Fourth of July
Here's some Jasper loveliness in keeping with the spirit of today:It's so quiet round here — no freeway noise, no local traffic, no kids chirruping at the park nearby — it's Independence Day and the whole world is on holiday!
Happy July Fourth to all my mates over here!
We celebrated yesterday (a day early here, but it was already July 4 in Australia, don't forget!) by going to see this at the Hollywood Bowl:It was a combination of Fourth of July fun and fireworks, and a celebration of the Dodgers baseball team's 50th year in Los Angeles, having been relocated from Brooklyn. Very successfully, by all accounts.
We had amazing seats (below): that's Lily, in the Fabulous Purple Clapotis, looking back at the camera. David is in front of her in the white shirt. We had a box all to ourselves.This was the view looking back the other way: Temporarily suspending our allegiance to the Dockers and the San Diego Padres, we clapped and cheered with the loyal and patriotic Dodgers crowd as a lot of their heroes from past days trooped by on stage.
Randy Newman, who wrote the Dodgers' end-of-game anthem, We Love LA, played piano, sang and conducted the wonderful orchestra as it played his theme from The Natural. It was a baseball-infused night! Randy is our family's all-time favourite and we have loved him, Dave and I, since we were 18-year-olds at the University of WA together.
Now our two youngest kids are fans, and while we're in the US, we have vowed that at least one of us will see Randy perform every year. Dave and I have seen him in concert at Long Beach (2005), and at Humphrey's by the Bay in San Diego (2006). Lily saw him in Seattle last year, and so the pledge continues!
For the finale, last night, the Bowl's famous shell was lit in stars and stripes ... ... the orchestra played a stirring medley of Souza marches, and about a billion fireworks lit up the sky. It was spectacular.