I’m pretty much a flag hanger. I don’t think there’s been a Flag Day or Memorial Day or Veterans Day or Independence Day sinc I moved in with Susan that I haven’t trotted out old glory.
Usually I bring her in at sundown because any decent flag presenter knows you’re not supposed to leave the star-spangled banner hanging in the dark, unless specifically illuminated. From Section 6A of the Flag Code:
It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed twenty-four hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.
So tonight in the midst of all the booms, whumps, blams, pops, cracks and whistles going on all around us, I decided to do just that:
In other patriotic activity news, I was able to undertake and complete the 64-mile ride from home to Whittier and then along the entire 27.65-mile length of Washington Boulevard to Venice before coming back up through the westside home. For the first half I was joined by a fine fellow named David who I first met during the great Pico Boulevard Walk last fall. He told me to go on ahead somewhere early on Washington and so I did to downtown where I met Stephen, Alice and a recumbent cyclist named Gary whose been on a couple previous IAAL rides.
Together we made the rest of the trip to Venice and then came back along Santa Monica to Melrose. Gary split off around La Brea to head back home to Burbank and Steve, Alice and I kept on going hoping Scoops might be open, but it was not. So instead we made do with Baskin-Robbins and I ended up getting home around 2 p.m., where a combination of poor hydration and a couple quick glasses of some chilled wine pretty much left me passed out the rest of the afternoon.
All in all a fantastic and crazy journey that left me exhausted and very thankful for the company.
Flickr photoset here.
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