Independence Day USA

Welcome to the Fourth of July.  For those of us who live here, it’s our national Independence Day in the USA where we celebrate the founding of the nation. John Adams thought we’d be celebrating on July 2nd, which only proves that nobody ever really knows what’s going to happen even when they’re neck-deep in the creation of something.

Despite the fact that most of my readers are from the USA, I always like to write this annual post for people who may not be familiar with the way we celebrate Independence Day in the USA.  Here’s a short course on our behavior for the day.

• Generally speaking, we don’t work.  It’s a national holiday.  Some people will obviously work, such as police officers and grocery store clerks.
• Police officers celebrate the holiday by passing out a higher amount of traffic citations.  They call it a “crackdown.”
• The traditional meal consists of some form of charred animal flesh.  Many people call it a BBQ, but they’re just grilling.
• People who truly understand BBQ will sneer at people who grill hamburgers and think they’re cooking BBQ.
• There will be ample consumption of beer, ice cream and apple pie.  We didn’t invent beer, but we did invent ice cream and we have plenty of apple tries.  Besides, who doesn’t like pie?
• We will have parades.
• We will recite stories of our history that are factually inaccurate, but still popular to tell.
• In the evening, we will light explosives that rain fire upon our cities.
• Many people will wake up tomorrow and wish they had taken vacation days for the rest of the week.

Mount Vernon [pinit]

Instead of flags and fireworks, I decided to share this photo of George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon. Little did I know that the sun’s reflection from my lens would cause it to burn a hole on the left side of the house.  Sorry, George.