Flashbacks from the 4th

That's me, always after-the-fact.  I'm probably going to end up being late for my own funeral.  Funny that; being late for anything is one of my biggest pet peeves.

I actually have a good excuse for my latent 4th of July post.  I have recently started shooting in RAW (for those of you who don't give a rat's ass about photography, I don't mind that your eyes have already started to glaze over, vs. later on in my posts.) and not only are the image files ginormous, they take me forever to post-process.

To be blunt, the 4th of July 'round these parts of New England was pretty much a wash.  We were inundated with thunderstorms and downpours and it was wet and dreary; identical to much of the last six weeks.  So why should Independence Day be any different?  We certainly didn't gain our independence from the weather system stuck above us.

Earlier in the day, I had the hubby take the Little Imp on an adventure to go to the beach and get me some sand.  Notwithstanding the torrential downpours and the lightening slashing across the sky, they did!  He brought me back close to 30lbs of beach sand. Yeah, 30lbs.  Anyone out there in AZ want a little genuine Maine beach sand?

Why did I need some sand?  Because my luvlies, I wanted to make a centerpiece for my table. 

Voila!

Whilst I couldn't get outside to grill, I pinched a recipe from Noble Pig for sliders and despite my lack of culinary prowess, they turned out pretty damn good.  Actually, they tasted a lot like I remember the sliders from White Castle tasted.  If you haven't already checked out Noble Pig...go! Oh and don't forget to tell her I sent you!   I hate to admit that if it wasn't for her site, I'd have not gotten several last minute recipes and thus the inhabitants of the asylum would have been fending for themselves on several occasions - which equates having pizza delivered or someone getting takeout.

Sliders and fries...

Dessert was about the only thing that remotely resembled something patriotic.  Oh, and I came up with this by my very own self!  Yes, I'm proud...even more so that I didn't burn the asylum down when I lit it!

Add a sparkler and then light that baby up!



Crappy photography at it's best, but there you have it. An original Barking Mad Asylum 4th of July dessert.  You too can make this, all you need are these simple items!

I know that eventually my mom, whenever she gets back from Israel, is going to read this and say a couple of things;  "Audrey, where the hell did you get blue cake?"  and "Oiy vey! You are lazy, you could have made whipped cream rather than resorting to that crap in a can!" 

Thanks in advance mom for the helping of guilt!  Yes, I know I could have made homemade whipped cream.  However, I put this bad boy together at the last minute and I used what I had on hand.  As for the blue cake?  Easy peasy lemon squeezy!   My girl, Betty Crocker, hit me up with a white cake mix and some blue food colouring.  A little simple addition and you've got yourself a blue cake.  Smurfs everywhere will be proud.  Oh and your granddaughter was totally down with her patriotic dessert! 

Seeing as how it was pouring outside, we couldn't light any of the 50 packages of sparklers I have accumulated over the last 6 months.  Don't ask me why I have so damned many packages of sparklers.  Probably because anything more explosive than a sparkler is illegal in Maine.  I also managed to get my hands on a huge package of what I thought were "legal" fireworks here in Maine.  It also contained about another 30 packages of sparklers and tons and tons of other things I assumed were fireworks...like the kind that don't ever leave the ground, but alas, still legal in Maine.

The hubby took one look at them once I'd opened the package and knew what they were.  I was still completely in the dark (gee, big shock there!).  He started to open one and I went through the roof, yelling at him to "Don't you dare light that Goddamned thing in my house! Are you on crack? Have you lost your ever-lovin' mind?!?!"

He smacked one of the long golden tubes across his hand and as I dived under the table in anticipation of the explosion, bazillions of tiny little pieces of  multi- coloured paper started to rain down all over the kitchen.

Those "fireworks" I bought?  Yeah, they weren't so much fireworks as they were tubes of confetti. 

I can't even begin to describe the mess that ensued, show I'll show you instead.

That crap got everywhere!

Once I'd gotten the mess swept up in the kitchen (that doesn't even begin to cover the couters, the windowsill, the stove.), and into a nice little pile, the unthinkable happened.  Geronimo and Godiva decied to pounce on the pile!

I am still finding pieces of confetti all over the house and in the most unusual places. 

I was hopping into the shower the evening of the 4th and took my bra off and lo and behold, resting there between the girls were about 25 pieces of confetti.  

I took a book off the shelves on the fireplace and opened it up and out came flying several pieces of confetti.  

I was watching Griffy saunter past me yesterday and there, stuck to his ass?  Yeah, confetti.  

Being that there were no local fireworks displays on the 4th due to the rain, the local display that is put on in conjunction with Bath Heritage Days was held on the 5th. 

Megawatt, the hubby and the Little Imp all begged me to go.  The hubby told me it would be good chance to practice my night shooting and have my first go at shooting fireworks with the new camera and lenses.  Then he plied me with enough Xanax to put down an elephant and I went along.   Although, I forgot my tripod and trying to shoot fireworks without a tripod always ends badly...my shots from the fireworks display are no exception to that rule.

I think I was using the wrong lens too.

My one surprising success of the night, as far as taking pictures was concerned, was getting a half-way decent shot of La Luna...the moon.  I'm doubly tickled about this shot because I did it without a tripod, or knowing what the hell I was doing with the new camera.

Framed, in part,  by the Bath Bridge...

I have never ever been able to get a shot of the moon that resembles anything more than a speck of light against pitch black, so this little gem is near and dear to me.  See, it really is the simple things in life like this that manage to make me smile.  Well that and the fact that upon seeing this on the computer, the Little Imp looked up at me and beamed and then said, "Mumma, you are the bestest pichure taker in the world. You rock!" 

No, Little Imp...you, my dear, are the one who rocks!