Poof!
Day after fireworks is like the end of a fairy tale where the curious servant boy wakes up in his hut after following twelve princesses through hidden door and witnessing a glorious ball. Only the shiny golden rose petal clutched in his fist convinces him it was real.
On the 4th it's all action and noise around here - cars driving down our narrow street in search of parking (dream on!); parties in every unit in every building; boats clustered at end of the lake; the fireworks barge filling the middle, steadied by two police boats and a huge green and white tug. All day there is music from the park, where an unbelievable crowd fills every bit of the hillside. If you can see any green, it's too early for fireworks.
Then darkness falls, about 9:45, and soon comes the "whap whap whap" of a giant Huey circling the lake, carrying a huge flag that is illuminated by a spotlight mounted at the park.
After that, the fireworks. Noise, light, color, magic, reverberations that shake balcony railings. At the end, a huge cheer erupts from thousands of watchers.
On the 5th - silence. The barge is gone, all but a few boats have disappeared. There are parking places on the street, and only a few empty amateur fireworks to commemorate the night before. Park crews come out early to pick up tons of trash.
A good day for reading. I picked up a used copy of Anna Karenina, in the latest translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky - a nice fat 19th-century novel, excellent reading for quiet summer weekends. Even if you have never read the novel, you know its opening sentence: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
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