The 4th of July

We had a great 4th of July. Lazy, slow, balmy, and moderately peaceful.  Hamburgers on the grill, potato salad, baked beans, (I later found the uncooked corn on the cob on the counter--oh well, it was that lazy).  Lei, our caregiver, wanted to spend the day with us and work, too, so that was super. Most of the flags I've had in the past seem to have disappeared so Sawyer and I took a little trip to the hardware store and bought a big one for the front yard and a small plastic pool to cool off in.  Chelsea and I spent a few hours in the afternoon painting pictures of sailboats. I was happy to have a paintbrush in my hand again. She'd still be erasing her original sketch this morning if I hadn't kept reinforcing that this was meant to be fun and the only thing that mattered was loading paint on to the canvas and see what develops.

But the best part of all was to discover that we had a perfect ringside seat to the fireworks right out our family room and my upstairs bedroom window. Bang! Pop! Ooooh!  Ahhhh! Who knew?! If I'd been the broker on this house that would have been the first thing in my marketing. The trees in the backyard parted so perfectly for the show down at the regional park. What a thrilling ending to a day worth celebrating, especially since we didn't think we'd get a chance to see them this year.

Feeling more independent than ever (sort of).