Despite neighbor Shawn’s phone being broken, word got around that we would have a cookout on our street. People converged on Shawn and Bob’s lawn, because they had the largest flat, shady space.
Logan had a grand view of us all.
We had a three-armed toy that Nathaniel threw with Logan, and it sailed into our Bradford pear tree. Nate and John carried the ladder around and set it up, supervised by Sufi.
The first retrieval attempt failed, so Bob and Nathaniel extended it before Bob climbed up with a long pole and knocked the toy out of the branches.
Lise asked Logan to show us his pond down a steep slope behind his house. We knew Bob had cleaned out the weeds and that they had been swimming there. Water flows into the pond via a pipe from the creek and out again through an overflow drain.
Logan ran down to the dock as Lise and I watched tadpoles swimming in the water.
Logan was looking for Herbert, the turtle, under the dock. Lise stood beside Logan and took a photo from above as he fed Herbert some bread. I also liked Lise’s selfie with her feet.
As the sun moved, we picked up our chairs to get in the shade again. People stayed outside a long time. When thunder moved closer, we took the food back to our houses. Only when the first raindrops fell did we fold up the table and take our chairs home. As heavy rain fell, Shawn, Bob and Logan stayed on their porch, while Lise, Nathaniel, and I retreated to ours. (David was working.) It was fun to share that storm from a distance. It had been a most satisfying party.
We had a small continuation of the party after the power went out. Joyce came to recharge her phone, since our generator was running. The rain was over by then. It was fun to chat with her in a smaller setting. Her phone was charged, and she went home when folks up the mountain began shooting fireworks. Most public fireworks in the area had been canceled, so we were thrilled to have a free show that we could see from our chairs on the porch.
Happy Birthday, USA! God bless America.
Mehrling Muse 
Happy delayed 4th of July, Anne.
Susie
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Things of which memories are made of. Nice!
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Thank you, Anne, for letting us share your beautiful and happy party. Everyone seem so
relaxed and at ease. Little Logan is a charmer.
Miriam
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Our neighbors have known each other about four years. They are the greatest!
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Sounds like fun!
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You would have enjoyed watching the tadpoles with us. Maybe Jasmine would have come out to greet you. She’s a lovely gray cat who lives at Logan’s house.
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ooohh, and why have we not seen this Jasmine before? Any pics? sounds lovely.
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Jasmine is lovely. I had a photo of her in a post a couple of years ago. I was letting Logan’s dogs outside, and Jasmine brought a bunny to the front yard. I didn’t stay around to watch her eat it. What would you have done, Suki?
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Um, well, she might be a bit butch for me. Traditionally, I like to be to the macho one in the relationship and I can’t say I care for killing rabbits. Maybe I’m a bit of a softie. This could be why Salem teases me from time to time. I’m more brains than brawn. Oh, well. I’ll keep looking. Thanks.
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At least you are very smart.
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Thanks.
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Lucky you Anne and friends, you still could gather around and hug each other.
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Well, we didn’t hug each other, but our words were warm and friendly. I feel the lack of hugs, so I make hugging gestures and say, “Hug. Hug.”
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Hugs back to you Anne.
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I always say it, you have the best neighbors. I didn’t see any neighbors on the 4th. People just don’t get together for anything (even before the lockdown). We are lucky to get a wave. We used to have fabulous 4th picnics when I was a kid. We always went to my uncle’s farm. It was the best place for kids. Lots of space, a pond. The only bad thing was we had to use an outhouse because my aunt didn’t want all these people traipsing inside her house. Yuck! There were always bugs in there.
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Outhouses are out!! I used one at the home of my best friend’s granddad out in the country. It was fun to draw water from the well, though.
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You have a wonderful neighborhood! My husband and I got take out sushi to celebrate the 4th! 🙂
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Sushi isn’t traditional, but I’ll bet it was delicious.
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Sounds like the perfect day (except the power going out). I love to sit out on a covered porch and watch a storm come through.
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The power outage wasn’t bad. We had enough propane for the generator. We love porch storms, too. Our last house didn’t have a porch, although my childhood home did.
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Traditions do seem to require little advertisement. History is there for the future. This is a great time in an equally great country.
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Looks like fun! Everything is sooo greeen!
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We have had a very damp spring. Heavy rain followed the July 4th celebration, so the green you saw was washed and refreshed again.
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As usual, the congeniality of the neighborhood is one I covet … you are lucky to have some nice neighbors Anne and I know you know you are blessed to live there.
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I wish everyone had congenial neighbors.
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Me too Anne. I think I’ve said before that my grandmother had neighbors like you do. We’d see it every time we went back to visit my grandmother. (P.S. – it is 54 years ago today we moved here to this house from Canada)
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Wow! What an anniversary!
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Yes, wish I could say my parents carried me into the house, but I was 10. 🙂 We had a neighbor two doors down in the corner house and he/wife got two lawn chairs and put them on the front lawn and watched the furniture going in. Then my father was outside talking to the movers and the neighbor came over and said “I don’t see any kids’ furniture or toys – that’s good, we’re mostly elderly here in the neighborhood and don’t like kids.” My father told him I was 10 and he grimaced. He turned and walked away – no “welcome to the neighborhood!”
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How rude can a person be?
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I think I should compile all my stories, then put them into one book .
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It would be a wonderful read!!
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His wife was nice but Hank Witkowski had some real issues. He owned the house between his and ours … it is a small house, with no driveway and no basement. As the landlord, he was responsible for the upkeep.
He was painting the house trim white and must have shaken the paintbrush vigorously in the backyard after he finished and got paint all over my mom’s laundry she had hanging on the line., She saw him painting and when she went for the laundry and saw the white splats she knew what happened. So the next day when he was up on the ladder painting, she opened the kitchen window and told him and showed him one of the garments through the window He heard her out and said “wasn’t me, likely a squirrel got into the paint tray and swished his tail around and did the splatters.” My mom said “don’t insult my intelligence.” She didn’t care for his nosiness on Day #1. That was the end of that episode, However, he never apologized or offered to pay for the damage. About a month later, a knock came at the door and there was someone there representing the Workers Compensation Bureau. The gentleman introduced himself and said he wanted to know if our neighbor Henry Witkowski had ever been seen doing physical activity as he had a workers comp suit pending for a sore back that he had said he hurt on the job.
They were checking on whether to continue his benefits. Without missing a beat, my mom said “well he just painted the house next door and before that he put on a roof with a younger guy – I guess that would be physical activity.” She felt pretty smug about that. In this day and age, I am sure that Workers Comp reps would not ask neighbors, but maybe I’m wrong.
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What a story!
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I seem like I have a story for every occasion sometimes. 🙂
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Your stories are good!
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He was really different – that’s for sure!
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Happy Belated July 4th, Anne!
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Thanks, Ellie.
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We had a lovely meal from our daughter next door, all of us sitting appropriately at two tables, 6 feet apart. There were so many illegal fireworks that we could just look out our window and see them. I have no idea where people purchased them since they are not for sale here. They were the same size as at town celebrations, going high in the sky an then opening.
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Those were the kind of fireworks our neighbors set off. Spectacular! I’m glad you had a grand show, as well.
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It was noisy but lovely.
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