Today is the 4th of July.  I read the other day that George Washington bought a broom on this day in 1776.  I guess that means he was ready to "sweep" away the bad choices people before him had made.

It's not her birthday....

Our daughter is currently an exchange student in Germany. Two days ago her host family threw a "welcome" party for her, although she has been there over one month. The next day she awoke to a card from her grandmother, and a package from her mom. She called to ask, "Are you sure it's not my birthday?"

We are very proud of her; she is a senior in high school and will graduate with her class, albeit from afar. She is where she needs to be. She is challenged every minute of every day, and for a bit of a "breather" she joined a club that only speaks English.

More later....

It's all in the cards....

I just love to play cards. During the cold, dark winter, my son and I found refuge in a good game of gin or canasta to go along with our afternoon tea and after-school-snack. Now that it's the bright, warm, lazy, hazy days of summer, we still play cards with our afternoon tea.

This goes back years and years ago, when I played cards as a child, then as a teenager ~ days at the pool, playing Pinochle with my girlfriends. Ahh, the hours one can spend in such bliss. I found an interesting shop once on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh that sold all sorts of playing cards. We bought one set with Shakespeare characters, one set with explorer's ships, and one set that resembled the first deck of cards ever printed.

I am looking forward to going on vacation in August, when I go for my morning 10-mile bicycle ride, late afternoon at the beach, and lots of cards....

They think it's progress...

to have U-Scan machines at the grocery store. But this is what I think... it is just one more way to acquire stress, which we do not need in our lives, thank-you-very-much. Every time I am with my daughter she insists on using the thing, and it always, I mean always sends us a message, "Please wait for customer service." It doesn't like that I bring my own bag, it thinks I am stealing 10 ounces of something. It can't read my bonus buy card, which has grown weary with wear, and cannot be scanned, it has to be entered manually. And... I don't get any sort of discount because I am working more, and one store employee is working less ~ the one I would have gone to if I had not brought my daughter along. This is why I NEVER, and I will repeat this, NEVER go to the U-Scan machine, because what it really is is a U-Might-Get-Stress-From-Using-This machine.

Later....

They're here....

the first tomatoes from our garden. I also plucked two more eggplants, and lots more basil.

I must say, I had fun with the Thoreau hyperlinks, I just wanted to keep right on going...

Well, until later...

I will not be a "spoiler"...

that's what they are called, the people who share the details of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I finished it today, what a journey. Now I have to wait until my daughter finishes it to discuss it with her. And, our son has decided to begin at the beginning and read them all over again before he finishes up with year seven.

Off to look at the garden, yummm...

The mystery begins...

OK, so I started reading the 7th and final book about the life of someone we all know, Harry Potter. I cannot imagine him ever being called "Harold" however, Harry just seems to suit him. And talk about web page design, you must see J.K. Rowling's... it is riddled with candy for the eyes and ears.

Apparently I have another white eggplant to pluck, and the tomatoes are coming in just fine...oh, and I bought some lovely local corn on the cob today...

Later...