July 4th Celebrations in Castle Hills

I blogged about the American Independence Day celebrations at Castle Hills, Lewisville yesterday but I wasn't able to upload any pictures of the event. Here are some pictures of the event for your reference.

July 4th celebrations at Castle Hills

Independence Day! (Photo credit: CR Artist)

Yesterday was America's independence day and I visited couple of friends in a nearby city to participate in their community's celebrations. For a small residential community the celebrations were pretty well orchestrated. The center of attraction was a live band belting out hit numbers. There were numerous games for kids to play, bounce houses, and of course lots and lots of eating stuff in the form of food trucks, booths and vendors.

Fireworks #1 (Photo credit: Camera Slayer)

Of course the highlight of the evening was the fireworks display. The fireworks were staged near the commercial strip of community and we got lucky in finding a slightly elevated spot which served as a vantage point for viewing the fireworks. The display started promptly after dusk. In the beginning it was rather slow and staid but soon picked up tempo and started attracting applause from the viewers. It ended as quickly as it started. The good part was that from our location we could view the fireworks of two other communities quite well and as we watched we drew comparisons and the one in Castle hills was not as good as the other one.

Even so I believe the other display we got to see was a city organized event and funded by the government. The one we were attending was a community organized event and there is a definite disparity in funding so I guess it was a pretty good effort despite a rather mellow showing.

Cycling in Castle Hills

Well, it has been quite some time since I sat down and blogged about what's happening in my life. Things are pretty routine, I go to school... or rather should I say "College" in the morning and return back in time for lunch. Then go back to school and finish evening classes and return late in the night. This is the routine for the first four days of the week. Then the weekend starts with Friday for me and it is busy time because there is loads of homework to catch up on, go for roller skating classes, house cleaning, grocery shopping and all kinds of mundane stuff. Last week I fixed the bicycle which we brought from Padma's niece in California and decided to take it out for a spin in the neighborhood. Inflated the tires, tightened the brakes and then wiped the bike clean and took it downstairs to get ready to ride. I had barely ridden half a mile when one of the gear cables snapped. I thought that was the end of cycling but luckily the bike didn't get crippled. We could ride lot more with just five gears instead of 15.

It has been years since I rode a bicycle and this was definitely a welcome change. For I have always loved bicycling and but since I didn't have any recent pictures of riding bicycles I decided to get some shot and here they are. Do let me know what you think... do I look like Lord Ganesha on little rat or normal?

Cycling along the side walk (foot path) in the neighborhood

Another view of cycling, closer this time

Getting closer to the camera

Goofing around on the bicycle

More fun and games