Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy Independence Day, America!


Art copyright Norman Rockwell
In my head, July 4th always looks like a classic Americana painting.
 
There are horse-drawn carriages and surreys with fringe, men in straw boaters riding impossible bicycles, and women in high button shoes carrying parasols. 
 
There are girls with bows in their hair waving pinwheels, and boys in short pants pushing hoops along the street with sticks. 
 
And they all live in a pretty town full of stately homes sporting swags and buntings and poles with flags, and windowboxes overflowing with red, white, and blue petunias.
 
There's a town green, too (of course). With a white bandstand (is there any other?). And a barbershop quartet sings there today, serenading the townsfolk who are gathered for an ice cream social. And the mayor makes a speech first. He's the one with a mustache so big that it's the only thing that moves when he talks, and his vest with its watch chain stretches taut across his big stomach.
 
And at some point a band will play a march and hotdogs will be served, flags will be saluted and allegiances will be pledged. And at dusk the kids will wave sparklers and watch the sky for fireworks.
 
Yep. That's my version of the 4th of July. Something right out of Disney's Main Street USA, apparently! :)
 
Whatever your version of the 4th is, have a safe one, my friends.
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