church of the patriotic

It's cooled off and I've closed the doors to keep the no-see-ums and mosquitoes from coming in through the holey screens. But I can still hear the thunder of fireworks being launched from all directions. Okay with me, since I like fireworks, and I might have touched off a few from time to time myself. They're more common since Vermont changed the laws regarding sales on this side of the border, but tonight is of course the night of the big July 4th displays so everyone is bringing out their fattest and best. The "ohs" and "ahs" will no doubt be deafening.

I danced in two parades this weekend; my first time out in the border morris kit. And although I didn't actually dance a border dance, we did a processional down the street doing moving border figures. It was blisteringly hot, especially in Montpelier, but fun all the same.  Nothing like a good sweat swinging a stick in a heavy costume and face paint to facilitate contact with that primal consciousness. I'm focused. And it never ceases to amaze me when prominent politicians chose to have their pictures taken with morris dancers. Maybe the contrast enhances their credibility. Works for us, though. All the time the crowd was cheering for Bernie Sanders, we could pretend they were totally cheering for us. And it was great to have the bells on in public again.

I didn't warm to the patriotism thing which, given that I was exposed to some of the biggest flags ever run up a pole, must indicate that years of inoculation  have finally managed to produce some kind of immunity. It worked for religion, too. Enough so that I pretty much lump the two together under the same genetic predisposition. It's not that I don't feel the stirrings; I'm wired the same as the next human. But it's similar to the way I can also tell fairly early on when I'm catching a cold and I work to minimize the impact. The flags WERE impressive, though. The biggest one was at the judge's stand in Montpelier, and it took two cranes to keep it aloft. The second biggest was flying over the hockey float. I'm still not sure how to read that, but it was a popular one because they were throwing snowballs out into the crowd. Then people in the crowd would gather up the pieces and throw them back. All in good fun, of course.

Montpelier is a very interesting town, and it's probably safe to say that a lot of the interesting bits were well represented in that parade. At one point one of my fellow dancers said to me, "You know, sometimes Vermont scares me just a little bit." I thought about that. "Yeah," I said, "anything can happen here. Good or bad." But whatever it is, there's a pretty good chance there will be a float to recognize it in the July 4th parade.