flowers, humor, photography, seasons

Pragmatism for Independence Day

Posted on by Mellow Curmudgeon in flowers, humor, photography, seasons
This year, I put out almost the same patriotic decorations for Independence Day as for Memorial Day.  Bright diffuse light when I decorated for Memorial Day was good for photography, but I did not have time to cull and crop before posting for that day.  When I decorated for Independence Day, the heat and humidity were bad (and correctly predicted to soon be worse).  Anyway, the rhododendron blooms were long gone.  In the fading American tradition of pragmatism, I’ll post mostly anachronistic photos here.  In the beleaguered tradition of full disclosure, I’ll fess up to the discrepancies with nods to old songs.

It’s a grand old flag …

I still have the flag I flew for Memorial Day in 2018, but it is tattered and dingy now.  New for 2026, my current flag of choice is somewhat smaller than the old one and easier for an old geezer to handle.  The image from 2018 is still the best flag photo I have.

In the merry merry month of May …

A few days after Memorial Day, I took the yard sign inside (to protect it from rain) but left the other decorations in place, ready for Independence Day.  The wind soon had other ideas about the red-white-blue garland over the front door, so I took it inside also.

I intended to rehang the garland for Independence Day, but ….

I saw a garden flag with the America250 logo in the store where I buy birdseed.  While having a back that was a mirror image of the front was awkward for the intended use, the flag could be hung as a small banner where the garland had been.  Only the front side would then be visible outside the house.  In a tiny triumph of pragmatism, the garden flag became a banner that I had a chance to photograph while the weather was still tolerable in June.  Here’s the close-up:

Maybe next year I will use the banner again, with a big + sign pinned after 250.  The logo is too good to be retired after just one year.

It’s now or never …

Impatience is one of the less admirable American traits, and a few fallen leaves showed that spirit on 2026-05-22, when I decorated for Memorial Day:

– Gray button (upper left corner) reveals widgets, –
– above post (on phone) or beside it (on desktop). –

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