curving back in bursts

curving back in bursts

of blue red white supernovas

this calm summer night

We arrive on the northwest side of Pleasant Lake for the July 4th celebration in the late evening. Good thing we came while it is still light because we have to wade through boot-sucking mud. Most folks are sitting on blankets or camp chairs on the beach on the southwest end of the lake, but I want an unobstructed view for my camera. While I set up the tripod, mosquitoes bump against my face, thankfully discouraged by herbal repellent. Then we wait for it to get dark. Suddenly, the sky across the lake bursts with sound and light, shimmering reflections in the water.

The finale comes all too soon, a cacophony of rapid-fire multiple explosions layered one on top of the other. Then silence. Is it over? The crowd at the end of the lake cheers and claps. Yes, it's over for another year. We turn on our flashlights and slog back along the swampy path, eyes and ears still dazzled by the show.

curving back on white

curving back on white

plumes, green smoke spiraling down

over the night lake

One of the first fireworks to go off looks like a question mark rising over the dark line of trees along the east side of Pleasant Lake. But what is the question?

Independence Day falls on a Saturday this year, so fireworks in Fairfield are happening on the actual Fourth of July. Some years the event is moved to a different date, to suit work schedules, I guess. I don't think the city planners feel like John Adams, who refused for the rest of his life to attend celebrations on the 4th, because the Declaration of Independence was signed on the 2nd of July, though it was adopted on the 4th.

Last year the show was rained out, so this year we are getting a double dose, some with colors I've never seen before -- turquoise, lavender, orange.

We find space on the grass in a clearing on the north end of the lake, in the midst of a small gathering of like-minded people avoiding the crowded beach on the south end.

We cheer at each unique pattern of cascading plumes and points.

A light breeze keeps the mosquitoes away.

And maybe the smoke drifting our way across the lake from the incendiary explosions.

Some of the displays look like abstract paintings.

And some look like photographs of supernovae or colliding galaxies.

And some are signs of light, appearing for a heartbeat in the blackness, mysterious answer to an unfathomable question.

golden daylily

golden daylily

bursting forth on July Fourth

in a cloud of silk

The Fourth of July fell on a Friday this year. Because it was the first Friday of the month, our monthly Art Walk, our city's fireworks were scheduled for Saturday. This year, 2014, is the 175th anniversary of the founding of Fairfield, and the display was going to be the biggest ever. But on Saturday it rained barrels, so it befell Fairfield that the fireworks display was canceled. The rain date? Labor Day! But on Friday, people turned out in their red, white and blue stars and stripes to enjoy Art Walk, and I enjoyed watching the people. On the way home, I got to see some fireworks set off from the tiny town of Sturbridge south of where we live.
         

The day ends with a bearded man wearing a brown bowler and PEACE on his back slowly walking away through the long shadows.

fire flowers reflecting

fire flowers reflecting

in the lake, mirroring the light

of the rising moon

We sit on a blanket at the end of the lake, waiting for the sky to get dark enough for fireworks. It's still hot for this Fourth of July celebration even though the sun has left us for the other side of the world. A few stars pinprick the darkness. Finally, at 10 pm, the bang and bursting lights begin. Each colorful fire flower briefly illuminates the black sky, reflecting in the black water. Toward the end of the show, another light begins to glow below the the line of trees. As the explosive display ends, the bright, just-past-full moon rises, lighting our way home.

July Fourth -- blue sky

July Fourth – blue sky,

picnic, baseball, firecrackers, 

feeding honey bees 

A perfect day to celebrate Independence. Everywhere I look I see red, white and blue. Blue sky and sunshine outlining everything in white highlights. Family and friends gather for a picnic. Uncle John's special barbecue sauce on the ribs, Italian bread, red raspberry and apples in the fruit salad, cherry tomatoes, potato salad, homemade lemonade in a blue jug, cookies and cream ice cream. The grownup Little League baseball players put on gloves and pitch a white baseball around the circle. The kids and grownup kids set off bottle rockets and firecrackers in red-white-blue wrappers. Our apiarist dons her white suit and opens the white bee hives to feed the honey bees sugar water.