drifted down on them, but no one lit up.)

All in all, it was a mighty fine 4th of July Weekend. I'm glad I had that extra day...