Happy fourth of July! This is my 600th blog post.! Let there be firework in the parks, parades on the streets, dancing on the beaches and necking in the parlors! Yee Ha! Everyone who comments, even if you just give me a woo hoo, gets entered in a drawing for some bamboo yarn. Blogdom has been such a delight for me, and I have made such grand friends! I am wishing you laughter and contentment for the next 600 posts.

Even though this is a knitting blog, I have no knitting photos for you. Which is not to say that knitting isn’t going on, (three hours in the car one way is bound to engender a lot of progress.) I’m doing a right-angles scarf in the Zen Art Walk yarn of a few months ago, inspired by Renoir’s painting, “Discarded Roses.” I think it’s the prettiest yarn Roxanne has come up with. But no photos today because connection on the air card is soooo slow.

And I gotta show you a photo of the little welcome wagon lady for the neighborhood. Talk about blasé about all the passing traffic. She just stood there, grazing calmly while we pulled up and took her portrait. She has nothing to fear from humans. You can’t use a gun because it’s all residential here, yet there are so many undeveloped, wildly overgrown lots that she and her family and friends have all sorts of pleasant habitat. So you see deer around all the time. No wonder I don’t see many rose bushes.

Here is a shot of DH and RW in the upstairs sitting area. MJ joined us later in the venerable seaport of Astoria where we had an interesting Bosnian dinner. Tasty substantial food that will stick to your ribs and keep you going all day in the winter. I totally blew my points allotment for Weight Watchers. Interesting spicing. Lots of garlic. Paprika. Pickled condiments. Enormous portions! Everyone leaving the restaurant was carrying doggie bags.

Today we are going to make a tactical strike on the nearby fireworks stand, establish a beachhead with a bonfire, and wait for it to get dark enough. Fourth of July falls on a friday? Heck, we won't even need our own fireworks, we can just enjoy the flash-booms around us. People are camping in backyards, and the numbers of campers and RVs parked in driveways is astounding. If ya wanna do fireworks, shooting them out over the ocean seems like a pretty good idea. There is also talk of power-washing the deck and doing a little work on the beach house, but it's eight am already, and the power-washers haven't even yawned.

I love, love, love being the only one up in the house. I am wrapped in my ratty huge grey shawl, feeling cozy toasty in the cool morning, watching the rain drip off the eaves, and listening to the surf and an occasional cranky gull. I'm savoring a cup of pepermint tea, and life is good. No wonder larks sing so gloriously! Mornings are such a gift!