The rain started falling around 11pm, pounding so hard on the windows I was sure it must be hail, but it was only rain. Rapid, violent rain.

I snapped a few pictures out the window, most of which were completely blurred by the thick sheets of water trickling down the window.

After a while, it let up a bit, and I snapped this view of the courtyard below.

The lightning continued for a long while, and the cat was very restless, but eventually I fell asleep again.

In the morning, I woke before the alarm went off and went in the living room. I lay down on the floor and watched the dawn creep through the skylight. The rain was long past, and eventually a clear light spread across the ceiling.

Our strange, beautiful July continues, and more rain is on the way.

Our currency is singularly unattractive, and our stamps are generally boring. Even tiny third-world countries produce far more interesting specimens.

Now there's one more reason to cheer for America, one more patriotic flag I'm willing to wave. The Post Office is releasing a new series of stamps called Masters of American Photography!

These black and white photo stamps may be the most beautiful the U.S. Postal Service has ever issued. They include the photography of Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, Ansel Adams, and many others.

I am in philatelic heaven.

Continued from part one.

Rains Wednesday evening and Thursday morning had not been boding well for the Independence Day celebrations, but nature had smiled on us benevolently with sun throughout the afternoon's grilling festivities, and as sundown approached, we were further rewarded with clear skies for the upcoming fireworks extravaganza.

As we waited on the rooftop deck, we could see smaller shows of illegal fireworks being shot off in various neighborhoods around Austin.

We were disappointed to find we couldn't hear the symphony concert from where we were—most other concerts at Auditorium Shores can be heard quite well at my building, but I suppose they must tone it down for classical music despite letting the rock-n-roll blare loudly across the river.

We didn't even hear the big Howitzer cannons firing, as they typically do in the 1812 Overture grand finale of the symphony concert. Perhaps they didn't use the Howitzers this year due to the soggy conditions in the park...

In any event, once the fireworks display began, we had little reason to feel we had missed anything of major importance. It was a truly spectacular display as always, with several types we had never seen before.

There's not much else I can say about the fireworks. The images really speak for themselves, but don't do justice to the show by any means.

After the fireworks, we went back to the apartment for a last round of cookies. Continuing the multi-cultural theme of our celebrations, we discussed bizarre Japanese game shows, and then watched the high points of the bizarre Japanese anime, Revolutionary Girl Utena.

To sum up the movie, sword-fighting schoolgirls with definite lesbian tendencies turn into cars to escape their incomprehensible surreal fantasy world so they can arrive naked and intertwined in the post-apocalyptic "real world". No subtext there.

Believe it or not, in Japan, this is typical teenage-girl fare. God bless Japan for keeping us entertained.

On that unusual ending note, the party disbanded. All in all, an excellent Fourth of July.

And leftover bratwursts for me! Let me say once again that culinary diversity is the flavor of patriotism I can most easily get behind. Yeah, America! Woohoo!