OMG! That’s awful! I had to live through that more than a decade ago. It was terrible, and the heat was awful. Find a cooling center if you have to, even if just during the day. Stay safe!
Yeah. Wise choice. You can always watch the fireworks on TV from the safety of your home.
Albus is a smart bird!
What a great idea! Walmart is selling sparklers with a star at the end, like a magic wand. Those would be great for that!
Happy 4th July I understand that this a very special anniversary 250 years of Independence. We are having over the weekend (even though it is raining!) a BBQ on our Kamado Joe and will be cooking Baby Back Ribs and a Brisket low and slow with some corn on the cob and are thinking of making some Cowboy Beans and homemade Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream. Wishing you all a fabulous celebration whatever you have planned 
Brightness Blessings 
I remember that. Mostly because of V for Vendetta, but yeah. I remembered that! LOL!
And I remember V for Vendetta too!
I belong to a model airplane flying club and several have visited England for extended times. Each November 5th we have a cookout and a ritual burning of airplanes we destroyed the previous season. It gets kinda big! 
We don’t burn down Parliament - just lost dreams. 
That sounds like fun!
My childhood home was a Terraced house that had back alleys and all children in the Street used to collect wood from September for the bonfire 
. There was great rivalry between Streets for the biggest bonfire you had to protect the wood from raids from other Streets which was stored in your own back yard until 5th November. We never got raided as we had two German Shepherd Dogs they were really soft and would not hurt anyone but we kept quiet the kids in our Street knew this so all the wood was kept in my our back yard. We did go wood raiding though!
We used make a Guy for the bonfire but before he went on we just to put on a sleigh and knock on doors asking for a penny for the guy. All parents brought tins of fireworks, sparklers. We used to cook baking potatoes in the fire in tin foil & marshmallows on sticks, we had bonfire toffee, parkin, toffee apples, meat & potato pie, tomato soup, black peas simmered until tender and served in a cup with malt vinegar, butter pie, Lancashire Hotpot. Parents would have a drink and we would have dandelion & burdock, orangeade, hot vimto.
We used play apple bobbing - a large bucket of water with apples and you have to kneel down with your hands behind your back and get the apples out with your mouth. It was great fun. We were up until midnight which was late but we loved it.
Was it different were you lived as I am not sure which parts of England you are all from?
Happy memories
Fun movie! I love a good explosion.
Eh, I’m not from England; I just remember a movie. LOL! Thanks for including me, though!
I remember the boys going around town with a guy in a wheelbarrow, yelling “Penny for the Guy!!”
We never had our own bonfire, but we usually went over to my cousins’ place as they had a bit of land and room for a bonfire and fireworks. In later years we went down to the firework display and bonfire in the fields behind the village primary school.
We used to eat baked potatoes in their jackets, and have hot tomato soup - that’s all I remember really. I’m sure some alcohol was involved for the adults.
We didn’t do apple bobbing on November 5th, but we did do it at the Scottish Club Halloween parties, along with tons of other fun games.
I grew up down south, just west of Heathrow Airport, where half my family worked.
@Greenbriar ah that is lovely memories the weather down South is always better than up here as I am right next to Hameldon & Pendle, Hills so we can get a lot of cloud and rain. You will no doubt see changes during visit soon
Last Friday, we had a storm knock out out power for the next three days, including over the 4th of July on Saturday. I was too unnerved over the phone’s battery to come back here much. We foraged for fresh food every day, driving around while charging the phone batteries and looking at all the storm damage. The rain stopped long enough on Saturday to sit out and catch the local fireworks show, but it was humid and buggy and we darted back inside.
And just to feel like I didn’t miss everything, here are my answers from last week, Just Because:
~1 I love fireworks! They’re beautiful to watch, and the science behind them is a thrill. The only thing that gives me pause are the extra big ones. While thrilling, I know they terrify the local wildlife, and our domestic animals, too. The sonic boom confuses bats and other night fliers.
I always got to play with the long-handled sparklers as a kid. It was so much fun to whiz them through the air and make visual streamers while listening to the sizzle. 
The neighborhood kids would always gather in someone’s driveway and we had out own little party with them.
