Saturday, July 5, 2008

Happy Birthday USA!*

What a great day it was! Sure, there were a few plops of rain, but that just made me appreciate the sunshine-y spots even more.

We went to a dear friend's home for a barbecue, and man, did they go all out! Everybody brought a dish as well, and I had some mighty tasty:

Chicken kabobs
Orzo salad with olives and tomatoes
Cole slaw with a sunrise of peppers on top
Classic potato salad
Cheeseburger with grilled onions
Pizza dip
Greek dip
Watermelon
Some fabulous thing that had a shortbread cookie crust, a cream-cheese-and-heavy-cream filling, and awesome strawberries on top
Chocolate chip blondie

And some Mike's hard Cranberry Lemonade mixed with seltzer and invited in a lime to add color.

Lots of talking, laughing, remember-when-ing, planning, and I even got to do some knitting. Not on socks! I'm using up the sock yarn bits this summer to make squares for a blanket, a la Kay so that I don't even have to look at them (which, to non-knitters, is always a pretty cool trick).

Then the rain got pretty serious, so we stayed home and watched the fireworks on the telly. (I usually watch it for the music.) I got so bummed about CBS' coverage of the Boston Pops, which I really look forward to - this year, they decided that the last 15 seconds of the 1812 overture was the only part necessary - and they talked over that part of it anyway!! Grrrrrr.

Other than that, however, I found myself thinking about the Declaration of Independence, and just what hutzpah it took to accomplish what they did and where we are. And I do one of my favorite things: what would Benjamin Franklin think of gun control? What would Thomas Jefferson think of immigration laws? What would John Adams have said about September 11? What would George Washington think of George Bush?

Hmmmm. Time to watch a little History Channel, I think. And knit sleeves.

*plus one

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