Blowing up 1,300 pounds of fireworks

is an insane amount of fun, but it's also a great deal of work--at least to do safely and in a choreographed manner, as we did. (Pouring gas on them and dropping one match would also yield a cool result, but a differently cool one. We'll stick with what we're doing now.) Our annual Fourth of July party was the biggest ever, with well over a hundred people coming for the food and many more arriving just for the show.

I've written before in this blog about how amazing it is to stand under the fireworks and watch them soar and explode over your head, so I won't go into it much this evening, but I must note this: It is one of the most primal, joy-filled experiences I have each year. I believe most, if not all, of the others on the launch team feel the same way.

Gina was gracious enough to assemble a photo album of some of her shots of the show. Though I can barely stand to look at my fat, old self, the pictures without me are so good that I have to pass it to you all. CORRECTION: I had a link here, but it was to a Kodak photo-sharing site, and we could never make it work. Sorry.
The show lasted about forty minutes. Out in the field, in the noise and the color and the world exploding overhead, it felt like ten. Magic, sheer magic. I wish you all could have been there.