Let Me Tell You This About That

Our Independent Memories--July 4th

• Delbert and Hess • Season 1 • Episode 38

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Delbert and Hess, from their respective places in their lives, and in their memories discuss the 4th of July.  Hess informs the conversation of the history of the 4th of July and how it came about.   They both speak of what they like the most.  Delbert has a top five, Family, food, music and water.  Fireworks being last and not as important.  The fireworks are something that always surrounded us, but sometimes caused fear and pain!  With Delbert being the oldest of seven, she recalls her father being the sergeant of safety.  The kids had to hold their arms straight out and when the lit sparkler got close to their hand they took it to the water and put it out, and then put the end into the sand.  Hess remembers a hot sparkler was set on the naugahyde helm seat on the boat.  We invite you to join our conversation.  What does the 4th mean to you?  How do you hold it in your memories?  Peace and Love!

Update on my friend José and his cancer treatments. After the first rounds of chemo, after new scans--the good news is that the tumor in the colon has shrunk, but they have increased in his liver. His oncologist has increasd the power of the chemo to help irradicate it elsewhere. Thank you so much for your support to Jose!
https://gofund.me/e6f61999

In addition to being a podcast host, Hess is also an LCSW--if you'd like to learn more about her work as a therapist, check it out at www.jessicabollinger.com

One of her mission's is for all of our lights to shine--when we see each other and allow ourself to be seen--and we can say to the person in front of us, There You Are! the world will be an amazing place!

Delbert is a realtor in Louisville, KY, and you can find her at Kentucky Select Properties

Her philanthropic work to continue her sister Carole and niece Meghan is Carole's Kitchen. Blessings in a Backpack helps feed the many hungry students in our schools. The instagram account is: https://www.instagram.com/caroleskitchen.nonprofit?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
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Hess:

Hey, welcome to, let me tell you this about that. This is Hess, and I'm not sitting in my white chair by the window at the farm. I'm sitting on the relationship, that's the name of my boat and I'm on the re Rideau canal in Ontario, Canada. Where are you at? Delbert.

Delbert:

As always, I'm on the green couch here in Louisville, Kentucky, looking out my picture window. is a beautiful day here in Louisville, Kentucky. A little bit of cloud cover with the sun shining through it, so it's just gorgeous. A golden kind of morning, two days after the 4th of July. Hess is out doing her thing. Doing the

Hess:

Yeah it's a section of the loop. Delbert it, the Rideau canal was built in 1824. And it's about, all these locks, and it was built like in five or six years in 1824. It's just astounding. These big, beautiful locks. And they're still all hand cranked except for two of them. The British up here were fearful of the United States after the war of 1812, that they needed a route a safe route in case we closed the St. Lawrence. St. Lawrence River, and it's just an amazing, beautiful canal where this guy connect, connected all these lakes with a waterway. So it goes from Kingston, Ontario, from Lake Ontario, from Kingston, up to Ottawa, and that's where we're headed. We put in a little bit. Above Kingston and we're headed to Ottawa. We'll get there tomorrow and just stopping at different beautiful places along the way. And I did it for two weeks last year, at the beginning of July, and it was so beautiful. I brought a different friend with me to enjoy it This year. We're having a great time. I.

Delbert:

That's wonderful out there living life and taking in all the beauty. I love that.

Hess:

We're gonna talk to y'all today about the 4th of July and what our memories are and what we appreciate about the 4th of July and the historical context of it. Delbert, I got up to Canada on the 30th. Of June and the 1st of July is their O Canada Day, which is similar to our 4th of July. And so I got to see the Sealy Bay parade for O Canada Day and this community gathering of volleyball and games and all kinds of stuff in Sealy Bay for their holiday on the first. So that was special.

Delbert:

that. Love that. I,

Hess:

Yeah.

Delbert:

oh, go ahead.

