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Indigo FourthOf all the nations in the world, the United States was built in nobody's image. It was the land of the unexpected, of unbounded hope, of ideals, of quest for an unknown perfection. |
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Sunday, July 4, 1999
One year ago: Vanguard Fourth
Two years ago: Glorious Fourth
Jack did his laundry, and we continued with decluttering my bedroom in the early part of the day. I'd sent my sister B---- an electronic birthday postcard a few days before, since today is her birthday. She's forty years old now. She sent a nice, chatty email back; I think she should start her own journal!
I sent email to Altavista on behalf of Gus and other Spies.com denizens, since they seem to have been deleted from that database somehow.
My sister M----, who lives here in Seattle, found herself unexpectedly child-free for the afternoon, so she offered to come over and help us. I asked her to bring some pizza or other food, around mid-afternoon. When she arrived, we all took a break and feasted on purported "New York Style" pizza, and the Buffalo chicken wings that Pizza Hut now offers. I liked them! When we got back on task, it was a puzzle to find something that she could work on without me making decisions. I put her to sorting and decluttering the linen closet, which needed it. There was antique shelf paper on the top shelf. It looks great now, with towels separated from bed linen, and everthing nicely folded. She even volunteered to take a few loads of my laundry back with her, to be washed at her house.
* * * * * * * *
We finally settled that we'd go downtown, then to the Myrtle Edwards park for the music and food, before ending up at the Indigo Swing show on the pier. I know that Jack would rather have been at Gasworks Park, or have stayed at the Myrtle Edwards park for the fireworks there. I know this because he mentioned it several times. But he was mainly teasing, so I just thanked him for cooperating with what I wanted to do.
We took the bus downtown, then walked down the hillclimb steps to the waterfront. I should have investigated the bus routes before we left! The only transit along that street is the waterfront streetcar, and of course it was packed, so we decided not to get on then. We had about fifteen blocks to walk, from Pier 60 (where the dancing would be later) to the end of the street and beginning of the waterfront park. H----, Jack's daughter, was more patient about this than he was.
It had been more than ten years since Jack had been to the "Fourth of Jul-Ivar's" happening. We had to open our bags when entering the park, to show we didn't have any weapons. We walked from one end of the park to the other, then back again, to check out the different bands that were playing. The blues band at the stage sponsored by a jazz radio station wasn't bad, but none of the other bands that happened to be playing when we were there impressed me. Jack was disappointed that they no longer have the craft booths that used to be a feature of this gathering. I don't know if that's because the other celebration, at Gasworks park, has taken over some of the traffic, or if they found that folks just didn't do any buying at such booths on the fourth.
After eating a hot link, creole-style red beans and rice, and a gyro (H--- had the last, Jack and I split the first two items) we started back down the waterfront. This time we succeeded in getting on the trolley, since most people were headed towards the park, not away from it. It's really beautifully restored. The cars were imported from Australia. Jack was trying to tell me that the interiors are all new, but I'm not sure I believe that.
* * * * * * * *
The band had just started when we got on to the pier. There were bleachers around a large open area. We decided to grab some seats way at the top, so that we'd have a good view in the direction of the fireworks, which would start after the band was finished.
Indigo Swing was great! (I've seen them a few times before.) I had more success finding partners than I did at the big Spring Swing Fling at Seattle Center, a few months ago. But it's always a bit of a difficulty when there are so many folks that I don't know, to find the people I do know. Dancing on the rough wood of the pier was an adventure, but I managed most of the time, and didn't fall or trip.
Jack had brought a book to read while I was dancing, which worked out very well. He did like the music, though. H--- was impressed by the performance troupe of high school kids from Bainbridge Island.
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We made the right choice, getting a place at the top of the bleachers. We had a fine view of the fireworks that were shot off from a barge in Elliot Bay. A few minutes before the band finished, the air show that had been happening during the day ended with a plane that dropped off fireworks, and had showers of sparks coming off of each wing. When the actual fireworks display started, I was surprised to see some things I hadn't seen before: shells that exploded into hearts or stars! We were close enough to get the effect of the show, though of course it would have been louder and bigger at Myrtle Edwards Park.
After the show, we climbed back up about fifteen flights of stairs to the main part of downtown, then blessedly found a bus right away. We were exhausted and my feet were sore, but I'd really enjoyed the day.
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