Category Archives: 4th of July

Happy Fourth of July!

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My decorations are going up today and the smoker is already cooking away.

If you head over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook you will see a recipe for easy delicious Pork Loin Ribs slow roasted in the oven.

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God Bless America

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,

Let us swear allegiance to the land that’s free,

Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,

As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.

God Bless America

Land that I love.

Stand beside her, and guide her

Through the night with the light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies

To the oceans, white with foam.

God bless America, My own sweet home

God bless America, My own sweet home.

God bless America and God bless all who visit here!

Summer in the City

…or summer in the burbs.

Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty

Been down, isn’t it a pity
Doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city

All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head

 

We finally put our patio covers up on the last day of June. That’s pretty late for us but very timely with the heat wave that has been hitting us here in the Northwest. I took these photos in the morning so things are still cooler and pleasant.

 

We are going to have a few friends over on the 4th of July so it was time to get the deck ready for our celebration. While it was still in the 80’s instead of 90’s I walked about the yard to take some photos of the progress on our fruit trees and bushes.

Apples are moving along nicely along with our bumper crop of pears!

 

 

The blueberries on our large established bush are starting to turn blue.

The berries on our small deck blueberry bushes in pots are looking good, too.

You know you can invite friends over with all your floors torn up and they won’t mind? It will be a memorable 4th of July celebration here. We can call it “4th of July in the rough” or “4th of July before the floors”. Besides the good food we will share together we’ll mix up a pitcher of a very relaxing beverage just in case someone stubs their toes on our rough floors!

The Sun Did Shine!

The sun came out, the flags came out, our friends came out, the food came out and we enjoyed a grand 4th of July!

I didn’t take photos of all the food. We had smoked brisket that Dear prepared, cole slaw, a loaded salad, eggplant parmesan, and desserts.

It’s hard to believe Dear has to go to work today. I’ll be off kilter the rest of the week with this Independence Day landing on a Wednesday this year.

We have a forecast of summer here in the Northwest finally. Hope all is well where you live…

Land of the Free…

…and the Home of the Brave.

Happy 4th of July to all in the U.S.A.

Nothing in the United States symbolizes democracy more than the U.S. Capitol Building. For nearly two centuries, it has been home to both chambers of Congress and has evolved and expanded as times changed and the nation grew. The building itself has more than 16 acres of space and 540 rooms. The Capitol Grounds cover about 274 acres with sloping lawns, splashing fountains and beautiful terraces.

The bronze Statue of Freedom crowns the dome of the U.S. Capitol. Her right hand rests upon the hilt of a sheathed sword; her left holds a laurel wreath of victory and the shield of the United States with thirteen stripes. Her helmet is encircled by stars and features a crest composed of an eagle’s head, feathers, and talons, a reference to the costume of Native Americans. A brooch inscribed “U.S.” secures her fringed robes.

Sprucing It Up…

Gotta love a guy that will paint for you after he’s put in a full day of hard work in the office. Did I mention he was dodging rain drops?

It wasn’t raining hard enough to bother the newly painted wall since it’s pretty well protected by the overhang.

I also bought a few more plants to add to the deck. The planters that could also be used as large candle holders were on clearance at 75% off.

This white hydrangea was calling my name, too. I have to decide now where to plant it. I was happy that the weather cooperated for me this morning and I was able to get the lawn mowed. We’re promised rain again on Tuesday and then they say we could have good weather for the 4th.

Tuesday is shopping day for the food for our 4th of July barbecue.

We the People…

…of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Since the 4th lands on a Wednesday next week and we are hosting a barbecue I decided to set a red, white and blue table early.

Next Wednesday this same table will be cleared of settings and filled with food for our annual 4th of July barbecue.

The round placemats are from HomeGoods. The dishes say Denmark English Ironstone made specially for Franciscan, made in England. I found them at Goodwill. The glasses are from an antique mall on Whidbey Island. The little bowls are from Target’s $1.00 section. The acrylic star napkin rings are from Goodwill. Other accessories collected from here and there over the years. The fresh cherries are from Safeway, chuckle!

I’m joining in with Kathleen at Cuisine Kathleen for Let’s Dish on Wednesday and on Thursday I’ll link up with Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

What will you be doing to celebrate the 4th? For my Canadian friends, what will you be doing for Canada Day on the 1st?

Speaking of, We the People, Pray for our people in Colorado who are suffering from the devastating fires there. Pray for relief soon and for the firefighters fighting till exhausted! Have mercy on them, Lord.

FFF ~ Early July Fun…

Once again it’s time to look back over the last week to pick out your favorites. I enjoy this exercise in focusing on blessings and listing them. Thank you Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for hosting this worthwhile meme.

Here are my favorites.

