Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope everyone has a safe and happy one!

It's this time of year that always makes me miss the town where I grew up - Vancouver,

Washington, a suburb of Portland, Oregon, where they have the biggest fireworks display this side of the Mississippi. After growing up with that, fireworks anywhere else seem very anti-climactic. Fireworks are fired off from a barge in the middle of the Columbia River and the show lasts for an hour, completely choreographed to music played on a local radio station. Preparation for the show begins a week in advance, when a group of volunteers do all the grunt work of cleaning the barge of last year's grime, loading up all the explosives, wiring the squibs, and working with the pyrotechnic technician who plans out the show on a computer. My brother-in-law has been part of the volunteer group for years and really enjoys being a part of the process. This is a video I edited from footage that was shot in 2002 while they prepared for the annual 4th of July show. It was shot the first 4th of July after 9/11 when the holiday was especially meaningful for everyone there. In hindsight, I wish I hadn't edited it to move so quickly, but you should still be able to get the gist of how awesome it is. That's my brother-in-law, John, in the very last shot. The big smile on his face tells the whole story.



Damn - I posted again and forgot that it's Wally Wednesday! At some point in the future, I will figure out what day of the week it is! Here's Wally playing out back in a little splash pool on a hot day like today:


The song of the day is "Saturday in the Park" by Chicago off their 1972 release Chicago V, which of course, always reminds me of the holiday. The song hit #3 on the Hot 100 in 1973 and has been the band's highest charting record to date.