Fourth of July

I hope all our USA readers had fun, safe celebrations for Independence Day. How do you celebrate? We tend to stay home.

We aren’t inside any city limits, so there’s no ordinance limiting fireworks where we live. Which means we hear them from the end of June until the Monday after the Fourth of July, sometimes beyond.

And on the actual Fourth, it’s like a war zone. I’ve actually had some issues with anxiety just from all the deafening noise. We’re pretty lucky where we live. Those around us who light off fireworks are pretty careful about it, even if the fireworks are not exactly safe and sane. Still, because things are so active around here on that day, we choose to stay home. Friends generally join us for dinner and some campfire conversation in the backyard, and we make sure the house doesn’t burn down.

It’s turned into a nice tradition, and I love traditions. Here’s a glimpse of the fireworks we got to watch from our backyard.

Have a wonderful summer! I hope you all get to dip your toes in a lake, eat a burger or hot dog straight off the grill, and soak up lots of Vitamin D (with sunscreen on, of course!)

 

July- Hoping for a Fun Month

My little corner of the world

Jillian here. May and June have not been my friends but now as we move into July, I am hopeful that things are going to get better and I will be on the road to adventure and fun. I fell on June 16 in the parking lot of a restaurant and broke my left foot and my right arm so the second half of June was full of pain and inactivity for me.

It goes to show you, as the poet Robert Burns wrote in his poem, “To a Mouse” and as John Steinbeck stole for the title to his book, “Of Mice and Men”, “The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry.”

BURNS: 

But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!

I had these grand plans to get in better shape for a trip to France in August- walking, getting my stamina up, etc and that is all down the tubes now since I have this craziness going on. BUT I am choosing to look on the brighter side and telling myself how much worse it could have been and that I am at least going to be all right. I will recover the full use of my arm and I will walk again with no pain and no cast. AND I hope to do it all before August!  LOL!

The fourth of July is in two days and I hope if you are American and celebrate this holiday that you have a wonderful time. For those of you in the Motherland, we fought for our freedom but it sure seems like we still love your country a lot- at least I know I do.

One of my ancestors was at Valley Forge with George Washington so if you ever think I may be a rebel in the making, guess what? I come by it honestly. I also have two ancestors who were Lord Mayor of London so I come by my love of all things British honestly as well.  I am lucky to have learned so much about my family history. I love, love that.

Have a great early part of the month and I hope to report good news on my next OTBF day- no more Debbie Downer posts from me, right? LOL

An easy summer grill-mate – kabobs…or is that kebobs?

Fourth of July this year was supposed to be a hot day in my corner of the world. It ended up somewhat overcast, but I had a barbeque to plan and needed things we could cook on the grill, rather than in the oven. We had one other couple joining us for dinner that night. It’s easy to find meat to grill. I needed a carb. We’d thought about corn on the cob, but the pickings were slim at the store.

So I fell back on a camping favorite-kabobs (or is it kebobs?). I picked up some canned whole baby potatoes and green and red peppers. Soaked the kabob sticks in water for a couple hours, then skewered the potatoes and chunks of peppers on the kabobs. My friend, who’s amazing at opening a cupboard and finding a meal, made a concoction of olive oil, garlic, and basil and we brushed the kabobs with that.

In only a few minutes on the grill, we had a delicious carbohydrate to go with our pork tenderloin and turkey sausage. Add in some homemade coleslaw and strawberry shortcake for dessert, and it was a yummy evening.

A couple more notes about the kabobs. Cooking these made me realize how much I like grill-singed peppers. I’m going to have to start playing around with cooking them on the BBQ. Also, you can add chunks of chicken to the kabobs for a full meal on a stick.

So for us, this American holiday was a nice, relaxing evening with friends. Until about 9PM, when all the fireworks started up. It was three hours of flashes and skyrockets, and war-zone level noise.  But it’s only one day a year. And we walked next door to see our neighbor’s three-year-old daughter’s eyes aglow as she watched the pretty sparkles in the air.

Pure magic. 🙂