Thursday, July 7, 2011

Booms and crackles


Growing up, we never shot fireworks on the fourth of July.  If we really really wanted to watch them, we could generally see the fireworks being shot off at the park a mile or so away from my grandparents' deck.

My grandfather was an ophthalmologist and so he saw the effects of people playing with fireworks when they shouldn't, whether it be because they didn't know what they were doing, were too young to be playing, or just too close to the action.  He pretty much convinced us that we would lose an eye if we got too close to the fireworks, so we stuck to watching them from the deck.


 Not that I needed an excuse to stay away from fireworks.  I didn't like the noise so I was completely okay with not getting near fireworks.  and I stuck with it to through adulthood; I have tended to dread fourth of July evening and the evenings all around it because of the noise and jolt I get from being surprised with the crackles and booms.


Gwendolyn was super excited about the fireworks this year though.  She talked about them for two weeks leading up to the fourth.  "Can we go watch them?"  "I can't wait to see the fireworks.  We can just watch them on television." "I'm so excited about watching the fireworks!"

So we agreed to go watch the fireworks.  We went out to one of our friends' house, just outside of the city limits, and they shot off fireworks for about 20 minutes.  Twenty minutes was about long enough for the mosquitoes to try to carry us off.


And as it turns out, Gwendolyn takes after me and the noise associated with fireworks bothers her.  Maggie, on the other hand, hooted and hollered and cheered the fireworks on.  And I wasn't bothered so much by the crackles and booms this year.


Linking up with Photo story Friday and Fabulous FridayPhoto Challenge: Something Patriotic

8 comments:

  1. Awesome story and great photos!

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  2. Such fun shots (I've never really managed to get a good shot of fireworks)!! The firework show we went to this year was over 40 minutes long. WAYYYYY too long for my taste, but the kids were happy! :)

    Thanks for linking to PSF and GMYBS this week!

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  3. My kids watched the fireworks from inside the house with dad (which was still an awesome view) while I took pictures outside. I missed seeing their reactions, but had a good time.

    I had to look in my manual to discover I had a bulb feature. Most dSLR's apparently have it. I just had to go to my slowest shutter speed and the next setting is bulb. The bulb mode works so that it opens the shutter when you press the shutter down and doesn't shut until you take your finger off. Since that is usually a long shutter speed I guess it is best to use with a remote to avoid camera shake, but I don't have one. I'm not sure what situations aside from fireworks and flashlight drawings it would be useful in.

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  4. We had fun with the fireworks too this year...especially the sparklers. Hope you had a wonderful Fourth!

    Tiffany

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  5. These look neat, like little exploding fireflies!

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