Happy 4th of July

Along with celebrating our country's independence my family celebrates my sister's birthday. The story I recall hearing is that mom and dad were getting ready for a 4th of July picnic when -- Independence Day turned into labor day for mom, and then turned into a birthday for my sister Kathy.

To add to the fun, Kathy grew up and married a guy who has the same birthday. He's a native of France so the day doesn't have the same significance to him. But he's a good sport, and when they are in the states for his birthday, Bernard enjoys the fireworks and hoopla as much as the rest of us.

Speaking of hoopla -- Tom and I aren't hooping it up this year. I'm on the couch blogging, waiting for the TV version of fireworks. Tom is out on the tractor mowing in the tree field, but he'll surely be back soon, it's getting dark. Today he painted another side of the house while I painted shutters. My work was shorter than his so I had time to watch a friend's 4 squirts (ages 4-9) while she and a friend got a load of firewood not too far from our house. I volunteered to watch them...in the pool. So Barb and Doug are sweating it out cutting and loading wood, Tom's on a ladder painting for hours on end, and I'm in the pool playing with 4 little kids. Yeah, I know, it was big of me. After that we mowed lawn and weeded flower beds.

We turned our Independence Day into labor day. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Tom worked harder than I did, but I think he enjoyed it too. It's weird though, having no family around on a holiday. I wonder if this is something I'm going to have to get used to? We're moving David to Connecticut next week. He's actually on his round-about way already. Me? I'm feeling it already.

Oop, here's Tom... and the Macy's 4th of July fireworks show is on TV -- They're astounding! Gotta go watch. Happy Independence Day!!!