Happy Fourth!

We spent the day doing yard work, cooking, grilling, taking the dogs down to the creek to swim and fetch — generally goofing off.  We ended the day on our deck overlooking a half mile of wild, undeveloped bluffs and creek.

It’s a clear, cool, lovely night with stars so bright it feels like you could pluck them out of the sky. In the distance, over the bluffs, we could see the sky brighten and change color as the City fireworks celebration went on.  About one in every ten of the City charges was large enough that we could see it rise to explode over the bluff.  In the mid-ground (about a half mile away) a neighbor who is reportedly a close relative of one of the owners of a local fireworks importer is setting off an extravagant display of his own. Just a bit smaller and less impressive than the city’s – it is conveniently located right outside our living room windows and off our deck.  Life is good.

— Even the dogs are impressed.  And, just off the deck, in the foreground, hundreds of fireflies are doing their best to distract us from the human display.  They’ll go on all night.

I love this life.