Happy Fourth of July

My celebration of the 4th was going to be to take Jacob to the neighborhood parade. When he woke up, all sweet because he was still sleepy, he said, "I've never seen a parade." I explained this would be a small one. We picked out his clothes, I fixed his breakfast, and he announced: I've been to a parade. I don't got to go again." He adamantly did not want to go. Turned out he was fearful there would be fireworks, which I assured him there wouldn't. He still didn't want to go, so I put on my "house" clothes again and went out to water plants on the porch--where I saw all kinds of neighbors walking toward the parade, including my next-door neighbors that Jacob considers his special friends. When I reported this, he said, "I want to go." So we got dressed, with him shouting, "Hurry up, Juju!" And we went to the parade, which truly was a bit of a disappointment--except Jacob was enthralled by the kid who had a miniature motor-powered car. It was mostly neighbors walking, some with decorated wagons or other children's vehicles, then a police car,and  the cars. Jacob wasn't much taken by my suggestion that next year we could decorate my VW bug convertible and drive in the parade.
Earlier that morning I'd noticed that my black bag of clippings was gone from the front  yard--I planned to work some more on cone flowers tonight. Then I saw that the cone flowers had all been cut back. I "accused" Jay and Susan next door but they denied it. At the parade, Jacob and I parked ourselves by Greg and Jaimie's house, Greg being the one who keeps my garden lovely. Turns out they had come up at 6:30 in the morning and done it because Jaimie said to Greg, "We've got to do something about Judy's flowers." Greg has a new pacemaker and is not supposed to do ANTYHING! But he said Jaimie brought him up and she bagged while he cut. Such wonderful neighbors. He says he feels great and hates his house arrest.
Jacob left at noon to go to a nearby lake with his parents and then watch the fireworks at the country club. That two-faced child told his dad he wasn't afraid of fireworks and he hadn't said that at all. I'd misunderstood him. Yeah, sure.
It seems I'm in deep disgrace tonight. I wrote Colin to ask how their day was and he pointedly wrote back to say it was fine and so was their eleventh anniversary yesterday--plus he still carries a grudge because I didn't call on his birthday, though honest I didn't forget it--I called the next morning. Birthdays I always remember but I'm not so good at anniversaries. But, yes, they married eleven years ago on Grand Cayman and we all had a blast at the wedding. If I forgot that one, then I also forgot Jamie and Mel's fourteenth which was June 27 or 29--see, I'm not even sure what date. Contrary to Colin's conviction, it does not mean that I love my sons less--it just means that I am forgetful about anniversaries. But I hereby publicly apologize and wish all parties many more years of happiness.
Something else I forgot: one of the members of my memoir class asked me to look at the first eighty pages of her memoir--weeks ago. It dawned on me today I hadn't done it, so that was how I spent the day. Tonight back to work on my own stuff, until it's time to take a glass of wine to the porch and listen to the fireworks. Jacob said he just wanted to hear them, not see them, and I agree. Sitting directly under them always makes me think I'm going to have a heart attack!

Too Old to be a Tekkie?

I got a new iPhone for Christmas, Lisa got an iPad and, and I was learning to add RSS feeds to my Outlook--big learning curve for both of us, Last night, Colin was going crazy, as one or the other of us called out, "Colin, I need help!" He declares that the problem with both of us is that we are impatient and want instant results. When I said I'd lost the Facebook icon on my phone, he found it. Today, he patiently walked me through adding an RSS feed again, and now I'm proficient at it. Well, sort of. I added Facebook to my phone all by myself, can take and send photos so I think I'm pretty good. I've had lots of trouble with the keypad--my fingers are too big. I bought a stylus and still rely on it a lot but I noticed today my fingers are doing better. Last night Lisa stayed up until 1:30 learning her iPad but before I went to bed she gave me a tour (on the iPad) of Central America. Then Morgan tried to show me Houston, and we got hopelessly lost in North America until we both collapsed in giggles. Jordan has announced she got a laptop for Christmas and she expects Colin's help with it tomorrow. Colin actually brags on me that for an old lady I'm a pretty quick learner for tech things--ah, triumph!

We decided we were housebound yesterday and had cabin fever, so today we went shopping--for fireworks, no less (Yes, I frowned in disapproval) and then to a clothing store where I bought a cute top I think I'll wear a lot. Later, we got out for a test run of blowing up their gingerbread houses that Colin and the children make from scratch. Apparently for the Houston Alters this is a tradition on New Year's Day, but they decided to do it early this year for the benefit of nephew Sawyer who loves explosions. I'll try to post the video below. We drove to a levee, far from houses, and did the test, which made Lisa scream and then laugh. But then everone looked for sparks that might ignite dry grass. We heard fire engines in the distance and had a moment of panic, but they were headed elsewhere. Quite an adventure for a grandmother who does not believe in fireworks in any shape or form. Besides, unless you were in the sun, it was cold as blazes out. My dog will sleep inside again tonight--too cold for even a heavy-coated Aussie.

It was a grand explosion, which has caused Colin to rethink his plan for the major explosion. The picture is of Kegan and Morgan with the test gingerbread house, the one Morgan made. She seemed quite philosophical about offering up her creation--and it was blown to smithereens. Here are the gingerbread houses before and a link to the video.

4th of July and Jesse Helms

I thought it was sort of fitting that Jesse Helms died on the Fourth. I am diametrically opposed to almost everything he believed--racial policies, gay/lesbian policies, military policies, maybe not fiscal. But I respect his devotion to his country and his determination to do what he thought was right. May he rest in peace as the flag flies tonight.
Often holidays are tough for me--not Christmas and Thanksgiving, which are clearly family holidays, but the Fourth or Memorial Day or Labor Day. They loom as long empty weekends, because the kids are busy with their friends, everyone else seems busy, and I'm sort of adrift. But today was a happy day--my neighbors, Jay and Susan, took me with their family to the local country club to watch fireworks. I've avoided them because the thud made me uncomfortable, and I thought we'd watch inside tonight, but there was an enormous crowd and no place to sit. They'd brought chairs for the elderly (Susan's parents and me) and we watched from a covered balcony where there was a nice breeze, no mosquitoes, and the noise didn't seem to bother me. I really enjoyed it. Got a brief glimpse of Jordan, Jacob and Christian--and a sweet kiss and hug from Jacob.
It's sometimes a bit hard for me to work up my sense of patriotism with the straits that our country is in now--you name it, from disastsrous weather to global warming, to war in parts of the world that aren't ours, to high gas prices and the resulting economic distress, it's pretty dismal. But tonight I sat on that balcony and watched the enormous--it really was!--crowd below, many with red and blue lights flashing in lapel pins, and I thought this is what America is about. The loudspeaker screeched an awful rendition of the anthem, at full volume of course, but it still hit me as we all stood. And during the fireworks, they played patriotic music instead of the soft rock they'd been playing at too high a volume. I loved hearing "America the Beautiful" and other songs. It was a neat evening.