Happy 4th of July...from Glen Mar in Greendale!

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Happy 4th of July, America!

Check this out - the largest fireworks display in the United States.

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A plethora of a Greendale 4th!

Top to bottom, left to right: Me and Rick Nowak (my Uncle Bob's brother), Greendale's City Hall (it don't get much more Americana than that, does it?), Bernie and Mary Beth Schroedl (Mary Beth is my father's first cousin), a fair at 60 mph, a Model T (or is it a Model A?), Mom and Dad at the parade, "Don't Tread on Me" flag outside our home in Waterford, fireworks at Art's, a treehouse in Greendale, and a fire (see the man's face?)

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Happy 4th of July.

When was the last time you read The Declaration of Independence? Well...here it its. Happy 4th of July from the Ircink's in Waterford, Wisconsin.

The Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Click on READ MORE for the rest of it.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them
into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection
and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns,
and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren,
or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives,
our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2

North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3

Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

Column 5

New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

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Largest July 4th Fireworks Display in America.

Ooooooooooo! Ahhhhhhhhhh! Pause the jukebox above while watching this.

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Happy 4th of July!

Culver City football field, July 2007. Enjoy the holiday...and Happy Birthday, America.

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My favorite 4th of July memories = Greendale, WI.

Greendale is the town/village I was born in. Suburb of Milwaukee. My father grew up here as well and his father helped to settle Greendale back in 1938. The 4th of July's I spent in Greendale were some of my most satisfying. Click on READ MORE! and join me as I relive a bit of my youth.
Above: Float building for the 4th, July 1944.

The "Greenbelt town" program originated as part of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, aiding the poor by hiring the unemployed to build the towns and then by providing housing for low-income families. It was an innovative and radical intervention in American city building. Three towns were constucted: Greenbelt, Maryland, outside of Washington, D.C.; Greendale, Wisconsin, outside of Milwaukee and Greenhills, Ohio, outside of Cincinnati.

For me, Greendale represents everything that is Norman Rockwell and Americana. It'a unique town and people visit from all over to experience the quaint, quiet life just outside of Milwaukee. When I move back to WI in late July, you'll more than likely find me spending a lot of time there.

Above: 4th of July band concert at the gazebo downtown (the Village) Greendale. My family has a brick laid in the floor of the gazebo to commemorate the Ircink's contributions to the town.

Above: Children gathering for the 4th of July parade in 1944. Our 4th of July celebrations centered around Uncle Jerry and Aunt Ruth's (Dad's sister) home - an "original" house from 1938. Barbecue, volleyball, playing near the woods and creek that runs along their backyard, lots of soda and beer drinking (when I was 18), and music. It wasn't unusual, at some point during the day, for Uncle Jerry and my mother to kick up their heels to some 50's tune playing on the record player. Uncle Jerry has since passed. I miss him - and my youth.

Above: Decorated children's floats for the 4th, 1944. Greendale has a wonderful parade and it everyone seemed to know everyone participating - either you knew a kid on a bike or you knew a veteran marching with the American Legion or you knew the Village President - for many years that was Bernie Schroedl, my dad's cousin's husband. Helluva guy, that Bernie. The town had a regular festival with rides, food and games...they'd dump a gigantic sand pile and hide change it for the kids to sift through. And for a few years, my Uncle Jerry owned an ice cream truck and my brother Jason, and Uncle Jerry's boys - Tom and Mike - would help sell cones. My cousin Mike just passed away unexpectedly a couple months ago. But if you asked him or Jas or Tom, they'd tell you the same thing. Good times.

Above: 1944's version of the Greendale 4th of July beer garden! There's a huge beer garden up near the high school. When I turned 18, I was finally able to imbibe (much to my mother's chagrin). Often it would get outta hand and it was difficult for my mother to get overly upset because on more than one occasion I was getting outta hand with friends of my Aunt Ruth's who were my mother's age.

Greendale today, with the village hall in the background - a replica of the town hall in Philadelphia. If I had to pick one place to live in Wisconsin, Greendale would be that place.

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My 4th of July Weekend (two weeks later).

