Day 29: Like swallowing an elephant...

 I am having to remind myself to slow down:  to consume the elephant "one bite at a time"!

Yesterday was the holiday (Independence Day, US) itself, and I had an across the street view of a family celebrating much the way we used to when I was a kid.  Adult supervision of children in training for how to safely use the fireworks!  Protective gear in use:  looks like there may be some folks who are familiar with eye protection (eye injury is one of the risks associated with fireworks "accidents").

I asked the mom of the house if it was OK that I took their photos and would be adding them to my blog, because... children, you know!

She was fine with it.  Here's dad overriding son's thought of where to place a rocket for launch.  Dad then shouted for the watching crowd to "look alive" because he did not fully trust that rocket!

Back when I was a kid, and we had a limited amount of fireworks budget, we used to schedule our use of things like smoke balls or lady fingers, to make them last... because the major light the sky stuff couldn't be used until after dark, and we needed to fill a lot of boring sunlight hours.

I noticed this family doing something similar... the bangs and pops were not continuous, but would happen in little "sessions".

Something else we used to do was start the show before it got fully dark, especially for the kids who were too young to stay up for the whole thing.  I don't know about YOUR kids, but some of the littler ones don't want to miss out, but when their "off" switch is ready to trip, it trips.  So you do a few fireworks to adjust the eyes to the brightness contrast.

As you can see, many generations of on-lookers are enjoying the show.  I'm taking the photos from my lawn chair across the street on my corner.

I joke that I am turning into my mother, because I used to be one of the pyromaniacs in the family, and now... I'm inside protecting my eyes (eyedrops in for the night) and my lungs from the smoke!  

But the fireworks continued long after I fled to safety!  Here's one of the earlier ones that I took a quick snap of through the bay window.  Then I pulled the drapes and told myself firmly that I had "enough" and could go to bed!

 

Before I did that, though, I peeked down the other way, and saw other family groups working on their "adjust the eyes" phases, too.  Here the kids are using what has replaced the Sparklers we used to know as kids.  These "Morning glories" as we used to call them are not as dangerous, as they are not based on wires, but instead have a wooden "handle".  Remember how we used to write our names in the air?  It was all part of that adjustment of the eyes for seeing the brightness.  

I looked up in the sky to find the pops of those who were truly shooting off aerial shells before full dark.

It sounded like a thunderstorm later as I was falling asleep, and I could see in the trash this morning how "big" those cannons were that shoot the high ones.  Mortars, they are, like weapons of war, but for entertainment!

As you can see from the debris photo, I was up early today, doing the same thing I was yesterday, checking out the neighborhood and determining where those booms came from.  I won't post ALL of the photos (it would be overkill).

But I will share this one, influenced by a kind child, perhaps, who put out a "Doggie watering station" by his or her mailbox... I couldn't resist snapping its photo as I came by!

Oh, and I will also share something that intrigued me, a block away.  Four-way volley-ball!  Kind of like "four square" but up in the air!

And now, we should be DONE with the pops and booms for the year!  

Time to pull ourselves back into routines!  

Here's hoping that it won't be too big a crash after the holiday excitement, and we'll all just remember to breathe, nurture ourselves and be kind to ourselves as well as others... on this one and only Monday, July 5, 2021 we'll ever get.  For LIFE is good, and better when we slow down and LIVE it!

💘💥😍🙏🙋