Fantastic 4th

Yesterday has to be the best 4th of July I can remember.

First off, the weather was fantastic. The forecast originally called for showers, but it never even sprinkled. In the early morning it was overcast and more humid than the day before. But as the day went on the humidity seemed to go away and we had several periods of sunshine. The temperature was mild and it was fairly breezy, which I love.

Spouse made biscuits for breakfast so we ate them with our coffee on the screened porch. It was delightful, and the dog and cat really like being on the porch with us. Then I decided to vacuum all 3 vehicles. Since we are hoping to trade 2 of them in, I figured it would be good to clean them up now so it would already be done when our buddy lets us know he's found a suitable car for us. I disposed of all the trash and then vacuumed the seats, carpets and mats thoroughly. I talked Spouse into wiping down the dashboards, center consoles and other hard surfaces.

Then we walked to the canal and watched the 4th of July boat parade. It was cute - lots of different sizes and styles of boats, all decked out in red white and blue. Then we hopped on our bikes and rode a little ways to a church that appears to be in a building that was once something else. (It doesn't look like a church.) Our neighbor had told us his 1975 Caprice Classic convertible was going to be in a car show at the church so we went to see it, being the car lovers we are. It was a small show, probably only about 25-30 cars, but it was fun to see the cars, and biking to and fro was great as well. When we returned home we sat on the wrap-around porch facing the vacant, wooded lots across the street for quite a while, enjoying the heavenly breezes and hypothesizing about what the houses will look like that will one day occupy that land. (We learned that the land owner has finally gotten approval to build 3 houses that will face the street as well as his own private residence behind them, close to the border with the park.) Although I'd prefer the land remain unoccupied and wooded, Spouse said he's eager to see the houses built, which surprised me.

Then we showered and walked to Mike & Steve's house, located on Savannah Rd, the main drag leading into downtown. They had invited a lot of folks from the neighborhood for a cook-out and to watch the 'Doo-Dah' parade. Their backyard is lovely, filled with many varieties of plants and flowers; obviously many, MANY hours of work, but assumably they enjoy doing it. We got to meet LOTS of neighbors, which was really nice. The 'Doo-Dah' parade is not a Lewes sanctioned parade so the street isn't closed off. It was basically started a few years ago by a family who wanted to have a 4th of July parade, and lots of neighbors and friends quickly joined in. Anyone who wants can be in it and there's no application or advance notice required. So I've decided next year I am going to be in it! It was really cute; very informal and lasted about 10 minutes. All the folks from the cook-out spilled out onto the front porch, porch steps and yard to watch. Many other neighbors had similar cook-outs followed by parade viewings.

After walking home, feeding Jordan and taking her for a walk around the pond, we sat on the porch again and enjoyed the perfect weather. We'd pretty much decided we were NOT going to get caught up in all that chaos in Rehoboth just to see the fireworks, but sort of felt like we wanted to see some. Joe suggested we walk down to the bay at Lewes beach so I agreed. When we got there the parking lot was completely full (good thing we'd walked) and there were multiple people/groups setting off fireworks on the beach. Once again, this was not a Lewes sanctioned event but the police didn't try and stop it. It was great! We just sat on the beach and watched fireworks going off in several directions for nearly an hour. They had started before we got there, and were still going on when we left. It was great being so close, and of course the breeze and low humidity made the night just dreamy. We've decided this will be our new 4th of July fireworks watching tradition.

As we were walking home we saw one of the couples we'd met at the cook-out, George & Alan, feeding their cats on their front porch, so we stopped and chatted with them for a few minutes. They showed us their gorgeous and LARGE backyard (well, large by in-town Lewes standards) and they invited us to come and swim in their pool anytime. They also gave us some fresh catnip for Pouncer, which they grow. They are very nice and I can see us becoming good friends with them.

By the time we got home it was 10:30 so we changed into comfy clothes and went upstairs to watch TV. My legs felt like spaghetti from all the walking and bike riding. All the windows were open and we were continually caressed by lovely breezes. It was a magical day.

Today I called the BMW dealer and accepted the next available appointment for my car: next Thurs. Aagghh... yet another full week before I'll find out what is needed to fix my roof, likely followed by several more days of waiting for parts to be ordered and delivered.

Drag Queen name of the day: Doris Open