Fourth of July, High Noon of the Year

Here we are, high noon in the year 2011 — a little past it, actually. July 2 is the middle day of an ordinary year, but the Fourth will do. How the Fourth feels, time-wise, is a matter of temperament. Does it seem like the last outpost of the first part of the year? Or is it the border crossing into the next province of the calendar? Perhaps we can think of all those fireworks bursting overhead as a way of celebrating the new half-year.