4th of July

 

The 4th of July. What a great summer holiday in the US, celebrating our revolutionary spirit with fireworks, cookouts and parades. Boston is called the “cradle of liberty” because so much of that revolutionary spirit was nurtured and demonstrated here. It was on this day in 1776 that our forefathers, regular guys like Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, who hated paying taxes to Mother England (simplified history book version), adopted the Declaration of Independence. George Washington wasn't there … he was getting ready to lead an army. And the rest is history.

David likes reading history. I'm more inclined to get his quick review of a book rather than plodding through the pages and then coax him into visiting places where historical events occurred. You can't beat Boston when it comes to historical places, many of which are associated with the Revolutionary War, the Spirit of 1776 and subsequently, the 4th of July. We visited Minuteman National Historic Park in Concord last summer … walking distance from Boston … for the Minutemen anyway. There's Bunker Hill Monument and the North Bridge, the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, the old North Church.

Typically, the big event in Boston is a concert by the Boston Pops Orchestra punctuated with synchronized fireworks and held on the Boston Esplanade on the banks of the Charles River on the evening of July 3rd. The traditional Boston Pops classic is the 1812 Overture (Hmm...the War of 1812 … yet another war with England...they're certainly persistent buggers) followed by a rousing version of Stars and Stripes forever.

We planned on attending a nearby fireworks display last night, but our energy dissipated before it was dark enough for the pyrotechnic display. We've had rain and thunderstorms for days now and the forecast for more kept us wimps in. So how are we celebrating the 4th? We'll fly the flag and maybe eat hotdogs and hamburgers while we watch The Patriot with Mel Gibson tonight. It's a reasonably good story, but not necessarily the way things happened. Whoever let the truth get in the way of a good story … or Mel Gibson?

We'll sing Yankee Doodle, too. Believe it or not, it's actually a Revolutionary War era song sung by the British soldiers making fun of the poorly armed and attired colonists whom they considered country bumpkins. Hmm … Guess we showed 'em!

Enjoy the 4th!