Page 124 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2021

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Every neighborhood has someone who joyfully decorates their yard. They display objects that spin, twirl, and
sparkle. They share their grassy expanse with an abundance of concrete woodland animals and mystical resin creatures. There is a new flag for every season, and every so often something new appears to enchant those of us who have no imagination beyond grass and flowering shrubbery.
We think it's time for all of us to decorate our yards. This July, perhaps more than ever before, is the right time to pull out all our American flags, bunting, and everything red, white, and blue. It's time to put our patriotism on display and celebrate our country.
Remember celebrating the Fourth of July
as a child? There were block parties, family reunions, and small-town festivities. Parades with firetrucks, beauty queens, and vintage automobiles rolled down narrow streets. Everyone headed to the beach or the lake for swimming and picnics in the sand. There were hot dogs and hamburgers and watermelon, of course. BBQ, potato salad, and deviled eggs were on the menu, and the sheet cake decorated like the flag with blueberries and strawberries was always a hit.
The arrival of peach season in early July
made homemade ice cream a Fourth favorite. Peaches, milk, and sugar were poured into a steel cylinder, buried in salt, and ice, and then turned around and around with a hand crank until you could not turn it anymore. Remember removing the crank and your mother “packing” the ice maker in dish towels and having to wait for the ice cream to “ripen”? Time never passed so slowly!
Along the Gulf Coast there are still Fourth of July festivals with carnival style rides, steaming seafood, and cold beer. And every Fourth ends with magnificent fireworks displays. You can stop just about anywhere along the Mississippi Gulf Coast on the Fourth and witness magnificent bursts of colors over the water. Kids still delight in loud popping rockets and twinkling sparks of light lit on the beach after sunset. Sparklers put the magic in the hands of the young. Watching children try to write their names in the air before the sparkler goes out stills makes even the most seasoned of us smile.
Kids may seem more sophisticated these days, but they still love having simple fun with family and friends at home. Parades may get more extravagant over the years and ice cream
Story by Holly Harrison and Shannon Stage
124 | July 2021
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