Today is Sunday, July 9 and there are only 169 days until Christmas.  Time to start playing Christmas music and planning the cookie baking schedule.  Today we remember the birthdays of Ann Ward Radcliffe, Elias Howe and Tom Hanks.  On this day in 1776 the Declaration of Independence was read aloud to General Washington’s troops in New York, in 1872 the doughnut cutter was patented by John Blondel and in 1956 Dick Clark made his first appearance as host of American Bandstand.  In Argentina it is Independence Day and in the US it is National POW/MIA Recognition Day and National Sugar Cookie Day.

This past week, we celebrated Independence Day.  At least some of us did.  I am finding that more and more towns are celebrating on other days.  Some hold their festivities on the weekend preceding July 4^th.  I am not completely sure why they do that.  Is there some benefit to doing it early or do they just want to have a celebration without actually recognizing the holiday?  One year I was driving to a friend’s house and caught a glimpse of the banner advertising their celebration.  Because I was driving and the wind was blowing, I could not read the whole banner, but noticed that the rain date was July 4.  I wondered how you could have a 4^th of July celebration and have the rain date be July 4.  My friend explained that it was because the actual celebration was June 30, the weekend before.

Maybe I am old fashioned or just a traditionalist, but it seems to me that the 4^th of July should be celebrated on the 4^th of July.  The day, also known as Independence Day, has a significance.  The day was the day, despite what some people claim, that the United States declared its independence from Great Britain.  Independence was not declared the weekend before the 4^th and it was not declared on some other day that was convenient.  It was done on the 4^th. Celebrate on the 4^th! Now excuse me while I get down off my soap box.

Okay, now I am back on the floor.  When I was a kid, our town had a carnival during the day with games and stuff for kids to do.  We would all ride around with our bicycles decorated with red, white and blue crepe paper and streamers. We would have a barbecue and then head to the stadium.  In the early evening, there was always some kind of musical group that performed and then we had the fireworks.  The fireworks were always exciting.  There were some cheesy ground displays, like the chicken walking and laying an egg, but overall they were good.  Each time one went off, the display was followed by a loud boom.  I have noticed that you don’t always get that nowadays.  That was one of the things I enjoyed.  You would see the rocket go up, it would burst in a colorful display and then that boom would shake your insides.  That was the 4^th of July.

That is not how it is done now.  Some people still have a barbecue and there are a number of private displays that are set off in various neighborhoods.  Most people don’t do that much, because they celebrated the weekend before.  I went to our town fireworks the night before, so I stayed home and watched the New York display on TV.  What I found interesting were the people who were in the city to watch the show.  They would occasionally pan the crowd and some of the things people were wearing were interesting.  I saw a number of people with necklaces that looked like they were made of red, white and blue light bulbs.  There weren’t very many bulbs and they looked like they were homemade, but enough different people were wearing them so I am guessing they were being sold, inexpensively I hope, but I doubt it.

Another thing people were wearing were glasses that had flashing lights in the frames.  These were the type of thing that would prompt my older grandson to comment, “There goes a seizure waiting to happen.”  The most interesting adornment I saw was one made of red, white and blue ribbons and streamers.  Some of the ribbons had stars on them.  When I saw them all I could think of was that they looked like a patriotic Medusa.  Throughout the crowd people were using their phones to take pictures of the fireworks.  I would think that if you went to all the trouble to go to see the fireworks, you would at least watch them.  Viewing them on the little screen of your phone, after the fact, cannot compare to actually seeing them.  I realize that that is just the traditional me who longs for the big booms at the end, but I still would rather watch them as they happen.  I am back down from my soap box again.

My final statement on this is simple – celebrate in whatever way makes you happy, but do it on the 4^th, not the weekend before.

One other thing I wanted to mention has nothing to do with celebrating the holiday, but it was something I noticed watching the fireworks in town and at other times, too.  This is directed to men – please do not tuck in your t-shirts.  They are supposed to be casual and not tucked in.  It also looks like you are trying to look like your 85 year old grandfather.  Please don’t do it!  That is all I am going to say on the subject.

This week our fact tells us that in Maine, it is illegal to sell a car on Sunday unless it comes equipped with plumbing.  What kind of plumbing?  Why does it need plumbing on Sunday, but not the other six days of the week?  The worst part is that the people who come up with these laws are actually getting paid to create them.  If you could see me you would notice that I am scratching my head and I have a puzzled look on my face after reading this fact.