Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Making friends with the fourth

This year, the fourth of July found me at the tail end of a stomach bug. It didn't surprise me much since my body self sabotages itself nearly every holiday by sidelining me somehow. I was bummed to miss out on some nice invitations to connect with friends I haven't seen in awhile and was determined to at least get out that evening and eat and watch the fireworks like everyone else. So I did, attending a delicious BBQ at a close friends house hiding out every once in awhile to double over and breathe through a cramp in private. Not great, but I was happy to be mobile.


No shrimp on the barbie, just chicken this time.








S'mores cheesecake, a closely guarded family recipe





Ahhhh, to be six again....


 Fourth of July is not my favorite holiday. I dig the patriotic side but fireworks send my brain sideways. I pretend to like them just to be cool, but I really don't. And, I don't like spending money on them since I'm stingy that way. I got the "are you serious?" eyes from Jeremy when I handed him a ten dollar bill to take Gracie to the firework stand with. I smiled and shrugged but in my head all I could think was "gimme back that ten dollars, it's just going up in smoke." Sour puss, huh? I'll blame the grouchi-ness on the stomach flu.  Gracie though, dug every aspect, which is not surprising for a rowdy wiry night owl of a six year old, and the ten dollars was well spent seeing her bouncy little self bouncier. They came back from the stand with a tub full of mild little fireworks and one single one that she clutched tightly in her paw: a chicken shaped firework that goes off then blows a balloon out of it's butt. We had to light that clever little firework off right away, and true to form, it produced an egg sized yellow balloon. Cute, but brief.




The chicken picture was too boring, smoke bomb was better.



 During the long weekend we also got to cross off something we had been talking about doing for years, and built ourselves a nice little fire pit. It's temporary, or not, since we thought someday we would build this awesome stone monster of a pit, but this little one we built in a hour I am falling in love with. It's small. It's very rustic. Simple, and perfect.



















 I hope you all had a great long weekend and fourth of July. I have to say, the evening did end beautifully, watching the big boomers in a dry sky from a vantage point we've never been to before, cuddling with blankets on a grassy knoll with friends and silhouettes of quiet strangers that dotted the skyline.








     Okay, maybe it's not that bad. : )




1 comment:

  1. Oh, beautiful!! I love the photo of Gracie and the smoke! SOOO COOL!, and that last one is to die for! Beautiful work, Marla! You should try Fallas in Valencia. You would think that the fireworks here are very very mild in comparison. BOOM!

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