Fun and fabulous 4th

Despite the fact that we did not have company this 4th of July weekend, we had a great time and enjoyed it a lot.

Spouse & I were off Fri so we went to the beach for a few hours. We set up camp with our friend Tim and his friend/weekend house guest Kevin. It was a lovely day, and we saw several other friends taking advantage of it on the beach, too.

The garage finally called at 4:00 to say they had gotten the dash pad back onto Big Ella, although it was not painted, so I picked her up a few minutes later. What a relief to get her back before the parade! Later that evening we drove her to dinner with 'the usual suspects' plus 2 new 'suspects'.
Sat morning Spouse went to the personal trainer and I dropped Big Ella off at the detail shop up the street. I showered, put together Saturday's addition update post, and caught up on a few blogs while Spouse showered.

Then we walked to the art show/sale, which was very nice. I wanted to buy a gorgeous watercolor of a male nude, but Spouse was not nearly as 'into it', so I acquiesced. We walked home, had lunch on the screened porch, and I made 2 pans of corn casserole for the parade-watching party at Mike & Steve's. (I told you I make this for every potluck, BBQ, picnic, cook-out, or other miscellaneous party. Everyone loves it.)

The detail shop called to say Big Ella was done, so we brought her home, then walked to the canal for the boat parade. Folks decorate their boats of all sizes with red/white/blue stuff and sail down the canal. We got there a little late so we only caught the last few minutes of it, but it was cute. While there we ran into a new couple, Paul & Michael from NJ, who recently bought a house around the corner from us. We talked with them and their weekend house guests for awhile, then walked back home.

Then we carried our pans of corn casserole over to Mike & Steve's for the parade-watching party. Their front porch faces the parade route, so they have a cook-out in their lovely landscaped back yard followed by parade-watching on the front porch. Doo Dah fans anxiously await the start of the parade! What is a Doo Dah parade? Click here.

Just after 5:00 I snuck out to walk back home to meet up with John & Marty for the parade. I left Spouse with the camera and instructions not to shake the camera while taking pictures like he did last year. The special instructions must have worked, as this year's photos turned out much better! (Click to enlarge all photos.)

The statue of Liberty comes to town!

A beautiful old Buick.

My friend Chris' Chevy Bel Air. Love that 2-tone green paint!

Below is our neighbor Georgia in the tiara and giant sunglasses.

We jokingly referred to her as 'Miss Compost Heap 2009'.

Parade watchers nervously anticipating Big Ella's arrival.

A beautiful Model A or Model T, I forget which.

This was Big Ella's very 1st parade!

You recall that Spouse is taking the photos, and may be wondering who is in the passenger seat. My friends Marty & John brought their friend Bob with them to the parade. Just as the parade was about to step off, Bob hopped in the car with me so I would have someone to talk to, which was very nice. The funny thing was, Spouse did not know Bob, nor did he know Marty & John were bringing a friend, so as we passed by Spouse thought "Who is that riding in Big Ella with my husband?" When I realized this I got a good laugh out of it!

Another funny thing was that Bob and I were dressed identically: the exact same shirt and shorts. His hair and skin tone are also much like mine, and we are probably very close in age. I heard a parade spectator say "Look at those twins in the Cadillac", which nearly made me cry with laughter!

Big Ella was a big hit in the Doo Dah parade. I lost count of how many men and women complimented her along the parade route. One man who looked to be in his 60s said "That's when they made cars out of metal and steel", which gave me a chuckle.

Directly behind Big Ella was Eddie the Edsel, driven by Marty & John.

Eddie was 'born' in 1959 like Big Ella, and they are very similar colors.

Eddie received lots of compliments from the parade watchers too. Edsels were only made from 1958-1960.

After the parade ended I parked Big Ella at home and walked back to Mike & Steve's house to have dessert and visit some more. Then we walked home, fed Jordan, and took her for a walk.

Then we grabbed our beach chairs and walked to the beach for the fireworks. The town does not put on an official fireworks display, but instead, residents bring their own fireworks and set them off at the water's edge. The weather couldn't have been nicer as we sat for an hour watching multiple fireworks displays up and down the beach. It was fantastic! It was nearly 10:00 when we decided it was time to go home, but the fireworks were still going on. We walked home, washed up, and watched TV for a little while before going to bed.

If you count how many times the words "walk" and "walked" appear above you may understand why I was exhausted on Sun! I must have walked several miles throughout the day. So after meeting Rick & Nick for brunch, Spouse & I decided to follow our 'Doo Dah' day with a 'do nothing' day. We watched TV, he napped, I read blogs, and just relaxed.

Then at 7:00 we met our friends Bryan, Jason, Mark, and Tim for dinner at M. Gallucio, a lovely little Italian place nearby. We enjoyed a tasty dinner and fun conversation.

It was a fun and fabulous 4th.

Crush du Jour: David Fumero