Happy Birthday, America!

Granddaughter Fiona sang this all day today.   Since we’re in Canada, we missed all the hype for the 4th of July particularly in our Seattle neighborhood since we live on the lake where the fireworks are.   We had a lovely walk, since it was windy again this am, some beach and swimming time, ( Fiona went in off the dock, life jacket on, mom in water.), an ice cream run to the marina, and a wonderful salmon and hot dogs on the grill dinner, potato salad, corn on the cob, cherries and apple pie.   Now how American is that!
a few poppers and confetti poppers and just 2 sparklers to celebrate—you see we are as close to the water as we can get —a very high tide.   The USA has a LOT of problems but it seems so does every other country, so I think it’s worth celebrating the freedoms that were the heart of that first birthday in 1776. (And Fiona learned about this…)   and I have warm memories of riding bikes in our small-town parades as a kid , with crepe paper and clicker cards attached…  We talked about our favorite holidays  and Tatum said Christmas - not so much for presents, but because she likes to wear sweaters and hats and scarves and mittens and then have hot chocolate and be cozy and take off what you don’t need.  (Easy to think like this when it’s SO HOT)

Posting 2 extras,=the family on the beach--I liked this one of Maple Sugar!  AND the weird sunset.  This is NOT normal looking— there are wildfires on Vancouver Island where we are looking.  When I get to sunday’s blip, I’ll post a photo of the light this am—and how scary it could be.  There’s ash on our dock….