Yankee Doodle Mandy

I don't actually go by "Mandy". It just worked nicely for the title, so I went with it.

Today is Independence Day & although I wasn't born in the States, both my mum & John were, so I feel a certain kinship here. It's nice to feel at home in more than one country. While growing up, we spent quite a few July 4th's (or should that be written as 1/4's? Like a fraction?) in the States. One of them was in 1976, the bicentennial, which also happened to be my sister's christening. Well, I guess it didn't just happen that way...clearly it was planned to coincide. Anyway, I didn't know anything about the bicentennial, since I was only 4 years old at the time, but we all wore red, white & blue clothes, rang the bells in the church & got to eat huge pieces of cake (of course I remember the cake part).

I also remember parading around in a pair of pink, plastic, high-heel, flip-flops with marabou pouffs at the front. I found them in the children's play area of the church & they were just my size. I loved them & wanted to keep them, but I guess stealing from the church would have been wrong. They also didn't really go with my red & white, Laura Ingalls prairie dress (complete with bonnet), made by my mum. It even had one of those labels sewn into it..."Made with love by mom". She also made me a yellow, Laura Ingalls sleeping cap & I wore it every night. I wanted to be Laura Ingalls & have someone call me half-pint. Yes, I know I'm inviting shame & ridicule on myself by admitting these things, but when you're little, you don't care about being cool. You just like what you like. And that's what I liked.

I remember another 4th of July we spent in Vermont. There was a carnival-type thing in town with rides & we got to be in the parade. We rode on a fire truck, which must have pleased Dado to no end since he loves firetrucks so much he might want to be one. I ate a lot of fruit salad that day b/c we stayed with my mum's aunt, who was a caterer & her fruit salad was awesome! It was all piled into a watermelon that had been hollowed out & cut all zig-zaggy into the shape of a basket.

Why is it that what stands out most in my mind are the things I've eaten on the 4th of July?! Maybe it's b/c for our family, like countless others, food is a big part of the celebration of any holiday. My favorite time at Thanksgiving & Christmas is when we all get to sit down at the table & enjoy dinner together. Even when Jody does his patented "mashed potato tongue" (which, for those of you who haven't witnessed the blessed event, is when my brother takes a huge bite of mashed potatoes, then forces it back through his mouth, fully formed, so it comes out looking like a white tongue). It's gross, but it's become tradition. And that's what makes any holiday extra special...repeating past traditions, starting new ones & doing the things that make you feel at home.

So, in order to tie together this all-over-the-place post, here's a random list of what springs to mind when I think of the 4th of July...fireworks, hot dogs, ice cream, sparklers, Keith Lockhart & the Boston Pops playing the 1812 Overture (which is funny since that piece of music was composed by a Russian to commemorate the unsuccessful French invasion into Russia), red white & blue bunting, picnics, parades & smiles.

Today, I ate a hot dog, witnessed some parades, saw lots of red, white & blue, had an ice cream cone, watched the Boston Pops on TV & lit a sparkler off of our balcony (which we weren't supposed to do, but we did it anyway b/c it had to be done). And that's what made a Happy 4th of July for me.

Sparkles & fizzes to all!
PortlandGirl