Friday, July 4, 2008

Happy Independence Day (or should I say, Happy Kwanzaa??)

It's the 4th of July holiday here in America, and personally, I'm glad for it... especially after the kind of awful, sort of weird night I had last night.

There's a slogan here in New England: "If you don't like the weather here, just wait a minute". That was very true last night. A HUGE thunderstorm rolled in at about 7:30 p.m., with a cold (or should I say, cooler) front directly behind it. It hit close to 90 degrees yesterday, with the air feeling like pea soup. Now it's only in the low '60's, and it's spitting down rain. That particular kind of change wreaks havoc with me, and last night I could feel a migraine coming on. I took some Ibuprofin and Aleve, and waited it out a bit.. while scoping out some friends older blog posts! :)

I could finally feel my head begin to settle down at around 11 p.m., so I attempted to head off to bed. I watched TV for awhile, until I fell asleep sitting up. When I woke to discover that I'd been snoozing, I shut the TV off and went to bed.

As is typical for nights when a migraine tries to creep in, I had some pretty funky dreams. I usually can't remember most of them by the time that I wake up in the morning -- I only recall waking several times during the night, thinking things like, "What the heck was THAT all about!".

The only dream I did remember was one where my little one decided that we should celebrate Kwanzaa in our house, and asked me to deck the halls with the traditional Kinaras and candles, fruit and corn, and insisted all the girls wear Uwoles. She then started dancing a traditional African dance, and singing a traditional African song. Pretty incredible, considering she's only 3 1/2!

I really woke up scratching my head over that one!

I'm just lucky my husband got up with the girls this morning, and let me sleep in a bit longer. I would have felt like death warmed over if I had to get up with them today.

I'm also really glad we aren't planning on going anywhere today. One of my brothers typically has a cookout every 4th, but I haven't heard a thing from him this year. It happens sometimes, as people get older and drift apart a bit. It's just as well... it's still misting outside, and is supposed to for the better part of the day, so it's not typical "cookout" weather, anyway. We're planning our own version of a cookout for dinner, anyway... I've taken out some hamburger and some Bratwurst out of the freezer, and we'll cook up hamburgers and Brats on our (kitchen) grill later. And, later on this evening, we'll watch the Boston Pops celebrate the 4th on TV. When it's time for the fireworks to begin, I'll take my oldest two up the hill to Robbins Farm Park, and we'll watch the Boston fireworks from there (on a clear day, you can see the majority of the Boston skyline from the top hill of the park! :) That's enough of a celebration for me... no crowds, no fuss, no muss, and fun, just the same!

Oh, and just a fun little tidbit to share:

http://cityguide.aol.com/raleigh/fireworks-july-4th?icid=200100397x1205125723x1200243835

I was really surprised that Boston was #3 on the list (considering I've heard that people come from all over the world to see our fireworks displays), but it made sense when I saw which city was #1. Is your city or town on the list?

Anyway.... I hope, wherever you are, you have a safe and happy holiday!









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