the beauty of independence

I wended my way across the slightly soggy town around 8pm last night, past kids with whirligigs and sparklers, past congregations of guys around benches, past bbqs and rooftop dj's. Not many tourists in this neck of the woods- Meridian Hill park seemed mostly filled with local families, and for once it *felt* like a holiday, with empty streets and neighbors congregating on porches.

Nick's apartment has sprawling views south and east, the city unfurling in hazy ripples. The panorama is stunning in any event, but as night fell the real beauty began. You'd glance to the east, and a catch a streak across the sky, flowering into color briefly before fading. Sparkles would burst against a brick wall in the alley several streets over. Whistling, whirling explosives on a street corner while kids danced away quickly. As darkness enveloped, it was like the slow heating of popcorn- at first there is only the occasional random explosion- pop!- but soon there is a steady stream of them. All over, people were setting their alleys ablaze with illegal fireworks, and the result was- well, it was the most beautiful fourth I've ever seen. Starbursts, streamers, sparklers- bursting flowers of white and purple and blue and green ringing the capitol dome. The official display paled into insignificance as we watched the brave (or foolhardy) souls a few alleys over venture into the middle of the street, light a fuse with a sparkler, and run like mad back to the porch, to send up showy rockets and shells and fountains. We booed when the cruiser pulled up to the alley, and cheered madly when they sent another rocket up a few minutes later. Sulphurous fumes wafted in the open window, accompanied by the constant rhythmic boom of explosions.

It was magnificent- Washington was ringed with a joyful, vivid, rebellious fire, and it was all laid out at our feet like some exquisite gift.

Last night, I truly loved this city.

In the immortal words of socrates: I drank what?

I remember starting off with a few sips of tequila. I abandoned that in favour of some very fine Liefman's brown ale. And then there was a Delirium, and another Leifmans, and perhaps a Leffe, and then someone else poured me yet another shot of Patron, and then there were the mojitos. Granted, these were consumed over 8 hours. But still.

stemware made a very fine paella, and there were also cheeseburgers, and cheese, and guac, and fruit, and much festivities. I took very bad pictures with someone's D2H, because I was too tipsy to figure out all of the settings, and I really really don't like shooting with slow zooms. I had a really good time, though, and hopefully I didn't behave *so* badly that I won't get invited out again.