The Rockets' Red Glare

Thursday, July 7, 2005

Yes, the fireworks had been a magnificent display. What with all the boys nearly blowing each other up, Joe dancing around the fountains in an Indian war dance, and all the kids (including OLeif) inventing new ways to shoot everything off… it was quite an enjoyable experience.

The adults and Collette watched up on the hill in camp chairs with a small cooler of sodas and juices for the little girls, who were all sitting on top of each other in one big pile on one chair, all four of them.

There were some colossal bangs and strobes that went on, and the small flock of white ducks at the other end of the lake hurried off upon their arrival.

Once the rosy sun had set beyond the lake houses, they brought out the big guns and soon great bursts and sizzlings and dazzlings of color and fire lit up the night sky. It was a good way to end the holiday with the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air…

And speaking of rockets, Ivy had returned safely from Cape Canaveral and the rest of Florida. For not having enjoyed Cocoa Beach, she did see dolphins and manatees in the lagoon. And after Universal Studios, Sea World, and a beautiful beach where she collected shells, her favorite site, perhaps, was Cape Canaveral. She even brought back for Collette, a deck of cards with a unique space-themed picture on each card.

And it was definitely a day for travel. Collette was reminded by various things throughout the afternoon, of their trips to Colorado, the Tetons, Maine and Michigan, Mom’s and Dad’s pictures from Europe… It made her want to pack her bags just listening to Ivy describe the great time they had in Florida. Even Florida was beginning to sound appealing to Collette, which it never had before in the past. And they were sure to hear more about the great things of travel when Carrie returned that evening.

Meanwhile, on the sad side of things… a series of bombs had detonated in London that morning, (likely by Al Qaeda), killing at least thirty-seven people. The news labeled the incident as the worst attack on London since World War II. The explosion must have been quite significant to merit such a headline. Although the media had ways of dramatizing everything; it was hard to know how bad a situation really was until one heard from other sources.

And in the western hemisphere, hurricane season raged in the Atlantic.