29 June 2009

The Country Club Set, Or How to See Free Fireworks

We have one of the benefits of belonging to a country club without having to pay the membership fee. I am not much of a joiner in general, and I don't get the concept of paying umpteen thousands of dollars to join a country club. I don't play golf or tennis. I am not good at regular small talk (although I can do SF or medical small talk). I like swimming in swimming pools, but my county has several public outdoor public pools and two indoor ones that are quite nice.

However, many country clubs have big fireworks displays for the 4th of July. That's what some of the membership goes to, I guess. Well, we have the benefit of the fireworks without the insane joining and yearly membership fees. There is a country club on the other side of the field behind my house. Their yearly July 4th fireworks display is always the Sunday before the 4th, which (this year) was last night. Now, it took us about 4 or 5 years of living in the house before we figured out that the fireworks were the Sunday before the 4th.

[BAM!]
Neurondoc: What was that?
TheHusband: Fireworks, I think.
ND: Oooh, fireworks! But it's not July 4th.
[BLAM!]
TH: Those are definitely fireworks. Let's go see.
ND: Okay.

(That exchange happened several years running.)

As we've done the last 2 years, we let ThePinkThing stay up late, took some plastic chairs out into the backyard at about 9:15, and watched some free fireworks. The view is obstructed, because we don't get to see the low-flying fireworks, but the high ones are beautifully visible. It was as nice as previous years, and TheHusband and I hummed "Stars and Stripes Forever" to go along with the fireworks. No trudging to the car and waiting in line afterwards.

The worst part about it is the mosquitos. I wised up this year and wore long pants and a long sleeve shirt to prevent bug bites. But they still got me -- I have 3 bug bites on my hands. Grrr.

9 comments:

Nathan said...

I've never bothered to figure out the schedule (if there is one), but every time (only some of the times?) a cruise ship leaves the port in Manhattan, there's a fireworks show. It's all the way on the other side of the city so we can't actually see the fireworks, but we do get surprised when we hear them and go through the whole "is that thunder?" thing over and over and over again.

NancyB said...

There were a couple of years when I could sit in the pool of my apartment complex and see most shells of the biggest fireworks display in Atlanta. Then they changed the firing location, and then I moved. But it was nice while it lasted!

TheHusband said...

Checking... Checking... Nope, no bug bites whatsoever!!! Short sleeves and been outside 45 min longer!

Ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

WendyB_09 said...

NancyB- Must have been the Lenox Square show! I discovered when I lived on Lenox Road I could see the fireworks from my balcony! Now I go over to a friend's loft building and watch the Centennial Park display from their rooftop deck. When the Braves are in town on the 4th, we watch the downtown display and turn around and watch the stadium's display.

When I lived down in Orlando, the Tupperware headquarters were across the Turnpike from our subdivision. Their summer Jubilee regionals for the dealers run for several weeks in the summer, and they always end a session with a massive display...which we could see clearly from the house. Fireworks every Saturday night!

WendyB_09

ntsc said...

No fireworks visible from my house, but we can hear the West Point Cadets and artilery practice.

I've cruised out of NYC harbor a half dozen times or more and never noticed fireworks. Cunard, Holland-America and Celebrity; so it may be another cruiseline, sounds like a Carnival thing.

neurondoc said...

Shut up, Husband.

I've found several more bites in places that were covered by my freaking clothes.

I am not sure that 25 minutes of fireworks are worth 3-4 dyas of itching and scratching. Grrr.

TheHusband said...

I and my bite-free self are nuttin but Hilarrrrious!

neurondoc said...

No you're not.

Jeri said...

We have our fireworks on the 3rd of July over the bay - it's especially fun if you get there early and anchor your boat in the bay. I'm not confident enough of my captaincy skills to pilot the boat after dark though, so that's out. :P