Leroy's Art Blog

I don't think you can beat the 4th of July for the experience of what is best about our beloved country. This was a magnificent day here in Washington, and crammed full of Americana. I loved the parade, with the snappy high school bands from all over the USA. I was surprised to find myself getting all teary with the bands playing God Bless America and America the
Beautiful, watching all the marching firemen
proud of all their fancy shiny machinery, the
dancers from Bolivia and the proud marchers from the Phillipines, Curious George floating over the crowd... This is truly a great and beautiful country, still trying to live up to its ideals, and succeeding more often than not. There is no other like it.

The Mall was full of activities, crafts and food for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. I spent several hours, first at the Mountain Laurel Stage (thank you Virginia) enjoying incredible American mountain music, and then at another tent listening to wonderful folk music from Northern
Ireland.

The US Navy Band was presenting an extremely enjoyable concert, when it was suddenly interrupted because there was a threat of severe thunderstorms, even tornedos. Everything was stopped, and people were directed to go to Metro stations or gov't buildings for safety. I went, instead, to a museum where there were some outside tables with umbrellas and found myself at a table with several German tourists. Found that I even remembered a few words of German - that goes waaay back! It did rain for an hour or

so, but then broke well before the scheduled fireworks.

There are lots of good places to go to watch the fireworks. One of the best is the steps of the Lincoln Monument, as the fireworks are held over the Reflecting Pool, with the Washington Monument in the background. So that is where I was. To my left there was a couple from India. On my right, a woman from Norway who works with the Red Cross to develop educational courses for Human Rights. Appropriately, she was a beautiful blond. Chaperoned,
unfortunately. Her backpack had patches from
Phillipines, Indonesia, TANZANIA and the USA. She shares my love of Tanzania, and would go back there in a flash if the opportunity should come up.

I don't know, maybe being diagnosed with cancer makes one more appreciative of the really special pleasures of life, but this 4th of July certainly was one of them.