With a little help from my friends ...

Yes, the Beatles are singing in my head again. The Fourth of July celebration with our friends was as interesting as I expected ... which meant very interesting. The weather ... really, it was the Fourth? ... was perfect. Low humidity and mild temperatures. Wow. We dined al fresco and just turned our chairs theater-style to catch the best fireworks' show in town ... framed right above the fence line of our friends' home. There were 10 of us ... and as someone pointed out, it felt like a true Italian movie. Long table, beautiful white table cloth, mason jars filled with wild flowers and Fourth of July pinwheels ... and vino. Lots of vino! We oohed and aahed at the right times ... and then, when the fireworks were over, all ten of us broke into spontaneous applause. 

The conversation was wide-ranging ... from movies (because who our age doesn't have the "Lone Ranger" in their sights?) to Fourth of July's past. I was still ruminating on the latter this morning. Our Fourths were anything but ordinary ... thanks in part to the Sittigs, who orchestrated fireworks at Bud's grandmother's/parents' farm outside of Sioux Falls. The fireworks were fine ... but the highlight was always flying with Bud in the Bonanza or in the rented Citabria aerobatic plane. 

And then there was the 1976 Fourth of July. Do you remember where you were (if you were born then!) for the country's Bicentennial Celebration? My uncle Steve (again ... always a part of the best memories) and I took the "children" ... 5 of them ... his oldest three and my two, ranging in age from 3 to 8 ... to Green Lake in Minnesota. The other parents? Mary was in California visiting family and Denny was in Boston, celebrating the Fourth of July in Americana fashion (but part of his Guard duties ... uh huh). 

So off Steve and I went ... seat belt-less children poured into the station wagon ... to spend a few days at Green Lake. Seeing the spectacular fireworks should have been the alpha memory ... but instead, it is Steve and me ... staying up  long after the children were asleep ... solving the problems of the world and the family! (And enjoying Steve's famous Cuba Libres.)

PS ... The Lone Ranger burst into my life in re-runs, I fear. It ran from 1949 to 1957 so I may have caught a few episodes before it went off the air. But the sight of the Lone Ranger's  horse (come on now, you know you know it ... SILVER!) on its back legs was iconic in my childhood. No wonder my perception of authority is somewhat conflicted. I grew up rooting for the masked man! Today we'll see the "new" Lone Ranger. I've heard all the dirt ... but who cares! It's Johnny Depp and besides, Tonto deserved top billing long before now!