Independence Day

HAPPY JULY 4!!



We were up at 6:30 this morning, since Daughter and her friend were to be here around 8 a.m. We had just finished doing last-minute tasks, including hanging the American flag outdoors, when they arrived. We spent the rest of the morning, until around 10 a.m., talking and getting acquainted with Daughter's friend.



Then, since lunch would be easy to prepare, I suggested we take a driving tour of our town, which, as the second oldest city in the state, features lots of historic homes and businesses. The very pretty campus of the private college was on the tour, as well as the river and its parks. We ended the tour with a drive through an upscale residential district, and were back home about 11:30.



We put barbecue and sauce into the oven to heat, and boiled ears of corn-on-the-cob. By noon, we were ready to sit down to lunch. The barbecue sandwiches on hamburger buns, corn-on-the-cob, potato salad, macaroni salad, coleslaw, and sliced tomatoes were very tasty. We also enjoyed the angel food cake, with strawberries and blueberries, and topped with vanilla ice cream.



While we ate, we listened to the Mannheimer Steamroller CD "American Spirit."



After lunch, I played a country western CD, and taught daughter a couple of ballroom dance steps...the waltz, and the foxtrot. Daughter, who took dance lesson many years ago, when she was a girl, enjoyed learning these dances, and we did a lot of laughing as we stumbled through the steps a few times.



About 2 p.m., Daughter and Friend left, so they could be back home in time to attend Great-Grandson's birthday party later in the afternoon. Hubbie, Mother and I settled in to watch the 1972 musical movie "1776." The movie, rated PG for mild language, is of course about the nation's first congress, and the writing and signing of the Declaration of Independence. The movie deals with a very serious subject palatably with captivating musical numbers and comic moments, though the film itself is a little dark. It was adequate on the TV screen, but when we saw it on an outdoor screen last summer, we could barely see the actors. The film is pretty long at 166 minutes, and Hubbie and Mother napped on and off throughout it. But I stayed awake and enjoyed all of it.



There was a severe thunderstorm warning in our area around 4 p.m., but nothing materialized in our town, so the fireworks display went on as scheduled around 9 p.m. We usually watch the fireworks from the yard on the west side of our house, but since Mother is having trouble walking, we didn't want her to try to trek over the uneven ground of the yard in the dark. So we went to the parking lot of one of the banks, where we had a very good view.



Appropriately for Independence Day, the bald eagle baby, a new representative of our nation's symbol, took his first flight out of the nest today. He lifted up to the top of a post adjacent to the nest. For a long time, he wasn't sure what to do with himself once he was up there, but he finally flew back down to the nest floor.