Happy 4th of July! I spent the weekend at Donovan, Maria and Baby Grace's home in Tujuna (near Pasadena). On the 4th, we drove out to Jay and Susie's in Pasadena and ate and drank with their children, Wyatt and Owen. Wyatt and Owen didn't drink - they just played. Beautiful day. Excellent time. Susie and Maria are best friends from high school. Good people. Jay and Susie, that is. You already know D & M and Grace are A-Number 1 in the Ircink book.

The 4th of July - in the Ircink family - is like Christmas. It's a big deal. Being 2000 miles from home, it's extra special when I can spend this holiday with people I love. Yeah know the 4th was two weeks ago, but I 've had lot on my mind and am just getting to the post. Come on - see what the rest of my 4th was like...

(WAIT! There's more...)

Let me back up a day. Thursday night, I met my friend Anja, who used to work with me at PorchLight, and her friend Nancy at the Santa Monica Pier for the Pier Summer Twilight Dance Series: One Hawaii. Keali'i Reichel, Hawaii's top selling touring act and Na Leo were featured. That's Na Leo below. I've been wanting to get a shot of the famour Santa Monica Pier sign for 10 years.


After the Hawaiian concert we spent $10 each at the Arcade. Galaga, the classic video game introduced in 1981 (the year before I graduated from high school), is one of the few I actually ever played.

IRC. 4th highest score...for now.

I found this deer shooting game that I sucked at (I bow hunt). Funny to see Oneida County, Wisconsin featured on the game - that's where we go for our annual walleye fishing trip in May.

Is this the Zoltar featured in the movie, Big?

SKEEBALL! Classic arcade game.

Nancy, a close friend of Anja's who I've known for a while (but hardly ever see), playing her favorite game. Nancy's from LA and said this game (and much of the arcade) looks exactly as it did when she was a kid. Makes me wish I saw Nancy more often. Good people.

Anja playing Wack-a-Ted-Thompson - I mean, Mole.

Back to Jay and Susie's on the 4th. Here's the brew provided by Jay - Spaten Oktoberfest. Wickedly strong stuff. I was feeling it after 7 of them. ;)

Jay with Wyatt. Or is that Owen. Owen...I think.

Wyatt and Grace. Wyatt, right?

Grace in her new pool. It spurts out about 10 jets of water like a fountain. Isn't she adorable? I told you that I'm going to be her sister's Godfather, right? Gywneth. Yes. I am going to be Gywneth's godfather.

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The Many Moods of Grace McCann-Glover

Spent the 4th of July weekend in Tujunga with Donovan and Maria and Baby Grace. Here's Grace ("Brett") in all her glory.

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Happy 4th of July!

I'm headed to Tujunga - near Pasadena - to spend time with Donovan, Maria and Baby Grace -we're going to their friend's block party. Whatever you're doing, be safe - and don't light fireworks in your mouth. Oh... I took this shot at last year's fireworks in Culver City.

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Lest we forget.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

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For All Those Who've Never Seen Fireworks Pictures (and one extra-terrestrial shot!)

Here's a few shots from the fireworks display in Culver City, CA - across the street from where I live. It was the first time I used the "Fireworks" shooting option on my digital. Fireworks are tough to take, so I set my camera to "Continuous" and ripped off one shot after another, never releasing the shoot button. It's a crapshoot because it all hinges on the button pressing, the flash and the moment the firework explodes. I took between 60 and 80 and salvaged about 15. Of the ones below there's really only 2-3 decent shots. Also, no cropping or "zoom and crop" was done to these pictures (meaning zooming in once the picture is already taken, then cropping - I think I just made that term up). This is the way they turned out - au natural. #1 and #3 are the best.

Now, that above shot is NOT fireworks. No sir-ee. This is a view into space as seen through my very high-powered telescope with a 2nd telescopic lens attached - and outfitted with a camera. I set this up a couple hours before the fireworks to take interval shots of whatever I might catch flying by (long, technical story). What I've captured here, I assume, is a nebula or some type of star system, solar system - whatever. Pretty cool, if you ask me. I have no explanation for what the red coloring is - could be a reflection or gases or something. I wonder if there's a name for it? "The Nebulus of the Ircink". Hmmm...sounds appropriate.

All photos © Copyright Jeffrey James Ircink.

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