Fireworks

I awoke early, but stayed in bed, tired and not wanting to face the cake. Chris got up to eat breakfast and play on his laptop. I fell back asleep. When I woke up again, I did not want to get up, but this time I did some tapping. It was enough to get me out of bed.
When I saw the time, I remembered the food waste needed to go out, but it was too late. I prepared my quart of water. I pulled out the recipe for the frosting. It said to refrigerate it for two hours. I decided to make only half. I used one can of coconut milk, and substituted honey and molasses for the maple syrup. Then I put the blender of frosting in the fridge. I took out the cake. I used a ruler to carefully cut it into 16 pieces. I trimmed one of the edges so I could taste the cake. It was actually good, and not just for a gluten-free, sugar-free cake. I trimmed all the sides so that the pieces would come out easily. Then I poured the frosting over the cake. Did I mention that I added some coconut oil to it so it would get more solid in the fridge? I put it back in the fridge, hoping it would be solid enough to wrap the pieces later.
I cleaned up the blender and utensils. I read e-mail. I listened to an interview, but stopped it at 11. I took out the cake. Since it was on a piece of parchment paper, I was able to lift it out of the glass baking dish and put it on a cookie sheet. I removed one piece at a time and wrapped it in Saran wrap. The frosting was still soft. I put the wrapped cakes on a jelly roll pan and put shoes on my feet. I carried the treats down to the antenna circle (the circle formerly intended to hold an antenna). I delivered them to the Christmas party committee. I explained that they were gluten-free, sugar-free and high in protein.

Next to that table, was the FRG yard sale table. I hung out with them for awhile and helped put up a canopy. Myra showed up. After a while we went down near the front gate to see the crowds of people waiting to come in. But it looked like no one was there. However, at noon, they all came from somewhere. We watched them show their ID's and follow the path laid out. Then we went to the tennis court where MWR had set up bouncy houses and stuff. Not many people there. We went to Myra's house for me to wash my hands since I had picked up some trash I found. Then we sat on her porch and sipped ice water while watching people walk by. We also saw the kids playing together, seemingly unsupervised. We discussed how we didn't have any toys to keep them occupied.
Then Dynee shouted over that the FRG needed plastic bags. So Myra got some and we walked over there. Then I went home and got more bags and a Frisbee. I also changed into shorts and a tank top because of the heat. I came back, handed some bags to the party committee and some to the FRG. I played Frisbee with little Terri until some other kids came by and wanted to play. That was my plan all along.
Then one of them needed to go potty. I found his mother and told her I could take him to my house since I live so close. So I did. He went potty by himself. When he came out, he asked if I had a husband. I said yes, and would you like to meet him. Chris stood up from his laptop and came over. I introduced them. The little boy tried to play notes on my keyboard, but it wasn't turned on. I redirected him outside. We went back to the antenna circle to play with the other kids. But most of them had gone down to where MWR had set up games and food.

I bought one of my cakes. All the frosting had completely melted. But it was good. I hung out with Myra, and then we heard music, so we decided to go see the jazz band that had been advertised. As I walked, I wondered why I could only hear the saxes. But when we finally saw the band, there were only saxes, including a soprano sax but no bari sax. It seemed to me they could use a trombone or two. Someone said they were teachers from the local middle school. I sat to listen and take pics. Soon it was over.
I hung about just a little longer, then went home to find out why Chris never came out. He was doing laundry. I had something to drink and made breakfast. I listened to two audios. Then I went back to get my jelly roll pan. There were lots of pieces of cake left. The man said the leftovers would go to Security. I brought my pan home. I watered the peas and lettuce. I finished another interview and a Sudoku puzzle.
I practiced my trombone. Then I took a shower and laid down for 20 minutes. I came close to falling asleep, but not quite. When the timer rang, I got up to get dressed, but did not know what to wear. So I asked Chris and he said he was going to wear a suit. So I put together a nice pants outfit. He got dressed and we took the car to the back gate. The others gathered, but Ms. Pae was not there. She wanted us to meet her at the stadium.
So we all walked onto the ROK base and out their front gate, then took a right. Soon we were at the stadium, which was filled with people. We followed Ms. Pae and were soon seated high up in the center. Pretty good seats, actually. We waited for the show to start. It was called the 10th Jinhae Military Band and Honor Guard Festival.
First, all the bands and honor guards processed onto the field, one at a time as they were introduced. Then there were speeches. The speeches were followed by three men standing in a car, driven up and down in front of the crowd and then around the assembled bands.
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When the pomp and circumstance was over, all the bands left. Then the first one came back and put on a show. It was very old-style Korean. Then there were honor guards that did tricks with their rifles. Some had singers, too. The U.S. 8th Army band was there. Their first number was probably a Sousa march. But after that, it was like being at a rock concert: loud music, flashing lights, gyrating singers, shifting camera angles, spouting fire. Not what you expect from a military band. As much of a show as it was, the instrument players did not move much on the field. They just danced and played in place while the singers danced up and down the field. But as they marched off, they played part of Stars and Stripes Forever, but did not do the trombone solo :(
Then the last Jinhae band played. They were really good, too, and their performance was like K-pop. I don't really get into K-pop though.

When the bands were done, the fireworks started. It was great to be so close to them, AND they were synchronized with the music. Lazers, too. I just took a pics as fast as I could, hoping by the law of averages to get some good ones. I hoped that someone recorded them and put them on Youtube so I could watch them again.
When the fireworks were over, the crowd trickled out of the stadium. It took awhile to get our group out, but then we headed for the front gate of the base, because the back gate had already closed for the day. But we still had to go back there to pick up the car. Chris drove us home. I changed clothes, then sat down to write my blog. I paused to move the pics to my laptop and then deleted the bad ones. I finished writing, hoping I hadn't forgotten anything. Then I soaked my broccoli sprouts and went to bed