4th of July

 

At the last minute, I decided to walk downtown to watch the 4th of July parade.For a few years I haven't gone, but with my interest in painting crowds of people, I took my camera with the idea of getting pictures of the audience.  The parade was a mass of trucks with blaring horns dragging floats full of people doing various patriotic things, or playing patriotic music, or marching in uniform.  At one point it looked like the old newsreels I used to see at the movies featuring parades of weaponry and military might.  The whole air of celebration, though, is nice to see and experience.  I left before the parade ended though, and went home by way of the beach.  The tide was so low I could walk all the way from downtown to the ferry landing.  It was very hot, and I went into the water several times to cool off(up to my ankles).  On the way I passed David and Thom's, where they were lounging on the deck with their guest, Thom's niece.  I stopped for a few minutes, then went on home to take care of the dogs.  I had a date with Kendall and Pierre, which was very enjoyable as always.  Kendall and and I took two of their dogs and two of mine to the dog park.  We had some concerns about how the dogs would get along, but they were fine and a good time was had by all.

At that point I envisioned a long evening under the living room fan.  Again, though, I had a sense of being left out of things and decided to go to the fireworks.  I'm glad I did.  It was a wonderful show, and I had a sense of satisfaction having done what an Eastport resident should do on the 4th of July.  My childhood need to do what I think is expected of me still lurks close to the surface of my psyche, and there are times when that's all it takes to make me happy.