~2 I always wore a watch, back in my working days. It felt like part of my personal business attire, for some reason. It was a good way to be able to use it as a prop - glance at the watch when you wanted to end a conversation with the boss or an employee, and sent a non-verbal signal that I was out of time and needed to move on. What a crappy thing to do, now that I look back.
These days, although I still find some watches really jazzy looking, I don’t see the need.
~3 I love trains!! I was able to take a few trips when I was a small child and they still ran passenger trains, and it was a better way to go than taking the family car. How times have changed.
More recently, the most fun was being on the Euro Star from London to Paris, and getting to go through the Chunnel. I tried not to think about being underneath all that water and just enjoyed the train movement. It was a beautiful moment to come back out into the sunlight and see the French countryside. It all felt like a date I’d waited to go on for my whole life. 
And I hope to do it again!
~4 I definitely keep a lot of balls in the air. If I have one project to focus on, I’ll gladly do it, but generally there is always something percolating in the background.
~5 I like a lot of Tom Cruise movies. Probably Rain Man is my favorite, though it didn’t get the buzz that his action movies always have. Dustin Hoffman is in it, and it was a quieter, more introspective film - but he did a fine job.
Yay! I feel more caught up now. 
And - here we are again, at another Friday! Fun Friday! 
Since I’m feeling all caught up and back in the swing of things, I am ready with this week’s questions.
Today is National French Fry Day! French fries - also known as chips, fries, or just deep-fried potatoes, are known world-wide and common in many restaurants. From fast-food places to more elegant dining, where you might get an order of Shoestring Potatoes or Pommes Frites - it’s fried goodness all the way.
Are you a fan of French fries? If so, how do you refer to them - and how do you like them served?
Have you ever gone camping in the great outdoors? Did you like sleeping in a tent and a sleeping bag?
Do you like bacon? How do you like your bacon cooked - tender/chewy or crispy?
If you could be any kind of amphibian, what kind would you be?
What is your favorite part of your practice these days?
I’ll swing back by with my own answers and check in. Have fun!
Are you a fan of French fries? If so, how do you refer to them - and how do you like them served?
I adore fries, but am a little particular about the “potato-y-ness” of them. Hahaha! If they are too thick, I may as well eat them mashed with gravy. The best ones are beer battered and fried thoroughly!!
Have you ever gone camping in the great outdoors? Did you like sleeping in a tent and a sleeping bag?
I am huge fan of camping and have done tents, hammocks, and even open air! But at my age now…its a camper with AC!!
Do you like bacon? How do you like your bacon cooked - tender/chewy or crispy?
The crispier the better!!
I love axolotls! Their little faces look so happy! Also, evolutionarily they are super cool!
I am still a morning girly. I feel like I meditate and ground better before the day has had a chance to send me in a million directions
Happy Friday! Thanks for doing this @Feathertip Enjoy this weekend! Its supposed to be mid 80s and sunny here!!
French fries, and I like them a bit floppy, with some ketchup to dunk them in. Regular French Fries is about the only thing I eat Ketchup with.
Well, maybe. I went to 4H camp, which was in old military tin thigies. They had beds, but you had to bring your sleeping bag. Bugs did get in the thingies, and they weren’t really heated. The bathroom was about 25 feet away and had black mold in the showers, and the toilets had no doors. So it was sort of outdoors? I think I would have rather been in a two-person tent than in a giant tin thingie with about twenty other girls I didn’t know. And TW from my school, who was my nemesis.
Yes, but I shouldn’t eat it. I’m kinda allergic to pork. I can eat a little without being too sick, but not a lot. And I like it chewy but fully cooked.
Salamander, I think. Toads and frogs get compared to Umbridge, and I don’t wanna go there. I don’t like pink.
I love learning new things! Reading and talking to other and just finding new things out! That’s always fun.
I’ve never heard of them! Cool!
I used to prefer McDonald’s fries to any other. I’d indulge in shoestring potatoes as crunchy topping on casseroles or as a TV snack once in a while. It took my mother quite a while to get me into eating potatoes. Maybe I had a sensitivity to them at a young age and didn’t realize it. Once I’d been forced to eat them, I chugged them like they were going out of style- which should have become a hint in and if itself. Now, my body cannot process potatoes anymore. Even so, addiction allows for a chip indulgence once a month.
