Fireworks!

The firework display over the Detroit River last night was fantastic – at least on television! Every year, the last Monday of June, Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario team up to put on a spectacular firework display. Three barges are positioned on the river and they all have fireworks going off at the same time and it is all computerized. I’ve never seen it in person but a friend of mine has and she said it was extremely noisy, as I already figured it would be, and the traffic afterwards is a nightmare. Seeing as Joe and I both worked getting home at 2 or 3 in the morning and getting up for work the next day was not a good idea…and besides that I’ve heard that people get there early in the morning to stake out a place to sit and they stay there ALL DAY. We are retired now but my brain disorders do not like loud noises so we just watch it on television. Loved it!

Of course, it got us thinking about other fireworks displays we have both seen and one sticks out in our minds that we shared, and one is a favourite memory of mine. About 18 years ago we took our granddaughter, who was about six at the time, up north and it turned out that particular town/village was advertising fireworks that night. Cool! We set out in good time but still had to park about half a mile away, or so it seemed; bored to death as there was NOTHING to do at this park to keep the kids entertained; batted off mosquitoes the size of bumblebees; and waited and waited and waited. Then, mercifully, they started. They let them off one at a time and about seven minutes in they let 6 or 7 off and everyone started clapping. It was over. Wait, really, that’s it? And then we heard one guy say, “That was way better than last year.” So glad we missed last year! We still laugh about it.

My childhood memory goes like this. I think I would be about six or seven at the time. A village near us had a fun-filled evening for fireworks. The adult men and older teen boys played donkey baseball – yes, they had to ride donkeys around the bases and the outfielders had to ride them too. It was crazy fun as donkeys are not exactly docile or obedient. They had all kinds of fun things for the kids as well and then, as soon as it was dark, the fireworks. This was held in a fairground with grandstands so most people sat there but some sat on blankets on the grass. Each year the fireworks were piled in huge box and the men would take one out and place it on the ground and let it go. They had a few men doing this so it was pretty constant. However, this one year after only a couple were fired, one of them backfired and flew into the box containing the rest of the firecrackers. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM one by one they all started going off and shooting every which way but up. Mothers and fathers grabbed their kids and ran for cover. Little kids ended up crying because their parents scared them by grabbing them and besides that they knew that was the end of the night; teenagers were rolling on the ground laughing thinking it was the funniest thing they ever saw; and the parents were shaking their heads and wondering how the world this happened. It was over in minutes. I don’t think anyone was hurt but it sure put a damper on the night and I do believe they took extra precautions after that so it didn’t happen again. Isn’t it odd what we keep in our memory?

Okay enough rambling. This is the third wedding card I made with red roses and it is the one the lady chose.

Same red rose background paper that came from the dollar store. The stamp is Penny Black stamp that was either gifted to me or I picked it up at the thrift store because I know I didn’t buy it new. I have no idea if it’s still available. The roses were coloured with Prismacolor pencils and then I went over them with a VersaMark pen and added the silver eye shadow from the Dollar Tree – a tip from The Frugal Crafter! Look for any eye shadow that contains mica. It is the mica that causes the shine as if you used the Wink of Stella pen – but much cheaper. Then I added a few pearls here and there. Hope the bride and groom like it!

We enjoyed another play at Port Stanley today and drove home through a wicked thunderstorm and then ate supper out. Overall we had a great day. Hope your day was wonderful too.

Cheers

Violet