Big Pic

July 2002:  Fireworks In a composite of two photos, Independence Day fireworks light the sky over my back yard on July 3, 2001. The display came from a local park on the north shore of the Allegheny River.  That's less than a mile down the hill from my apartment.  I would see the flash of an exploding shell; then several seconds later I would hear a loud bang, which was followed by a whooshing sound that lasted for a couple of seconds.  Apparently the whoosh consisted of thousands of little echoes of the bang, each with a different delay, reflecting from thousands of points on the bluff on the far side of the river. Up and down the Allegheny, there's a different town every mile or two, and many of them have their own fireworks displays.  One can watch several sets of distant bursting shells on such a night.