July 4, 2010

God Bless America, it’s the fourth of July! Or it was, when I took this picture. Travis’ aforementioned friend had a BBQ that we went to. She also bought a slew of tickets to the Reno Aces game. For the BBQ though, I felt really compelled to make a Flag Cake (see left). They had been advertised on All Recipes, and I really really wanted to make one. For some reason, though, I was tormented inside. What if our BBQ hosts ALSO made a patriotically themed dessert. My cake would surely outshine them, and they would feel bad about themselves. That would be an awfully bad way to respond to someone’s hospitality, by breaking their baking spirit. I was really stressed about this all weekend, because, let’s face it, I like to worry! Once I got over my egotistical concerns, I realized that it was a free cake for those at the BBQ. Who wouldn’t love that. Travis helped, and we were both very proud at the end result. There were plenty of oohs and aahs to go around at the BBQ, and no one was shamed by our gift. Much like the Indians and the Pilgrims. Wrong holiday about America?

I also noticed a strange epidemic at the baseball game. Maybe I am wrong about this and simply confused. In the seventh inning stretch, as has become customary, there was a performance of “God Bless America” to honor the holiday. As I looked around the crowd, I realized 9 out of 10 people had not removed their hats. It’s a given that this is done during the national anthem, but I thought “God Bless America” required the same respect. After all, we all stood and faced the flag. Am I a stodgy old lady who is out of the loop on this, or are those rotten kids really losing respect?! During the song, a girl who was with our group and had months ago attempted to pursue Travis before she found out I was in the picture started teasing Travis. All day long she had been flirtatiously teasing him about wearing an orange shirt and therefore being unpatriotic. His shorts were plaid red, white, and blue. Anyways it had kind of been irking Travis and when she whispered toward him with a grin during “God Bless America,” “You are so unpatriotic with your orange shirt.” I snapped at her, “At least he isn’t wearing his hat!” She quickly took hers off in surprise. I just don’t know what got into me. So I actually did shame someone I suppose. Whoops!