We spent July Fourth with friends in Fredricksburg, Va., which is about 70 miles south of Washington. I had hoped to take fireworks photos, but we got stormed out. So I settled for pictures in the bathroom, instead.
Our friends have a skylight above the john, which gives a great view of the clouds while doing your business. Of course, the crooning strains the neck. But gazing at cloud formations is kind of relaxing, even in the WC’s confines.
I’m amazed to hear men talk on cell phones while sitting on the john in public toilets. So, I figured that carrying in my Nikon D200 wouldn’t be any more offensive, considering that I would only be taking pictures. The door was open, folks.
The Fredricksburg fireworks could have demonstrated other capabilities of the the D200. Funny though, last night’s drive home offered one of the best dispalys I’ve ever seen. We left Fredericksburg around 9:25, and saw three sets of fireworks before traveling one exit on Interstate 95.
From there, we watched fireworks, community by community, as we traveled towards Washington. Near as I can figure, storms traveled along a northernly route, delaying fireworks displays along the I-95 corridor. So as we traveled north, we saw one fireworks show after another during the first 40 minutes or so. I counted, including the three displays around Fredericksburg, more than a dozen fireworks. Lightning added nature’s or God’s, depending on perspective, touch to the various community fireworks.
Storms raged through Kensington while we were down south. We exited off the Beltway to find that a power outage had darkened lower Kensington and upper Chevy Chase. At home, a large branch had fallen from a neighbor’s tree across his lawn and onto our driveway. If the car had been parked there…
From the perspective of a driver on the highway, the lightning delighted. But the perspective here in Kensington was something else. Storms damaged properties. Today, the local FedEx driver said there are trees down all over town.
I hope my friends will have an understanding, humorous perspective—fingers crossed—because I forgot to ask about the bathroom pictures. There was no one around at the time I took the pics.
Our good friends were great hosts. They made July Fourth extra meaningful. Our next visit won’t come soon enough.
Editor’s Note: On July 28, 2017, this post was recovered, using Archive.org Wayback Machine, from a snapshot of joewilcox.com during 2006, when months of content was lost while changing blogging systems and webhosts. Date and timestamps are authentic.