4th July Weekend, 2010 Edition

On Friday afternoon we finished work early, which I could certainly get used to. We arrived home to find our power back on after it had been shut off because of lack of bill payment (we aren't responsible for the bill). We quickly ran to Trader Joe's (a grocery store) to get some supplies to replace what had spoiled in the fridge/freezer while the power was out. Andrew and Richard came around and we grilled some dinner and then played some cards, mainly Rummy, Gin Rummy and Crazy Eights. I won the first game of gin rummy, but the win was tainted when it turned out we were a few cards short of a full deck. I didn't win any more games after a full deck was used...

Saturday we woke up and watched the World Cup game. It was a nice day outside, so our plan to go to the fireworks in Greenwich in the evening looked like it would pay off. After a last minute hiccup about whether we were going to go we quickly packed up a picnic and ran out the door. We dropped by Stop and Shop on the way and grabbed some sparklers and headed for the park. We arrived at about 7:30 or so, with sunset at 8:30, but dark not coming until 9. In that time we found somewhere to set ourselves up, ate some food, watched snapping turtles in the pond and tried lighting some sparklers. For some reason some of them just wouldn't light, so we still have a lot of sparklers at home. The fireworks started and unfortunately they were partially obscured by a tall tree from our vantage point. They got further obscured a few minutes into the show when a photographer came and set up right in front of us without even looking to see if we were there. He set up right in front of Liz, so she couldn't see, and he was in the edge of the shots I was trying to take. We didn't say anything and shuffled across further, right to the edge of the pond. Then he shuffled across. Liz couldn't see at all, so she was annoyed. I figured it was time to speak up. Apparently, I sound more Australian when I'm annoyed, because I said to him "Hey, mate, are you getting some good shots or what?" He turned around and asked if he was blocking our view. Liz responded with a very definite "yes." He didn't take another shot after that, and ran away probably less than a minute later.

Photographer at edge of this shot...

Sunday we slept in, and the mercury climbed a little higher (upper 90s/mid 30s) than it did on Saturday. We did the bulk of our weekly grocery shopping and Liz baked some cupcakes (delicious) in the afternoon. We went to Audubon that night to try taking some night photos. Arriving there a little after sunset Liz took a couple of photos with the sky still slightly illuminated by the set sun. Because the lights were on on the outside of the building the lawn we were on wasn't as dark as we had thought and hoped it would be, so we started to head towards a lake on the trails. Before we even made it to the woods we had turned back; a large animal, not sure what but it had a light colored back end, was startled by our approach and ran away. Not sure what we would encounter we decided to make do with the lawn.

When we got back to the lawn we were treated with 4 fireworks displays. The center and lawn are at the top of a hill, and from there we could see 4th July fireworks from 4 different towns. Once we had finished watching those we tried taking some photos of fireflies and the stars, but they didn't really work. The tragedy of the night came though when I was trying to change the tilt of the camera on the tripod. Moving the lever I felt a sudden snap - the lever responsible for moving the head and holding it steady snapped, leaving some of itself jammed in the head. I don't know if it is salvageable - I need to take a good look at it.

It was pure luck I was centered on the North Star. I had a general idea of where it was, but didn't know for sure. I really want to take some good star trail photos one day...

On Monday we decided to go to the local Stamford beach because it was hot and we had never been before. Richard came with us, and when we got to the beach our plans to put our feet in the water were changed by a rocky/shell-covered low tide and really dirty looking water. We went for a walk and then sat on the beach, under an umbrella, for a while before going home to sit in the shade there. We set up a table in the backyard and played more cards - adding Memory and War to the list of games we had played. I managed to win some Rummy with a full deck! After Richard left Liz and I made dinner and then watched a movie - Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It was good, but had a bit too much full frontal male nudity.

Tuesday was back to work, and probably luckily so. Weather.com said that it was 102°F (39°C) but 104°F (40°C) with humidity at 4PM. Probably a good day to be inside...

Damn photo uploads not sizing properly... annoys me that the fireworks photos are all different sizes...