1. The weather finally improved enough in the Seattle area for us to bring our patio furniture out of storage and onto the deck. Along with the furniture I spent some time decorating the deck area in red, white and blue for our upcoming 4th of July, Independence Day celebration.

2. Watching Women’s World Cup Soccer and seeing the U.S. Women’s salute to our military after scoring a goal!

3. A get together with family and friends with lots of good food and fellowship to celebrate our Nation’s birthday. By now you might know that I like party themes and for this one it was all about flags, stars and red, white and blue. We had blue drinks with white ice and red berries, cupcakes with red,white and blue sprinkles. Serving dishes and flowers followed the theme, too.

4. While we were working on the deck we had a fun little visitor, the green little frog in my mosaic.

5. Katie and I have been using our library more and we’ve gotten some books that we put a hold on. I’m looking forward to finally reading The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.

Having a holiday on a Monday can throw me for a loop and it did. I’ve been a little off all week. I’m looking forward to a quiet weekend. How was your past week and what were your favorites?

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and photobucket stamped versions. They are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

A Wonderful 4th of July Celebration…

When you have a loved one serving his country your 4th of July celebration takes on new meaning. Our daughter is able to skype with her Marine husband serving in Afghanistan when he is available and I’ve tried to capture the distinct smile she gets on her face when they are communicating miles apart from each other. This is a close capture but she caught me with my camera so the “look” is a little off…

We love to display the red, white, and blue here at our old house. I always hope to find some new red, white and blue treasures on clearance after the 4th!

Our pulled pork ready to be sauced up for our sandwiches!

Dear was ready to serve up some special red, white and blue drinks!

The best part of our celebrations are the people who join us to eat and enjoy fellowship together.

My sister Lana and her husband Steve were able to walk over and join us.

My dear friends of 26 years and walking buddies here in the Northwest Jody and Jan…

I always love to capture our daughter Katie in photos to post so her husband Andrew can enjoy them from miles away in Afghanistan!

Sisters!

Our dear Northwest friends and family. Thank you for joining us and making our celebration a special treat!

Roses from Jody’s garden…

Now I hope to be able to fall asleep with all the loud fireworks exploding in the skies around us…

Hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day celebration! Blessings!

Happy Independence Day!

I’m posting early because it’s already the 4th in Afghanistan!

We had a warm sunny day on Saturday and Katie, Dear and I worked together…

…and finally got our patio furniture down from the loft in the garage. We cleaned and arranged the furniture, then decorated for our 4th of July celebration. We are looking forward to a get-together with a few friends and family on Monday afternoon.

On Monday at the MGCC Blog the recipe for Chocolate Butterscotch Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Bars will post at 4:00 A.M. Pacific Time.

The recipe for these delicious bars is the most visited post on my blog. To date I’ve had 48,250 visits to the post for this recipe alone.

Hope all my visitors from the U.S.A. will have time to celebrate our country’s independence and remember to pray for our great nation. I’m praying we can continue to enjoy our freedoms and I’m also praying for all those serving here and abroad to ensure our freedoms.

Thank you Andrew and to your unit serving in Afghanistan.

Thank you, too, to the sons, daughters, and other relatives of my bloggy friends who are serving their country. God, please continue to bless America and protect us from evil.

Lastly I wanted to share this photo I took of the U.S. Women’s Soccer team at the World Cup in Germany giving a salute to the military after they scored a goal against Columbia. I really appreciated this collaboration for their goal celebration!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and photobucket stamped versions. They are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Our Country ~ Hymn

Our Country

Our country, unrivaled in beauty
And splendor that cannot be told,
How lovely thy hills and thy woodlands,
Arrayed in a sunlight of gold.
The eagle, proud king of the mountain,
Is soaring, majestic and free;
Thy rivers and lakes in their grandeur,
Roll on to the arms of the sea;
Roll on to the arms of the sea.

Our country, the birthplace of freedom,
The land where our forefathers trod,
And sang in the isles of the forest
Their hymn of thanksgiving to God;
Their bark they had moored in the harbor,
No more on the ocean to roam;
And there in the wilds of New England,
They founded a country and home,
They founded a country and home.

Our country, the past, and its glory,
Still honor the names of thy dead;
The statesmen that crowned thee with laurel,
The heroes and veterans that bled.
Mount Vernon, where Washington slumbers,
The soul of thy freedom for years,
A willow droops tenderly ever,
Go hallow his grave with thy tears,
Go hallow his grave with thy tears.

Our country, with ardent devotion,
In God may thy children abide;
In Him be the strength of our nation,
His laws and its counsel our guide.
Our banner, that time-honored banner,
That floats o’er the ocean’s bright foam,
God keep them unsullied forever,
Our standard, our union, our home,
Our standard, our union, our home.

Words: Fanny Crosby