Fireworks are not usually thought of as music even though they are certainly part of the noise on the Fourth of July. 

More pleasant music on the evening of the Fourth was provided by the Port Townsend Summer Band with a concert at Pope Marine Park in Port Townsend. The concert started at 6 p.m. so we arrived early with our “camp” chairs and scored front-row seats, not that others could have easily sat down in front of us.

Since it was time for dinner BJ secured the seats whilst I went across the street to the Anchor  to procure takeout burgers and fries. Chris and Bill Dean have recommended the place to eat but this was our first time. 

After a pleasant enough wait for the vittles, the green-haired bartender delivered the food. Frankly, the repast was very good and handy to the concert.

Yep, I am an old traditionalist and would find it hard to dye my own hair green. If you have to do it, it’s the Fourth of July, let’s do red, white and blue? No matter, good food, good service, and handy so what’s not to like!

The concert was fun with both the Port Townsend Summer Band and the Community Chorus of Port Townsend and East Jefferson County providing the entertainment pertinent to the holiday. Two of the seven young people who earned scholarships from the East Jefferson Rotary Club were in the chorus, Eugenia and Olivia Frank and one more was in the band, Maria Powell playing saxophone alongside her mother, Carla. 

In addition, my friend, Nancy McDaniel from Rotary was playing clarinet and Dan Servos from Port Ludlow was playing French Horn. I don’t see Dan as often as I would like because we share Wabash College history and IBM careers so we have lot of lies to tell each other. 

As you would suspect, the music was upbeat and patriotic punctuated by the singular piccolo in the finishing performance of Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever. I played the sousaphone in high school, prompting BJ to suggest I join the band. I then asked if she knew where to fit a sousaphone in the budget.

Kevin Mason and the All Stars were playing a concert at Vintage by Port Townsend Vineyard also on the Fourth. The live music we heard as we drove into and out of town almost made us stop since we are a couple of 1960s rock-n-rollers. Unfortunately, we needed to head home as we are still dog sitting our daughter’s and her family’s dog, a condition that will have terminated by the time you read next week’s column. 

Said daughter and her family return from New Zealand this coming weekend and retrieve the dog soon thereafter. The neighbors have been very kind to us as they tolerate her occasional adventures into their yards. 

One neighbor likes that Winnie comes over and leaves a deposit thus discouraging the deer from foraging into their landscaping. Harold and Sheila Brunstad encourage Winnie to come visit their dog Lucky because the dogs clearly enjoy frolicking in the yard and on their deck. 

I suspect Winnie will miss us when she leaves next week. Then again, she might enjoy getting back into the energy of a young family that doesn’t think twice about green hair.

OK, back home on the Fourth to see the fireworks across the “shipping lanes” of Puget Sound on Whidbey Island. From our vantage point they are the best show available without going someplace. 

Sure, we can hear some of the local pyrotechnics exploding, but our view of them is mostly obscured by the trees. However, we have a clear view of some of the incredible fireworks across the water. 

Friends, the investments made to execute those displays would finance the operations of a small country! 

Oh well, enjoy life. It has an expiration date.

Love a curmudgeon and have a great week.

(Ned Luce is a former IBM executive and Port Ludlow resident. Contact Ned at ned@ptleader.com for all of your pet-sitting needs.)