family

The fourth of July is always best if spent with family and that is what I did this year, up here on the lake. "My guys", (my son and his two boys), came up and we had the noon meal together. My youngest grandson, age 12, went to the lake with his dad and they checked out the dock to see if it needed to be brought in. It did not so they enjoyed a bit of time sitting on the benches and looking out at the boaters. It is very pleasant down there listening to the water lapping against the shore. It gives one a lazy, everything is right with the world feeling.

My older grandson is 17 and has just returned from Germany. He and four classmates took a trip with their German teacher who came here from Germany and still owns a home there. His guest host was an 18 year old boy and they had a great time. My grandson brought back a lot of pictures which he took with this digital camera. He was using my digital photo frame ( a birthday gift from my son) to display his pictures and it was a treat for me. I asked him what one thing stood out in his mind about his visit in Germany. Without hesitation he said "public transportation". Their bus and rail system made it very convenient to go anywhere they wanted to go. He spoke only German while there and I am sure that improved his German speaking skills.

The two dogs were very happy to get all of the back rubs and scratches from the boys. I can tell they miss their master and mistress, but at least they can go out whenever they want and run freely. At home they live in a condo on the second level and going out is controlled walking whereas here I just open the door and out they go !!

I sent green tomatoes home with my son and also instructions on preparing fried green tomatoes ! It was a quiet, restful fourth with no fireworks and that could be a good thing. I can say that because I have memories of one fourth in Maryland when my husband took us to the stadium at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. It was a special treat to be so close to the display, as we sat up in the bleachers, and took it all in. My son was four at the time and possibly it was his first time to be present at such an event. He was looking up toward the high spraying sparks and one little cinder landed on his eye. I already had an ophthalmologist in Baltimore so he was properly evaluated soon afterwards. No damage was done as the cinder missed the cornea by a small margin. I was thankful for that.

After they left for home I went down to the raised beds to do some watering since we have had no rain for three weeks. I saw the smaller lizard scampering over the concrete block lining the beds and I spied a very pink tomato on the Goliath vine. I could not resist picking it even though it could have stayed on a bit longer. Also one of the blackbery bushes had two big red berries on one branch. That surprised me as I thought it was all finished with that. I made several trips up to the house in my golf cart as I had not taken down a basket and I kept finding lots of cucumbers. I put the tomato on my kitchen diet scale and it weighed over one pound, as the indicator went past 16 ounces.

Whereas I saw no fireworks I certainly did hear them. Some neighbors to the west of me celebrate every holiday by firing off screamers and boomers and the colorful sprayers. Since I get up with the sun, I also go to bed with the sun so I heard all of this just as I was drifting off to sleep. A lovely fourth of July this year.