Boom goes the dynamite

Presenting the best fireworks pictures I'vc ever been able to achieve. Amazing what a little reading and practicing can do, isn't it? I know they're not perfect by any means, but I'm happy with them! Lesson learned: zoom in. I was too wide on a lot of them and ended up cropping but I wish I had just zoomed in to begin with. I think they're more impactful that way.

The Firecracker Jazz Band

Erie's fireworks display was held at Liberty Park Ampitheatre down by the bay. This year they had a great band playing before and during the fireworks.Firecracker Jazz Band hails from North Carolina and plays Dixieland and early-style jazz. They were a perfect compliment to the evening, and to me a better choice than the traditional patriotic music you usually hear.
I was really happy with some of the shots I was able to capture. These guys had a ton of energy and the drummer was cracking me up with all the funny faces he was making.

I got some great shots of the fireworks too...more on those later!

Now THAT'S a sense of humor.

You've seen the unintentionally funny headstones at Wintergreen Gorge Cemetery. There's a couple of jokers buried there too. If I was being buried (I'm donating my body to medical science), I'd TOTALLY want a bizarre and hilarious headstone like one of these.

funny:

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Gravestones: They're not all somber and mournful.

All gravestones are not sad and somber.

Last night we went to Wintergreen Gorge Cemetery. This cemetery is not far from where Dan grew up and he and his friends used to play here sometimes as kids.

As we walked through the cemetery, at first I was bummed that most of the stones were relatively new. There was no gothic art or statuary like I usually gravitate towards. Then I started looking around.

Wintergreen Gorge Cemetery has more funny gravestones than I've ever seen. Granted, a lot of them were unintentionally hilarious, but some of them were very irreverant and just downright funny on purpose.

Here are a few examples of unintentional hilarity:

a bellowing elk

bears getting ready to fight over a salmon
a cockatoo (shudder)

An owl (just like last year's scrappy stuff!)

This body builder that reminded me of the old comic book ads: "You can go from a 98-pound weakling to the picture of vim and vigor in just one week! Impress the girls!"

The etching of the couple here reminded me of a prom invitation, where the theme would be "A Night on the Boardwalk"

Clowns. If these were on a kid's grave, that would be sad, but since they're on a grown woman's, it's funnyscary.

Sorry, but a quote from the song "Freebird," paired with an angry eagle flying into what looks like a comet that will destroy the earth is just funny.

The "Footprints" poem is ALWAYS funny.

The picture of this couple is only funny because at first glance I thought they were both men (not that there's anything wrong with that!) but apparently the one on your right is named Theresa.

The fact that these arms look severed instead of ethereal is funnyscarygross.

These two had a lot of diverse interests: Dale Earnhardt, the Quad Games, motorcycles with sidecars, old computers, and bad Bette Midler songs.

"SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!!! Monster truck rally! See car-crushing action with BIGFOOT!!" (and what's with that dog's snout?)

"Dogs and cats, living together....mass hysteria!!" (Name That Quote!)And finally....she doesn't really look like she loves him more. She looks like she's tired of him playing that silly game. She looks like she wants to say, "Ok. You love me more."

Tomorrow: Intentional hilarity. You will NOT believe your eyes.

Sunday Morning Sunbath

***SPECIAL BULLETIN FOR ANONYMOUS***

I switched the blog background just for you. Please be sure to let me know if it works better for you! Here's the thing...I certainly want people to let me know if something's hard to read. I just respect them more if they don't hide behind "anonymous."

As we drove by Graveyard Pond on our way home Sunday morning, I saw this log, absolutely covered with turtles! What a sight, to see them all at once. Luckily, it was a big log and there seemed to be room for them all.