Happy 4th of July!!!

Yesterday was the Fourth of July!

Not surprisingly, Australians don't celebrate the Fourth, but I decided that I wanted to do something for the holiday.

My first challenge, though, was fireworks. They aren't legal here, so it is not like there are stands anywhere to get them. I thought about going to chinatown or a party place where I could at least find some sparklers. Luckily, my landlady had some from Japan that she was happy to let me use!



I have no idea what the package says, but I want to think it says Happy Fun Fire Sticks! For Kids! My landlady has had them for years, and was not sure if they would still work, but I was grateful to have any bright things that were accompanied by the risk of severe burns. I mean, if I am not worried about me or anyone I know losing a finger or two, it's just not the 4th of July.

So, I was prepared to celebrate! The morning of the Fourth, I woke up to lots of rain:



I was worried that the dreary winter weather would prevent me from trying out the fireworks, but luckily as the day went on, the weather cleared.

I came home, opened the fireworks and looked at the instructions provided with the sparklers to see if there was any helpful information:


wine and bare feet optional

I found some matches, and, after a couple of tries, got the sparklers to light and it was like I was back in the good ol' U.S. of A.!! Since it took a couple of tries to light each one with a match, I decided to set up a display so I could wow the dog and cat (landlady and daughter are off skiing this week, so I was celebrating my nation's independence on my own this year) with my mad pyrotechnic skills.

I also wondered if there was still a total fire ban because of the drought and if my neighbours were going to call the fire brigade on me.

This was my favourite dazzling display:



Happy 4th of July everyone!!!!!