Hess:

Just I was kinda wondering how the 4th of July became so important. It's America's biggest party, the the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 2nd. Okay. So it really wasn't on the fourth. So it's it was signed on the second and approved and dated, but it was approved and dated on July 4th, giving the holiday its name, July 4th. So then the following year in 1777, Philadelphia celebrated its first official anniversary. So ships in the harbor were decked out with flags. They were serving a big meal, cannons roared and salute, and by nightfall fireworks illuminated the city skyline. So the contrast between that, between 1776 and the joyful festivities, and then 1777, it marked the beginning of a new tradition using spectacle, and fireworks and so on to symbolize freedom. Go ahead, Delbert.

Delbert:

Oh, I was just thinking of, everybody's got their thing that they need to celebrate for the 4th of July, and podsters you all can. Let us know, comment, let us know what you do to make the 4th of July special.'cause I do think it's so important to celebrate our country. We, the people, our independence, and that no one person defines us, no one president defines us as a nation. So the first thing that I said that's necessary for my 4th of July celebration is the people that you surround yourself with. I really love to be around my family. On the 4th of July I. This year I was lucky I got to go spend time with my darling society, my daughter and son-in-law, and one of their friends. And we had a really nice dinner. and just, we're together. Played a lot of good music. So my top five are people. I do like to be around the water for 4th of July, and I had to do that as a subset, like I worked during the day on the 4th of July. So yesterday on the fifth I went to Turner's and was down by the river and was at the pool with one of our high school friends, Margaret. So I had a two day celebration. people, water, and even if for me, even if you don't have access to a pool or a boat, you can fill that baby pool in your backyard up and have squirt guns. I've done that before when my kids were little. Then the third thing for me is food. I like a good cookout. I like hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. I like to do. S'mores marshmallows later. Really important to me, listening to good music. That's four. and fireworks are at the bottom, kind of five. We, I was little. My dad was a big safety fanatic and we really, after we would cook our, we'd build a big fire. We'd take our boat up to 12 mile and when it got dark, we'd build a big fire. We'd roast marshmallows and hot dogs on a stick, and that was so fun. Just that glow of that fire next to the water

Hess:

Oh.

Delbert:

Being able to cook your own food, and and then we were allowed to get one sparkler at a time. And light it in the fire and keep, and you had to hold your arm out straight, and don't go near any of your siblings with it. And I guess there were so many of us, you had to be really precise, we were like little soldiers. And then as soon as it started getting close to your hand, you went down to the water and put it out and then you put it in the sand. So we had quite the ritual with our sparklers. And

Hess:

delbert, you're bringing up something, something just flashed in my mind. So we were on the river also and the sparklers, right? Hold their arms straight out, and then you would try and then you would try to like form words or something like that.

Delbert:

you would write with them. Now, if we really showed that we could really, hold it together, then we'd say, let's try to write our name before the sparkler burns out. As long as we stood real far apart and still held the sparkler out straight we were allowed to write our name with it. Exactly one. That's so fun. So simple and so fun

Hess:

Somebody put a hot sparkler on the boat seat and

Delbert:

man.

Hess:

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Delbert:

that, that was a lot of yelling going on for sure.

Hess:

That wasn't a good thing

Delbert:

Oh

Hess:

that.

Delbert:

That'll, that will ruin your 4th of July. Okay.

Hess:

So those sparklers can also give us some bad memories

Delbert:

For sure, especially, yeah, if

Hess:

or.

Delbert:

d.

Hess:

We're down at, we're down at Lake Barkley with brother, Ken and he's brought some Roman candles and he tells Cathy to hold it while it's going off. We're standing on the dock and it backfires into her hand. So she's got this big burnt hole in the, in her, the palm of her hand.

Delbert:

Dang.

Hess:

Yeah. So fireworks. Fireworks became a thing and it was John Adams that he imagined something. Something just like spectacular with pomp and parade shows, games, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations. But the fireworks tradition didn't begin in America. It traces back to ancient Chinese pyrotechnic technology and eventually made its way to Europe and then to the American colonies. Fireworks offered more than entertainment. They became a symbolic expression of national joy and explosive liberty. Delbert explosive liberty. Over time, they crackle bursts of light in the sky. They became synonymous. With the very idea of freedom. Whoa. So that's where all.

