My first July 4th

Everyone knows that in America July 4th is a big deal, but what's it like experiencing these celebrations for the first time? Well Americans get all into it. In historical terms the date marks the point in 1776 when the 13 waring colonies declared themselves as independent from the British Empire [isn't Wiki great for learning all this?!]. We, the British were basically taxing the life out of the American colony - while the British thought America was and should pay its fair share the Americans started to disagree - the tax measures were a push too far in the political control coming from London. Now it's celebrated with fireworks and a fist full of patriotism.

So many toffee apples 

Food stuffs

Corn Dogs - random American food whereby you get a hotdog wrapped in a corn bread served on a stick.

Snow Cones - literally crushed ice with syrup flavorings poured on. Mine was lime and grape

I managed to do something I always wanted to do as a child - sand art! I may have been the oldest "kid" partaking but my that was that fun.

Our city had their July 4th celebrations the Sunday before hand in the Civic Park - filled with the typical festival greasy food. Luckily I got to try some new American food [well new to me] in a corn dog and a snow cone. There was bouncy castles and live music and plenty of people were sitting out having a BBQ before the fireworks started. We actually had a great view from our apartment so we headed back and saw the display from our doorstep but you'll have to excuse the light from the other apartment block in the photographs.

The last image is totally Photoshopped [I'm rather pleased with myself that I managed to edit it like that using this guide] but you could see it has capturing many of the fireworks that they had for the celebrations all thrown into one image.  My camera struggled with capturing the end of the display because of the imense light being thrown off - so this is my huge ending via editing. I wish the UK would get over their health and safety line and get back to doing displays for bonfire night. The way they bring a community together in celebrations can only be a good thing.

Detroit Institute of Arts Inside/Out in Royal Oak

Joe kept coming last week mentioning he'd seen random pieces of framed artwork on walls around downtown Royal Oak - little did we know that this was part of Detroit Institute of Arts [DIA] Inside/Out summer exhibition taking place around metro Detroit. It's now in it's third year of bringing framed high quality reproductions from the DIA collection out onto the streets. So on Saturday we took a short drive over to our next town Royal Oak to see the six pieces they had hanging up. Here's what we found;

Royal Oak Public Library - The Recitation by Thomas Wilmer Dewing. 

 The gardens around the library

Ariana Gallery, Main St - Eleanora of Toledo and Her Son by Agnolo Bronizo

Qdoba Mexican Grille, Main St - Staunch Friends by William Fredrick Yeamas 

Noir Leather, W. 4th St - Selene and Endymion by Nicolas Poussin

Pronto, S. Washington St - Warrior With Two Pages by Peter Paul Rubens

Decorations in the flower pots for the 4th of July. 

Comedy Castle - Corner of S. Troy and 4th St. - Cotopaxi by Frederic Edwin Church

Close up of the the Cotopaxi frame.

All the artwork are within walking distance of each other and not only do you get to see some artwork but you get to see some of the downtown areas too. Hopefully we'll get to check out the pieces in Ferndale another weekend. 

Inside/Out exhibition map [Source].

The exhibition runs across Detroit and many of it's metro cities until the end of September in; Canton, Clawson, Clinton Township, Dearborn, Detroit, Ferndale, Gordeu City, Harrison Township, Northville, Royal Oak, Trenton, Troy and Waterford.

Would something like this interest you?

Photograph an hour: 28th June

I always love "a photo an hour" posts particularly those by the ultra cool Kaylah at The Danity Squid. I wanted to do something similar to actually prove to myself that although I'm not working I do actually do stuff. While I'm hunting for a job I don't search the net for one everyday - that would get at me too much and make me too depressed about trying to find something and not getting anywhere. I kinda forgot to take a photograph at tea time but you'll get the idea!

8.30 - Waking up and finishing off a brew in my fav mug. 

9.30 - Make up time.

10.30 - Baking peanut butter cookies.

11.30 - Writing out online recipes.

12.30 Dinner covered in brown sauce!

1.30 Checking the insane 36 degree heat

2.30 Taking the recycling out

3.30 Editing photographs for blog posts

4.30 Embroidering

6.30 Cross stitching

7.30 Walking our friends one eyed dog, Lugi

8.30 Chilling with Edmund

9.30 Reading the mail

Have you ever done a photograph an hour post? Leave me your links!

Verstaile Blogger Award

Firstly thank you to everyone that commented on or tweeted me about the somewhat thought provoking comparison between religion in the UK and the USA. It took me a while between writing and publishing the post because I wanted to get it just right. I hope I didn't offend anyone, and that was never my intention - I just wanted the space to remark from my own experiences the place of religion both within my home country and the US.

On a less controversial note, Charis [make sure to check out her blog because it's fab] awarded me the versatile blogger award and like her, I thought I'd do my own take on the 7 things about me tag [because I'm sure I've done it somewhere else in these three years of blogging]. Instead I want to share one of my Pinterest boards - seven places I want to visit in the old US of A. 

Grand Canyon - talk about amazing landscapes.

Williamsburg - see where the settlers first landed and lived

San Francisco - After seeing Joe's photographs of the city it just looks amazing

Washington D.C - the White House, the Washington Monument and the cherry trees

Yellowstone - We're natural history geeks - it's a must 

Las Vegas - because you just have too

 Michigan's Upper Peninsula - an understated part of America

Where would you love to visit in the US?