There's a family in town here who decorate their house and lawn to the hilt every year – we're talking wooden and plastic figurines all over the lawn, lights strung on some very tall trees and between trees and house, little sheds with glass fronts and mechanical figures moving inside, and music playing over loudspeakers (in fact, they have a little wooden box by the sidewalk for donations from appreciative passersby). Last year they built a huge Christmas-light replica of the Twin Towers and put it on their roof.

It's such an elaborate set-up that some of the decorations stay on the lawn all year: those little sheds, the light strings, and a giant snowman two stories tall. That permanent snowman is quite a sight to see during an August heat wave!