Delbert:

Such a celebration. Yeah. And it does just, when you do see the really big fireworks go off in the sky, it is so spectacular and it does give you pause to stop and think. About everything that you're so fortunate for. And so I get it. I get it. And it's the lowest on my list because it seems like here in Louisville too, we have, we had that big firework show Thunder over Louisville before, Derby festivities, which that's really amazing and gorgeous. People love fireworks so much here. I was telling Hess when I was driving home from my daughter and son-in-law's house the fourth evening. I hadn't planned on any fireworks or anything, but I lived so close to so many places that do firework shows. I really just sat on my front porch and saw'em for free, they were going off all around me I was just like, okay, this is free. This is cool. I love it.

Hess:

Yeah each community all around will be shooting'em. So like from our farm. We'll see him in midway. We'll see him in Lexington and Georgetown, so we're also being in the horse community. I hear some folks, some friends talk about how they scare the horses and please don't do it. And fortunately we're not too close to any of that going on. But you are able to see it go off a lot of different places. And Delbert, I was saying this about that, let me tell you this about that is like when we were at Thunder over Louisville last year, not this year. The drone display is a really cool thing, which is.

Delbert:

yes. That was so beautiful and I enjoyed that so much, and I, like you said the. It does scare all the animals, the dogs and cats and horses and our pets. It's the biggest time that pets run away from home. I think. My little grand dogs really don't like it. They have to put a special little t-shirt on get in their little kennels. And then I've got a friend whose dog likes it loves me, okay, patriotic dogs. Hey, this is cool. I love it. So in that me, there's a dog that like, so some dogs might like it, I don't know. But like you were saying earlier the pollution factor, we. We do have to take care of our earth and maybe, drones and things like that light up the sky more quiet and without any smoke or anything might be the future which that would be totally cool with me. I've had my fill of sparklers. I'm good. And

Hess:

Yeah.

Delbert:

used to get a bucket of water and do sparklers when my darling society were really little. We'd do sparklers.

Hess:

Sweet,

Delbert:

remember the snakes, the black things that you lit and it was like

Hess:

right?

Delbert:

ooze out, like a big long black snake and you're like, That even satisfying? I don't know,

Hess:

But it was,

Delbert:

I know because you could light it and it we're like, ah,

Hess:

yeah.

Delbert:

yeah, were those little snaps that you just threw down on the ground that was just gunpowder that you just threw down

Hess:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was really cool While we were growing up, Tennessee sold fireworks

Delbert:

Oh

Hess:

and if somebody was driving through Tennessee or made a special trip to Tennessee and bought and brought back a box of fireworks, man they were popular. They were popular. And I can remember being at little Jimmy Archdeacon, lighting the fireworks and saying, fire in the hole. And then you run. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's something else. So a lot of different memories, both good and bad. The good and hard.

Delbert:

There's

Hess:

yeah,

Delbert:

4th of July,

Hess:

there's a whole lot.

Delbert:

where people do get hurt.

Hess:

There's a whole lot of news articles. You know how not to get hurt on the 4th of July. Now to help caution people.

Delbert:

I got a knock on fake wood right here that I've never had any of, injury related to the 4th of July. But I'll tell you what I do think a lot of that is if you do practice safety and you're used to it, do you know what I mean? Like my dad was so over the top about it that I just think it made me like hyper aware to be like super safe.

Hess:

Right.

Delbert:

yeah. And it was, we just had this thing that we had to do, stick it in the water, stick it in the sand. Arms length, so it just made us so hyper aware.

Hess:

Seven kids all with a sprint, all with a

Delbert:

we were

Hess:

marker.

Delbert:

the people from the Sound of Music, did a little march,

Hess:

yeah.

Delbert:

we were like the Von Traps. Yeah. And people used to say, when we'd go out to dinner, people would say, God, they're so good. Our dad was like a sergeant. Okay. It's not like that we're just that good natured, but it kept us safe. We all, even though when my dad would leave and my mom would be like, okay, let's party for seven hours while he's gone. None of us ever got hurt, which is a miracle.'cause we did a lot of really dangerous things when he was at work.

Hess:

That's funny. That's funny. Yeah. So Barbecue Chicken on the grill, on Burquette Grill is one of my favorite foods for. Fourth, 4th of July and potato salad. So I always like to, I always like to fix that when I'm home for the fourth, for a holiday.

