eisa for brunch and catching up, which involved a lot of walking to find a place whose premises and kitchen were both open but ended us up at the Rosebud Diner, where I had a yummy mushroom and feta omelet. eisa also introduced me to the music of Delirium (if I’m remembering right) and Voltaire, and I got some nice time with Puppy Monster. Oh, and we stopped at the JP Licks in Davis Square, where I had a lemon sorbet.So it was already a good day by the time
cathijosephine took me (and her friend C.) to the Esplanade for the fireworks. Actually, we made a detour by the JP Licks in Newbury Street, my second JP Licks trip of the day, where I tried their tabasco ice cream, the Disco Inferno, which was kind of boring — their El Diablo, which has chocolate and cayenne, is really yummy. I was expecting the Disco Inferno to be boring, but I wanted to try it. Anyway, hot fudge makes anything just fine. Then we wandered over to the river and found a spot wedged among half a million of our dearest friends to watch the fireworks and listen to the Pops.Lately, if I’ve watched the fireworks at all, it’s been from our house in Malden, several miles away. Prior to that, I’d watched the fireworks once or twice, but from the Cambridge side of the river, and optimizing for comfort and lack of crowds rather than visibility. This time, we were right across the river from the barge the fireworks were launched from, and it was a much different experience. (When C. pointed out the barge, and how huge it was — I’d thought it was just the opposite bank of the river — an image popped into my head of a grizzled old guy with only three fingers on one hand sitting on the front of the barge, smoking a cigarette. :-) From where we were, the fireworks covered an angle of about a hundred degrees in the sky! And the fireworks were spectacular. There was a kind near the beginning that I’d never seen before that just painted the sky almost solid white, spreading out to cover the sky like lichen on a tree. Hard to describe, but very beautiful. And there was lots and lots of blue. And there were some tours-de-force by the fireworks manufacturers in the form of cubes, stars, and smiley faces. (I said that next year, they should shoot off some smiley faces with noseglasses.) It was a delightful experience, and I’m very grateful to
cathijosephine for taking me. (And for many other things.)Maybe one of these years I’ll actually make it to First Night, too.
