So… here’s a salute to all things July 4.  This year I was able to stretch the holiday into the better part of a week, starting out with the 20th annual Salute to America at Greenfield Village on July 1.  The Salute features a concert by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for 5,000 folks in Walnut Grove, and is capped by real cannon fire during the 1812 Overture and a fine fireworks display.  It was a perfect evening, and John C, my brother Scott and I had a fine time. As always, click the photos to get a better view of them:

I also attended the fireworks display in Ada on the 4th itself; for a small town they really have a nice show. Plus it gave me further excuse to play with my new camera.

With the heat wave continuing to impose itself on us, the best refuge was in the waters of Lake Michigan, and so it was an even better time than usual to hang out with the Brysons, as they have a boat. Not to mention accommodations that defy description.

But the reason for the blog entry: #11 is to fire an illegal firework on the 4th of July.  Well, the fireworks laws in Michigan have softened a bit in the last year or two, so purchase of formerly banned fireworks is now allowed, nay… encouraged. Whether it is OK to fire them off is dependent on the ordinances of the individual city or township.  I didn’t bother to check with Ada, so at least we felt somewhat devious as we played with matches.  At any rate, Ada is like the rest of the state of Michigan this summer of 2012 — it’s dry as a bone.  The Catheys live in a rather heavily forested area, and I really didn’t want to risk a neighborhood conflagration, so we let off a few spinning “Crazy Eyeballs” in the driveway.  Still looked pretty cool:

So, it was a fun few days.  Thanks to Tom, Jana, Scott, Holly, Dawn, Bill, Michelle, Grace, Joel… good times.