We can see the tops of the usual fireworks from in front of our house so there’s no point in adding to the crowds and traffic jams.

Sunday there was a five-acre fire right where we were driving for our anniversary dinner the evening before, right by Richard’s old office. Statewide, a lot of places have canceled their Fourth of July shows.

What there’s been so far (9:30 pm) is what appeared to be a helicopter. Nothing went boom. It hovered several minutes, then moseyed on out.

But somehow that felt like just the right touch. We didn’t need explosions or pollution, but a bright and shining light that everybody can see on the Fourth of July going forward where it wants to go? We could use that.

(I went back inside and checked to see if they’d canceled the show over the Bay. Turns out they’re just starting a bit later than I’d expected. I keep wondering when they’ll replace the explosives with drone light shows.)

Edited to add: a small plane came and circled above the fireworks over and over and over and over, and near the end, a second plane followed it, also circling. And then a third! That one only went around twice and then was the first to leave when the show was over.

I would mutter something about Silicon Valley oligarchs, but then we knew a fellow grad student who took his light plane *through* the fireworks when we were at Purdue.