Derek's Fireworks over the Lake |
Alisha's fiancé
Derek loves fireworks, and he has become quite an accomplished
pyrotechnist. His firework shows have become very popular among his
family, and he always puts on a spectacular Canada Day show at the
family cottage outside Thunder Bay. Since we were visiting, we
received an invite to the event this year. In fact although we had
intended to head home sooner, we were told in no uncertain terms that
we HAD to stay for the Canada Day show.
The weather has been pretty good for
the entire trip, and although there has been some rainy days, they
really haven't spoiled our vacation. However, the weather forecast
for the Canada Day weekend did not look promising, with rain
predicted for most of the weekend. Determined to have a good
fireworks show, Derek decided he would set them off on Saturday if it
was a good day rather then waiting for Sunday and hoping for a break
in the forecast rain.
Arriving at the cottage with a car full
of fireworks and a table built especially to safely mount the various
rockets, cherry bombs and massive firework cakes on a floating dock
out in the lake, Derek was informed that the show was scheduled for
Sunday, because guests had been invited and could not come on
Saturday. When he expressed concern about the rain, his father
assured Derek that the forecast called for rain all afternoon, but
clearing by 5:00 pm. Now coming from Nova Scotia where even Cindy Day
rarely gets the forecast that accurate, I had to share Derek's
concern, but his dad was confident.
Sunday dawned with cloud and dark skies
on the horizon, and by noon it was raining; “See, just like the
forecast said.” was Derek's dad, David's optimistic response.
The Fireworks Table |
By 2:00 pm, it was no longer raining,
it was pouring, but David checked his phone and reassured us that it
was still supposed to clear by 6:00 pm.
At 4:00 pm, the driveway was washing
away, the downspouts could not longer handle the deluge of rain, and
you needed both a raincoat and an umbrella to go outside. “Don't
worry”, David assured us, “The weather forecast is saying it will
clear by 7:00 pm.”
It was still raining at 6:00 pm, but
not so hard, and perhaps the skies to the west might be a bit
brighter. “Yup, we're good, clearing is expected by 8:00 pm”
David claimed when everyone pointed out the continuing rain.
Well, David was right. By 8:00 pm, the
rain had stopped, and Derek hurried outside to quickly get everything
organized and set up. By 9:00 pm, there was actually some blue skies,
and they towed the now almost prepared floating dock out into the
lake for Derek to complete final preparations.
At precisely 10:00 pm, under a
beautiful darkening blue sky, Derek set off an amazing 20 minute
firework show. Everyone agreed that it was his best show ever, and
David's optimism proved as accurate as the weather forecast.
Ready to go - rain stopped |