Fun With Fireworks

It’s terribly cliché, but like most kids I used to lie on my back in the grass and see if I could recognize any familiar shapes in the clouds. If I saw what resembled a boat, for example, I’d imagine that it would take me far away from my perpetually broken heart. We had several trees in our corner-lot yard: a magnolia, an oak, a row of evergreens and my favorite—a mimosa. The “leaves” of the mimosa were like miniature palms, but they had symmetrical rows of smooth, deep green sprigs (if stripped from the flimsy center they made great spontaneous confetti.) At sunset when the leaves would gently fold up for the evening I’d know it was probably close to time for me to go inside. The most spectacular thing about the mimosa tree? The flowers. They’ve always somehow reminded me of a geisha, which isn’t surprising given that they’re native to southwestern and eastern Asia and are also known as the Persian Silk Tree. (ß I cannot tell a lie; I just learned this from Wikipedia.) Anyway, why am I talking about mimosa trees?

Glad you asked.

Last night we went to see the fireworks display at Old Settler’s Park and I brought my camera/tripod to try some new tricks I’d learned about photographing fireworks. They worked. When I got home and saw these images on my computer, I was struck by how many of them reminded me of certain things—just like the clouds used to. And the first photo really reminded me of a mimosa flower. So there you have it. It's amazing what we'll see if we'll just pay attention.

Here are some of my favorites from last night, along with what came to mind when I saw them. I’d love to hear what you see.