The House on Hybiscus: FOURTH OF JULY HOLIDAY

Debra and I went on a Fourth of July date. She has always wanted me to take her to a fireworks show, but I usually have to get up early the next morning for work. My employer does not consider the Fifth of July to be a paid holiday.

But this year the Fourth of July fell on a Saturday, so I took her to the Harry and David baseball field where we sat among the multitudes and enjoyed the bombs bursting in air.

We began our date by backing out of the garage and closing the garage door behind us.

Once the garage door was shut, we drove and we sucked on straws placed in little holes in the lids of cups displaying the Dutch Brothers logo.

Since we had never been to this fireworks show before, we left early enough to insure good parking and good seating. We were about the first ones there. We grabbed our sand chairs from the back of the pickup and walked across the street to the baseball field.

Being among the early arrivers, we got there before the gates opened, so we unfolded our chairs and waited in line.

After placing our sand chairs in a strategic location, the camera got this lawn's-eye view of the Rogue Valley Manor beyond the center field fence.

As we were people-watching, we also watched my watch and noticed that almost nobody had arrived for the show which was still about three hours away. We also noticed that these low-to-the-ground chairs were not very comfortable after a few minutes, so we drove back home to get a couple of normal-sized folding chairs.

Where's Debra? Oh, there she is sitting on a normal-sized folding chair after we arrived at the baseball field for the second time. This time, the crowd was beginning to grow.

Where's Debra now? A little closer this time.

And still closer.

There she is, comfortably seated on a not-so-hard-on-your-back folding chair.

Observing that many of the early arrivers were either reading books or playing games on cell phones (the guy to the right with his cell phone, for example ), Debra decided to pass the time by trying to figure out a cell phone game.

Still pondering the game.

An almost-full moon brightened as the sky darkened through the evening.

Debra attempted to text "Happy Fourth of July" to Ashley, but accidentally pressed the "send" button with only the word "Happy" texted. So she calls Ashley to explain the strange message.