I’ve slept in a tent and out under the stars. Mom had a mummy bag- wrapped in plastic was pretty hot; but when it rained, I woke only enough to pull the string hood tighter around my face until everyone else got up and ran for cover.
After a while, sleeping on the ground got harder and harder. We’d carry egg crate foam pads, and still end up sleeping in the car.
What I enjoyed most was the rare experience with wild animals. One morning, Mom and I headed for the rest room together in the fog (I enjoy fog) and were surprised to be joined by a stag! He was so close, I could have pet him, but I was so sleepy that his presence just felt natural and ordinary… Until after his path veered away and Mom freaked. She wished she had her camera and wondered why I didn’t reach out and touch him.
Yes, please. Make mine extra crispy? Thank you. Thin cut is extra flavorful. Mom used to make a bacon and cheese sandwich which sounds good, once I get a loaf of bread at the store, today. Most of the time, I prefer my hamburgers with bacon.
When I buy bacon, I cut the container in half and put it in a zipper bag before I freeze it. It’s easy to store, that way, and keeps much longer.
And yes, I do reuse my bacon grease to fry other things, so the “gross” gift at the end of Disney’s Atlantis is a treasure to me.
I once had a special connection with a chameleon. I was in a pet store, just exploring, when I noticed the little fellow in a glass cage like a fish tank. When I put a finger up to greet him, he tried to hold my hand. I think that would work. I like the idea of changing my colors to blend in- I prefer working behind the scenes, anyway.
I’m exploring tinctures at the moment. I dislike the flavor of alcohol, so it isn’t something I want to continue- just using up what I have. Mugwort is teaching me that the forgotten dreams are rehash being placed into long term storage. I’m not missing much. Many of the wilder dreams depend on what I’ve been watching on video mixed with hints of recent experiences.
I’m enjoying my intuition getting my body to get things done before a larger event. This has nothing to do with the Will because I would have been able to do more along the way. At the moment, it feels like an external assistant working in my favor, though I know it’s part of me. It bypasses whatever has been holding me still for so long. This is not laziness, though I know that if I’m not careful, it could work with the laws of physics to make me slothful despite my intentions otherwise.
I had to look up this one. They are cute!
Enjoy the weather while you can! That’s wonderful!
We had 100°, here yesterday, and the only thing I could get into me for supper was lemonade and a couple cherry tomatoes. I’ll take advantage of it as long as I can as a diet.
I remember one camp like that. The boys in another section of camp told us that there were monsters which could rip through the tin and get us. It was fun until the panel truck taking us all to see fireworks scraped by something and surprised us. The boys had probably done this camp many times and knew the road.
That’s the worst!
Not a real fan. I like them but I often substitute something for them. I like them at home (we do an air fryer version that isn’t too greasy)
I’ve done a lot of camping. Started when I was almost a baby. I don’t mind using a sleeping bag - we have several. We have used RVs (Glamping) and I’ve slept rough. The SO insists on Glamping although I have persuaded her a few times to use a tent. I think I like the idea of not focusing on camping as the goal. What we do that required camping is the real goal.
Yep. I like it crispy and well drained. Baked bacon is the best
One of the salamanders or newts. Regenerative abilities intrigue men.
Learning/studying the different belief systems. I just pulled a card (I make Lenormand/Tarot decks of the belief systems) of Hecuba as Dog today. I made it quite a while ago and went back to see why the Queen of Troy would be a good Dog card. It sounds like it would be derogatory but it really isn’t. What did I find?
Happy Saturday, another week has gone by so fast. I am off next week, work in garden completed. Weather has been hot and I am enjoying the heat on my body and a little chill time.
Good answers everyone 
You’re welcome, sweetie! We sat outside last night and the fireflies were awesome! Probably going to try again tonight, it’s beautiful outside.
Ooo, you’re better than me! I’m not a fan of open air, mainly because I dislike the feeling of dew falling. It’s probably not as bad up here as it was in the SE US - it started getting gross by 2am.
I had to look them up! What sweet looking, amazing little creatures they are. Thank you!
Agreed. It can be challenging to get back to quiet time!
