TheBanyanTree: a wise man once told me...

[Julie Anna Teague]

...for fun on the 4th, get a 5th on the 3rd.

Happy Joo-ly the 3rd, friends.  Sure doesn't seem like Fourth of July
weather around here today.  I'm working from home with the winders open
and a light sweater on.  Almost unheard of for July in Indiana.  It's
been a mighty strange summer, weather-wise.  Here in the bible belt, 
some might might call it Biblical weather with the major flooding we've 
had.  The husband and I have been taking the kayaks a couple of miles 
down the road from our house, down to the big lake, and the big lake is 
now meeting us halfway.  We've been kayaking along roads and through 
woods, both in the water and up in the treetops at the same time, our 
paddles brushing along the very tiptops of wild olive trees, red wing 
blackbirds and baby bass both at eye level.  I think the lake crested 
at 17 feet above normal.

And ah, the memories I have of the 4th of July as a kid in Otwell, 
Indiana. Always the parade first thing in the morning.  My brother and 
I were usually on some float or other--boyscouts, girlscouts, 4-H, 
church float, something.  Hard to say whether it's more fun being on 
the throwing end or the catching end of the candy.  Then there is the 
little carnival--I've probably told you these stories many times:  my 
Uncle Tom, the Master of Ceremonies, the Voice of every 4th of July of 
my childhood, on the microphone all day cracking jokes, awarding raffle 
prizes and reprimanding kids who were getting too hyped up on candy and 
firecrackers; Grandma and Grandpa Teague working the Ruritan Hamburger 
stand and letting my brother James and I serve hamburgers and wipe 
tables for awhile during the day if we ran out of money; the pit BBQ 
chicken and homemade pie and ice cream dinner; my brother and I saving 
our egg-gathering, strawberry picking, house-cleaning, pop-bottle 
finding, and birthday money all year long so we could blow every penny 
on the 4th!  Everyone gathered, at the end of the day, for the 
fireworks over the high school baseball field.  Waiting for the 
firework "flag" which was always the finale, and which rarely ever 
worked well--about half the flag lighting up most years, but we always 
waited to see.  I pretty much had Opie Taylor's childhood, for real.

Julie




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