10:09 a.m. - 2006-07-05
What a day

A Wonderful 4th of July

Since my daughter has grown, Mike and I have not really done much of anything for the 4th and our fireworks viewing has been limited to climbing the parking garage at the hospital across the street from my old condo and watching from afar.

Yesterday though we spent the day with my Sister from Australia and her 2 boys and my Sister that lives here and her family and I had forgotten how exciting it is to be right underneath the display.

While watching, I remembered that I wrote a 4th of July poem 2 years ago and forgot to put it on...so...here it is.

On a day in Midsummer,

When shadows are long

And the purple vetch covers the hill,

When the chickory grows by the roadside

And Queen Anne's lace fills the fields,

My senses are filled

With the sights and the sounds

And the joy of the 4th of July.

A pretty front porch hung with bunting,

American flags flying high.

We'll go down to the park

And wait until dark

On a big comfy blanket we'll lie,

Watching rockets red glare,

And bombs bursting in air

On a lawn underneath spacious skies.

So let freedom ring

Through the mountains and plains.

Let the light shine from Liberty's hand

Join hearts with our sisters & brothers

And thank the Good Lord for this land.

I had the whole crowd over for burgers and stuff in the back yard and my nephews were aged 8, 12, and 13. I bought a Bocce Ball set and they played with that, a deck of cards and various other balls non stop. They were little perpetual motion machines and I was surprised at how much running they did and how respectful they were of my flower garden. There was not one casualty and I am impressed.

There is a litte boy of 8 who lives behind me and he is a rather lonely kid who will come out and talk to me non stop while I pull weeds. I noticed that he was in the tree which is just about on our property line looking like a wide eyes lemur just begging with his eyes to be invited over to play.

"I'm going to wave him over" I said.

"No...what if he is annoying" said my daughter.

We all debated whether to chance having a strange boy join the ones who were playing so nice and getting along...then again...we were a family of girls and boys....well, they're different.

I no sooner waved the little fellow over than he just about flew out of the tree and came through a gate that connects our back yard.

Once in his non stop chatter this boy told me that the gate was there because the people who lived in his house and the people who once lived in mine had loved each other so much they put in a gate so they could visit each other all the time. Fearing starting something I could not stop, I did not encourage this and just answered with an "OH!".

His name was Dakota and in a nano second the boys were all playing together like they had known each other forever. Now tell me...now many girls would instantly let another girl into the fold without looking her up and down and sideways?

However, the kid was indeed annoying in an cute sort of way. He bragged on and on about being the best at every sport. He was an authority on every subject and wouldn't get out of everyone's face until they knew that he was comprised of 4, count them, 4 nationalities.

It is a tribute to my nephews that they played so nicely with him. The poor little fellow is from a family of witches...the only boy in a home with a bitchy, loud, screaming Grandma and her two daughters (one is his mother) and their string of beer swilling boyfriends....commonlaw husbands the witchy Grandma calls them (they only stick around for a few weeks though...but they are a commonlaw husband).

I just can't help but wonder if I have opened a gate here....opened that gate between our yards and have now adopted a little boy.

I'm taking a few vacation days here and taking time to catch up with all of you and taking time to blog a bit myself. Actually, not having to work, it is nice to have a life and something to blog about besides my Mother in law.

P. I. Yarnsmith

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