A 4th Tale of Two (Very Different) Cities

Wow. Yesterday was a TREMENDOUS 4th of July for us. Tim's cousin plays in a concert band, and they played at the Riverwalk Amphitheater in Montgomery, so we went to see them. From 5 p.m. on we experienced a water skiing show, a picnic on the lawn, beautiful music that stirred our souls, and the MOST BEAUTIFUL AND GINORMOUS fireworks I've ever experienced in my WHOLE LIFE!

The pictures posted below share some of our day.

The other city referred to in this post's title is Cartersville, Georgia. My son drove his fiance, all of her family, and a host of friends many miles to re-visit the town of his childhood for their fireworks show. The town now charges a parking fee to view the fireworks from the city park since it makes for the best viewing. When my son's group arrived, the park officials took their money (the group traveled in several vehicles), city police directed traffic into parking places, and directed them to the best place for viewing the fireworks within the park.

When time came for the fireworks, NOTHING happened. After a few minutes, the crowd finally HEARD the booms, and could see light off in the distance where apparently the fireworks were going off - but they could not be seen by any of the thousands of people who paid to see the show!

The crowd booed and hissed, and then watched as the park personnel and police LEFT THE PARK. Soon, everyone ran for their cars, but traffic was TOTAL CHAOS because police officers didn't stick around to handle crowd control.

A TOTAL mess.

So - Gigantic Kudos to Montgomery, Alabama and a "What's up?" to Cartersville, Georgia.

Enough of my rant. Hope you enjoy my 4th photos - send in some of yours and I'll post them too!

Montgomery Riverwalk Amphitheater

Above - the early crowd

Below - the later crowd

My darling hubby - he sure doesn't like me to take his photo, so I have to sneak it in. He was WAAY across the lawn when I got this one, but he sure knew what I was doing! :-) I got one other shot, and he gave me permission to post one or both of them. I chose this one because, even though he's not smiling, you can see his eyes!

The water skiing demonstration sure made me miss being on skis myself. Of course, I was never this graceful or skilled, but I enjoyed it anyway!

Three photos above - our dear cousin Tom is in the center of the first one, in the middle of the speaker, behind the band member with the red shirt. The others are of the very talented Capitol Sounds Concert Band, and their Director John Jackson.

(Tom, we enjoyed spending time with you. You are such a blessing.)

I was pleased with some of the fireworks pictures I took when they first started, but they truly don't do the show justice. I finally put the camera down so I could experience the beauty firsthand. With the band playing patriotic songs as the fireworks lit the sky - it became a beautiful time of worship and praising the Lord for the beauty of the day, for the freedom we have to worship and to tell others about Jesus, and for His creation of the earth, the weather, the water.

A beautiful, special day.

Come, share yours with us!