HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNITED STATES!

Our children and their spouses and their children, that can, traditionally gather at our house to celebrate the Birthday of the United States. We barbecue, picnic, roast hot dogs and eat all kinds of outdoorsy food like watermelon and potato salad.

Some run in the Liberty 5k. Some stay at the finish line to take photos. :D We make our own parade going to Main Street for the BIG PARADE. Back at our house we put together our own entertainment. We play in the water. (two months out of the year, if we are lucky the weather is warm enough... so we enjoy it while we can). We play in the water a lot!

Of course there are little fireworks, and medium fireworks. And then we take our lawn chairs to the front yard and watch the BIG FIREWORKS going off at the fairgrounds.

And say "Thank You" to all who have given their time, their skills, their blood and their lives to make this great nation possible.

Happy Fourth of July to U.S. people everywhere!

No more blogging until this is all over and I recover from all the partying.

DRAMA IN THE YARD-

I'm not sure why crows hate squirrels. Perhaps squirrels rob crow nests for eggs and babies. Anyway, crows routinely attack our neighborhood squirrels. The following event happened while I was trying to read on the porch last Sunday. I had my camera ready, and the book was a little dry. The action in the yard was much better.

RIDE

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Yesterday’s thunderstorm filled the Saturday morning with haze. The river churned out of its bed and into the grasses along the bank. Here was a day with a warm sunrise, without wind, without drizzle, without the pressure to punch a time clock. I rode my bicycle along the vacant path. Brightness drifted through branches, edging the leaves with shimmering green. A soft mist held the light in long banners over the water. Ducks the color of night shadows drifted along the edge.

My silent wheels rolled over the bridge and out of town. The lingering rain water embraced every surface and sparkled and danced. My stretching shadow in the fields was surrounded by an aura of bending sunbeams. Only here would I see the impossible image of myself with a halo and long lean legs. I eased up the hill savoring the air. Down the back side and across the ridge above town I traveled on a road empty of loud trucks and speeding cars. I met only a few runners and a group on bicycles with grins as wide as mine.

Okay, kinda sappy writing. Oh well...
When I checked out my photos I discovered I had captured a slice of the GREEN FLASH, not once, but twice. In the movie Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End the green flash is is rumored to signify a soul returning from the dead. I didn't hang around to find out. I'd had enough of green weather phenomena the day before (see previous post).