Thursday, July 1, 2010

Fourth of July at the Pier

I can't believe it's July first already. I have always thought of the July fourth holiday as being in the middle of the summer. Here in the Northeast, summer is just beginning. The local schools just ended their terms last Friday. So it really is the beginning of the summer of 2010. Tomorrow night at 9:00p.m. we will attend our local fireworks display under the stars over Long Island Sound aboard our boat, Cinnamon Girl. Always a fun evening with family, good friends and good food.
When I was a young girl, the Independence Day celebration was always fun filled with firecrackers, water activities, sparklers, ice cream, and wonderful summer food.
It seems to me that the weather was always hot and humid-perfect for the swimming and boating we would partake in as early in the day as we could.
My sister and I would dress all in red, white and blue. We each had new "keds" for our summer shoes. I always had navy blue and Emilie always had red. We'd wear red or blue shorts and contrasting blouses. Tshirts weren't as common as they are now. We wore sleeveless blouses that Mom ironed. And we would top it all off with colorful matching barrettes or bows at the end of our "pig tails".
Our family had a giant, and I mean GIANT, American flag. The dear old thing had 48 stars, and my dad and brothers would hang it from a wire strung between two huge old trees at the entrance of our yard. I loved the way it was always the backdrop in all the photographs taken on the 4th. I wonder what ever happened to it.
Dad loved firecrackers. He always had them around and would toss them out intermittently all during the day. This always startled us because he never gave us any warning as to when to expect a loud bang. Mom would get so annoyed at him for this. She was also worried that someone would get injured by one of his stunts. She'd be in the kitchen and we'd hear her scolding him about his lack of safety. He would laugh while she sputtered, and tell her not to worry so much and that he was being careful. I think he got a big kick out of this juvenile behavior.
My parents would be very busy getting ready for visiting family and friends. They always got distracted by their chores. This was good for little kids like me because no one was keeping a close watch on us. We could eat potato chips for lunch and they wouldn't notice.
We had an aunt and uncle (Dad's sister) who always came for the day and they would bring cases of soda pop in flavors the color of the rainbow. Red, orange, green, root beer, creme soda and coke. They also arrived with several gallons of ice cream, boxes of Popsicles, fudgesicles, drum sticks and ice cream bars, all packed in dry ice. We all thought we were in absolute heaven. we would spend the whole day just drinking cokes and eating junk food. It was the best.
Finally, it would be dinner time. Out came the trays of watermelon slices, ears of corn, fried chicken, grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, potato salad, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, deviled eggs cherry pie, brownies and blondies. (recipe below)
Without ever sounding a dinner bell, we kids and friends would appear in the yard in late afternoon, after being on the water for hours. There we would gather around an old tree stump for appetisers and refreshments, then we would enter the main room of the cottage, the dining room, and load our plates high from the bountiful spread.
My parents always waited to eat until we dove into the food like "a pack of wolves". They would sit in the living room with Aunt Betty and Uncle Ray drinking martinis and relaxing, knowing they had finished the task of feeding everybody. When we were finished, they would dine while we headed to the lakefront to prepare our own neighborhood fireworks display.
Dad was sort of a good will ambassador at Luna Pier. I wrote about the raft we owned that was for all to enjoy, but he also built a dock at the end of our street for the neighbors to share. And he put on a fireworks display on that dock for the everyone to enjoy.
He would buy all kinds of colorful fireworks, sparklers, Chinese firecrackers, roman candles and shoot them off at sunset on the fourth of July. We would sit by the water, in the dark, holding sparklers and watching with wonder at the beautiful show. This was one of the few nights I remember being aloud to stay up so late.
I loved the fourth of July, still do.
Happy Birthday USA.
Enjoy this recipe:
JO'S BLONDIES
2 C. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter
2 c. brown sugar
2 TBS hot water
2 tsp. vanilla
2 beaten eggs
Blend flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Set aside. Melt butter, add 2 cups brown sugar, water and vanilla. Blend in eggs and add flour mixture. Mix well. Pour into a greased 9x13x2" baking dish. Sprinkle with one 12 oz. package chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.