“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.”
Psalm 67:1-2 ESV
The 99 year old Memorial Bridge serves as the perfect spot to display two very large American flags. The flags, put in place mid-week, are part of this weekends Freedom Fest. I happened along just as crews finished hanging the flags so I eased out on a public pier to get a photo. Our city, like hundreds across the nation, had a well planned celebration of America’s 250th birthday. The bridge was closed to traffic early last night as crews prepared for a large fireworks show to be set in motion from atop the bridge. I imagine there were plenty of similar activities in your neck of the woods!
I don’t know the size of the flags, but the bridge is high above the river, probably higher than it might appear.
Hot air balloons were very popular with the folks out to celebrate freedom and America’s 250th in our downtown area. Quite a few family activities took place both Friday and Saturday. Interestingly, the building in the background is the hospital where Pam, Seth, and I were born!
No balloon rides for us last week…been there, done that. A look into the past as we were preparing to lift off over Napa Valley at sunrise, 21 years ago! We landed about an hour later and had breakfast in a vineyard. A wonderful experience and memory.
Our balloon in 2005 looked a lot like the one in our previous photo from Friday. We don’t remember who took the photos for everyone that day, someone from their staff I assume, but I don’t think they used the finest of cameras. Maybe it was a throwaway camera like we used to take on trips. Light and easy to pack, but not much for photo quality!
Ran into a long-time friend while roaming the streets of Freedom Fest. I tease him at times by telling him if he’s not careful in the way he presents himself, people will begin to accuse him of being a car salesman. He loves that and for good reason…Jaurus is, and has been, the top car salesman for our local Ford dealership for many, many years. He’s probably the best around period, regardless of make or model. We’ve bought a few vehicles from him ourselves! I asked him if the words on his shirt meant anything ugly. He replied, “if it did I wouldn’t be wearing it”! Jaurus does a lot of smiling.
Fireworks shows were happening at locations all around and friends invited us to the lake on Friday to see the fireworks over the water near their place. I actually enjoyed the colors of what looked like a few hundred boats that were on the lake for a great unobstructed view. Did you see the hundreds of boaters that organized and created a huge American flag? Or how about the hundreds of trucks that displayed the flag shaped like the nation out in the Nevada desert? There has been so much excitement and celebration to witness this weekend, both here, and around the world…large and small, elaborate and simple!
We know you’ve had an unlimited number of awesome festivities and unique celebrations to view and enjoy over this July 4th weekend, so we won’t wear you out with ours. Going back to summertime… I was patient in the heat, but it finally paid off. Gold finches are presently around in numbers and love to hang out in the zinnias. I see a lot of zinnias every day that seem to have suddenly lost most of their petals prematurely. And what might be one explanation…?
Our little yellow friends are notorious for hanging out underneath the blooms and picking them apart, one petal at a time. We enjoy seeing them, but they are destructive little critters when it comes to munching on zinnias.
Watching the hay baling take place from the kitchen window simply says “it’s summer”, and reminds us of why we love living in the country! WL, just like his daddy, will stand and gaze when this operation is underway.
After a very dry spring, a few late rains helped enough to get a decent amount of hay. And, no bales rolled out to block the golf cart and bicycle trail! The little folks and PJ will be happy about that.
My favorite color of crepe myrtle, and ours are finally blooming. There’s something about these blooms against a blue sky. It was a nice sight from my spot in the bushes, soaking wet with perspiration (sweat is really more like it) while waiting on the Gold Finches and Hummingbirds!
You may recall the million bells some weeks back that decided to grow through a crack in the patio by the old welcome mat. We decided, out of curiosity, to leave it alone, thinking it couldn’t last too long. We have potted plants that were carefully planted in new, expensive potting soil, fertilized as needed, mulched, watered, and petted, yet some look absolutely terrible. Many are struggling to make it and we are disappointed in their lack of blooming, even with all the attention given. And here, this volunteer, completely left to fend for itself, had 9 blooms on Thursday. Our heat indexes have been around 110 or more all week. No rhyme or reason to gardening sometimes!
I call this crepe myrtle “the tree that always hums”. Honeybees are responsible for my reasoning. I always have to mow carefully, dodging limbs when it is blooming. This year we decided it was not growing or blooming as normal and the limbs would not be in my way. We both wondered what was wrong with the tree. It seems we were both wrong! After the rain on Friday, the wet bloom heads were touching the ground.
We had several days that brought thunderstorms, heavy rain, and hail to places all around and only a few miles away. It seemed as if we were surrounded but couldn’t get a good rain. This weather pattern did provide skies that gave us that early evening, just after sunset reflection which cast an orange, pink, and yellow glow on everything. And finally, on Friday afternoon, we received just over one and one half inches of needed rain, fortunately without the hail and high winds that other nearby places experienced!
I don’t always take time to go beyond the woods line and near the highway to see what’s going on with the evening sky, but a different perspective can sometimes be a good thing.
Have a blessed and enjoyable week!
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Hebrews 13:8 ESV
Linking with:
Pieced Pastimes, Between Naps on the Porch, Katherines Corner, Follow The Yellow Brick Home,
Life and Linda
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