FSO: Summer celebration

Having just returned from Italy, I was too jet-lagged to go watch fireworks. To be quite honest, fireworks are easy for me to skip. I'm not crazy about the crowds and the noise, and I always worry about the dogs (who remain locked away in the quietest room of the house).

Hubby John's photo of fireworks in Florence, one of those shots where you hold the camera above the crowd and hope for the best.

Last month we showed up in Florence on San Giovanni's Day, June 24, which is cause for a big fireworks display over the river Arno-- just where we happened to be staying. The crowd was huge and the fireworks were impossible to miss. But I didn't want to miss these fireworks, because after all, the Italians were the ones who perfected pyrotechnics; in the US almost all firework displays are designed by Italian Americans. Plus, I didn't have to worry about Ed and Reub. The fireworks were splendid, one after the other, all rivaling what suffices for a grand finale back home at the local Jaycee-sponsored celebration. Wow.


My favorite local celebration in Corvallis is Da Vinci Days, held each year in July to celebrate art and engineering. The kinesthetic sculpture races are my favorite part of this festival. Each of these vehicles has to be man-powered, decorated, and able to navigate a sand pit, mud bog, and a river race. Here are a few shots from the mud bog portion of the race:

"Hippypotamus" waiting to enter the mud bog.

This vehicle is powered by four pedalers, seated inside.

The "Octobus Garden" was similarly colorful, but equipped with giant tires.

I don't remember what this one was called, but it was bound to be a pun (groan).

Inevitably many sculptures become mired and after a respectful amount of time elapses, the crowd of spectators is invited to help pull them out.

I would rather stay out of that mud, just like this onlooker who had the forethought to bring a parasol.