Delbert:

Yu.

Hess:

Yeah. Yeah. So it's been fun, having two celebrations July 1st and fourth

Delbert:

Yeah,

Hess:

when people see my boat going down. When they saw my boat going through the canals and through the locks up here, we went through. 14 locks yesterday. Delbert. 14 locks.

Delbert:

wow.

Hess:

Yeah.'Cause we were trying to get up to this one spot to be able to go on Ottawa tomorrow. But anyway being on the

Delbert:

it take to get through one lock?

Hess:

about 15 minutes.

Delbert:

wow. Okay.

Hess:

Yeah. But being on the waterway, within, with my boat, Lexington, Kentucky, written on it. People on the fourth when we were cruising, people would say, Hey happy Independence Day. Happy 4th of July. So that was sweet to be recognized that way.

Delbert:

Yeah, So yeah, so we both celebrated twice. Would

Hess:

Oh yeah. You got your water, you got your water fixed yesterday on the fifth.

Delbert:

To just that one component, I had to do that the day after,'cause I had to work so long, so much on Friday. The actual fourth that I got, my, my people, my food, my music. And my fireworks on the fourth, and then on the fifth I went down and got my water in. It was funny, they must have had a really big party at Turner's on the fourth because nobody was there yesterday. We had the pool to ourself. We were like,'cause I got there early, didn't make sure I got a chair.

Hess:

Yeah, so that was on a Saturday. It was sparse.

Delbert:

usually really crowded, it was beautiful out, but anyway, it was a beautiful day and it's so fun just to, to be in the water and to be able to see the river at the same time. It's just lovely. So now I have had all my celebrating, all done and

Hess:

Yeah you had some new li, you had some new listings come up that, that you worked and so you had a pretty busy fourth.

Delbert:

I had to finish doing, getting everything ready for those.'cause both of'em are gonna have open houses today and I've got some more new listings coming up. So when I get off here, I'm going to get right to work and

Hess:

Yeah.

Delbert:

real estate.

Hess:

Yeah. So folks, what are your traditions? What are your memories? Think about that. What are your memories? What are your best memories of 4th of July? What are your traditions on 4th of July? It's just really cool that we can embrace also new traditions. CA Cathy's dad, when they moved to Midway he would go down to Lexington at the courthouse there, there would be somebody reading the Declaration of Independence all day, and he would take part in that and be one of the readers of the Declaration of Independence. He loved that.

Delbert:

That is so cool. That.

Hess:

And we have a big parade. We have the Bluegrass 10,000 in Lexington, and about 10 people from the farm all ran together with that in that race. And some people have run it like. So many years in a row and stuff too. That's crazy. Crazy cool. And then there's a big 4th of July parade in Lexington. And we have been in the parade pulling the gay pride float and also the Relation Ship. We pulled it for the LGBTQ plus in the parade. And that's been some of our favorite memories is being in the parade. And all the people along the side cheering you on and stuff. That's been a lot of help.

Delbert:

That's a great feeling. Tell us what your top five are. Pods. Hear from you. Everybody does it a little bit different and there's no wrong way.

Hess:

Yeah.

Delbert:

makes you feel good

Hess:

Yeah.

Delbert:

gives you that little lift, that little boost, that little light spark keeps you going.

Hess:

Yeah, it is about connection and it's about our stories, and we all have our own story. And those stories are written like in the lights and the sounds and the memories and the sensations of it. So think about the fourth. We love you all. Thank you all so much for joining us. I'm gonna be cruising on up 20 more miles to Ottawa today with my friend and my dog Tyler and Delbert. What are you up to today?

Delbert:

Just working. I've got two open houses, like I said, and some new listings to, to get. Up and running as well. So working today and very thankful for all these wonderful clients that I have.

Hess:

Absolutely. Absolutely. So no matter what's going on, no matter what might be happening with whatever you feel is happening in the country where, it's also being able to feel it and make it be something good for you. It's all good. It's all good.

Delbert:

Keep those good vibes going. Friends, love you.

Hess:

We love you. Yeah, please share and this with other people and we'll see you all next week. Peace and love.

Delbert:

Peace and love.