I feel exactly the same. All I can think about is that it’s fortunate that my parents did not live to see 2016 and beyond. They would have freaked out.
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We can imagine the fireworks are for Aphelion
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At this time of the year, when the sun is furthest from our emotionally cold, but actually increasingly warm planet, it’s easy to get caught up by who said what about which aging presidential candidate, and whose friend’s brother-in-law said they will burn the whole mother down if we don’t get fair elections. When I step back and look at it all, I just get so mixed up.
So when I start to feel confused about whether we might want to stick with a president who has mostly proved himself to be an ally, a vice president ready to step in and carry the torch, and an established administration with established protocols to deal with just about any unexpected situation; or go with a Hitler-admirer with a rap sheet who won’t disclose which Russian oligarchs he’s indebted to… I reach for a bottle of catchup.
Catchup has natural mellowing agents that will smooth out any anxiety you might have about the next four months, or about whether this Independence Day might be our last. Catchup. For the good times.
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I understand the sentiment about fireworks and celebrating but…
I really enjoy fooling around with my cameras, the once a year fireworks displays are fun for me.
We’re camping for 10 days, we didn’t even know that the state park puts on a show right in the park. We didn’t have to go anywhere, just sit outside.
It was a giant crowd but everyone was very well behaved. Lots of families and lots of kids. The kids have no idea what’s going on in the world, they were just having the time of their life.
We did see two disturbing things. At one point a group of cops found a 3 year old wandering around with no one nearby that seemed to be responsible for the child. They were very good with kid but they had no luck getting the kid to describe who they were with. Some adult is going to get a good talking to.
And then later a group of adults were frantically running around yelling out a child’s name.
But, all in all it was a very pleasant time.
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The Tanabata Festival that is held in Hiratsuka (sister city to my home town of Lawrence, Kansas) ranks among the largest summer festivals in all of Japan.
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For Tanabata, it is traditional to write a wish upon the stars on a slip of paper called a tanzaku. For mine, I have written, in a very unsteady hand (alcohol is also traditional), “Biden Reelection.”
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I didn’t even know there was a second-biggest cannabis holiday
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i’m dabbin’ right now!
happy 7.10 to all! 
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Which one is the highest holiday?
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[scratches head]
ummm… 7 is more than 4…
but 10 is half 20…
they’re both pretty high, i reckon.
i know i am!
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I only knew of 4/20, like @FloridaManJefe calculated the highness of above. Well…and Hash Bash in Ann Arbor, I suppose.
I received a mailer from a local dispensary with 710 deals and had no idea what they were on about. 20 years ago I couldn’t have imagined ever receiving mailers from cannabis dispensaries. Pretty cool. Now I feel like celebrating! Time to load up the dry herb vaporizer.
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Another weekend, another summer festival. The centerpiece is these huge pulled shrines called 山車 (dashi, literally “mountain carriage,” also called danjiri in western Japan) with effigies of gods and goddeses from Shinto mythology. This is in the city of Katori (formerly Sawara). Fun fact: I used to live here nearly two decades ago and have spent a whole day pulling these things around before.
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… we blew a circuit breaker this morning
My housemates think fans are magic, if we just run one more fan at the same time the air will get cooler 
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We’ve had 3 days at 101 deg F here. I require a constant IV drip of sluprees to keep conscious.
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AksHuaLLy running fans will eventually make your room warmer since you are adding energy to the space via mechanical work! Science!!
(Assuming perfectly insulated room, massless pulleys and spherical cows)
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