star-spangled spinners and streamers
Zsa Zsa had patriotically painted her toes and her fingers for the holiday,
and with her brother Roman, sister Madeline, and her mom (my friend Margaret), we all watched the parade at Wilder Ranch yesterday at high noon.
The park was outfitted for the year 1910 for “an old-fashioned Fourth of July” celebration,
and Suffragettes marched with banners,
and signs and chants, demanding their right to vote,
and drummers and little red wagons marched close after—I think this woman below turned an actual flag into a tunic, and I salute her literal interpretation of the day’s dress.
One small DFW-ish note: The Wilder Family houses in the park are preserved to how they may have looked around the turn of the twentieth century, but it’s unclear to me why the celebration is fixed in the year 1910. My personal theory is that the docents are really into dressing up like Suffragettes, and I can support that.
Exchanging 2010 money into 1910 currency, we bought popcorn first,
and threaded our way past the decorated bikes and lawn chairs,
as everyone gathered for the addresses:
the flag raised to “The Star-Spangled Banner,” a stirring oration, and the reading of the Declaration of Independence by Bill Fitzgerald.
Margaret’s children disappeared into the giant plant (that eventually returned them),
and we visited the animals grazing, the chickens,
and deferred the wagon rides until later—
since the dust the wagons picked up was no match for Roman anyway,
who raced around the picnic blanket with a streamer like a torch,
while Margaret and Zsa Zsa were examining the palm leaf plates (verdict: we like them).
It’s wonderful to be able to make food for children without worrying about toning down flavors or that they won’t eat healthy foods (excellent parenting by Margaret and Rudolph), and we all ate salad with a balsamic dressing, bocconcini, and peaches along with snap peas, edamame, and chevre. The girls are vegetarians; Margaret and I tore prosciutto over ours.
And a pesto pasta with tomatoes and summer squash kept all afternoon as we played lawn games and wandered the property.
Madeline helped Roman with his spinner, as big sisters do,
and he sat still for just a moment,
very like the conductor leading the musicians in the Society Orchestra yards away from our picnic.
Later, it was hard to tell which side would win the Tug of War,
and I looked at the utensils in the Wilder Ranch kitchen, thinking about vintage kitchen tools.
Shortly before a round of the Cake Walk, Margaret modeled the family’s new bonnet,
as the docent explained the history of the tradition and the numbered tags were sorted out.
The family that cakewalks together…
(To Margaret’s mom: Hello! These two are especially for you.)
And the poised Madeline struck a pose as the music ended; soon we were off to the next event of the day, the destination for the second batch of pesto pasta:
a barbecue at Nadine and Jason’s lovely house, where the sun shone brightly on the back patio.
With a table full of good side dishes, I knew immediately that these guests took food as seriously as our hosts,
who were utilizing all the shelves for different meats in their new smoker (Nadine is separating the excellent ribs here—she’s fabulous, and you’ll likely see her again on this blog).
I believe these are the tomatoes with burrata (others had mozzarella) that I returned to, sipping a limoncello margarita,
and Mike arrived with homemade potstickers filled with pork and crunchy bean sprouts,
before a wealth of desserts appeared: mascarpone cheese with fruit in a balsamic sauce near Nadine’s chocolate Guinness ice cream that went very quickly,
and everyone had the peach ice cream with big chunks of peaches, another perfect dessert for the day,
before the bread pudding with cherries and whipped cream appeared on the counter.
It was a big, merry crowd for this party that was also the housewarming no one wanted to leave, and by the time I left with the Rosas family, it was almost dark enough for the fireworks.
In the most exciting display I’ve experienced in recent years, soaring hisses and snaps crackled from all directions as we watched the big color explosions from the beach—many immediately overhead, some lit just meters behind us, others set off across the water—all a surprise in a cacophony that continued into the night.
Such a colorful day full of small, funny moments with one of my favorite families (and part of my Santa Cruz family)…
More images in the Flickr set.
Related posts:
- artichokes, breaded and trimmed
- you are awesome and beautiful
- pppsst: spsp (summer pesto squash pasta)
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Posted by Kristen Taylor on Monday, July 5th, 2010, 8:47 pm * Filed in Food, holiday, Photography, Santa Cruz. * Tags: 4th, holiday, july, kristen, kthread, ranch, taylor, wilder. Follow responses through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 6th, 2010 at 8:53 pm
I love your Independence Day adventures, especially the 1910 Suffragette in sunglasses. I am also digging the home-smoked ribs, and the vat of guacamole on the table. Mmmmm.
July 6th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Mica, it was such a day of celebrating (your embrace of multiple barbecue sauces is also inspiring!) and fun in Santa Cruz. Everyone at the party was *very* into food, which made for excellent eating :)