Round Top Festival for the 4th.

We drove to Round Top this afternoon for a 4th of July concert...... another tiny town with a wonderful surprise -- a huge concert hall tucked into the woods. This handsome theatre is filled with hand-carved wood walls, ceilings, trim-work, windows....... a piece of art in itself.... and it is acoustically correct-- I would imagine even one plastic kazoo in that place would sound like a symphony.

Today's concert was all about the 4th of July. There was enough red, white and blue clothing in that jam-packed audience to make American flags for everyone in the state. The concert started off with one man (wearing a red/white/blue sequined vest over his white shirt with black slacks)..... he came out to sing "The Star Spangled Banner," and at the second note, the entire audience started to sing along. The louder he sang, the louder we all sang, and by the fifteenth note, he must have known we were all going to keep on singing, so it became a magical performance by everyone. And there wasn't a dry eye in the theatre when we all got to the last note. Tissues were being passed along the rows as everyone sat back down.

The music was excellent.... John Williams, Aaron Copeland, Richard Rogers, Leonard Bernstein, John Philip Sousa, to name a few.... and tunes from the Glenn Miller era had the old soldiers and their wives dancing in the aisles. American flags all over the theatre, and red and blue and silver streamers popped out from the upper balconies at the close of the show. The July 4th concert was sponsored by the BlueBell Ice Cream Factory, and as we all left the theatre, BlueBell ice cream cups were handed out to everyone.

Being so close to Royer's Cafe, we went there for dinner after the concert. So did a lot of other people, but we were lucky.... when we arrived at the cafe, we got the last table so we didn't have to wait. Royer's is always a fun place to eat. No matter how many times you go, you will notice something new hanging on the walls or from the ceiling in that tiny little restaurant. Today's surprise were the vintage cat-clocks hanging on the walls..... the kind with the eyes and tails that move to each of the tick-tocks of the clock. Bud Royer must collect them, because there were quite a few, in different colors.

On the way home, my husband went to buy fireworks at one of the stands (Buy 1, get 11 Free!)...... we brought them over to our neighbors, J&J...... we sat with them at the concert, and we went there for dessert and fireworks just before dark tonight. Bottle rockets, flares, Roman Candles..... the guys lit them all up in J's yard..... the girls sat on the lawn near the house and clapped at the ones that exploded in the sky and burst into colors...... and we covered our heads and our eyes at the few that went sideways. When my husband and J's son-in-law came back to the porch, their fingers were black with firework-powder.

There are a billion stars up in the sky tonight, and it's so clear outside that we could see them all. The night sky was a beautiful back-drop for the fireworks. The concert was a magical musical tribute to a country that is often-times questioned, but never equalled. Say what you want about things that go wrong from coast to coast here, but honestly-- would you truly want to live anywhere else on this planet? (And if you do, well-- go there. Or stop your complaining.)

Happy July 4th...... I hope it was a happy and a safe one for you and yours...... and I hope that everyone had colorful fireworks to oooh and aaah over, and soul-stirring music that brought at least one tiny tear to your eye.