Independence Day

It sounds like there are distant battles going on all around me, there are so many fireworks firing off.  There are some close by but I can't see the sparkles through the trees.  I considered going downtown to see the fireworks but it's been nearly 100 degrees today and so humid that it was nearly unbearable so I'm staying home.


I took advantage of the hot weather and the breezes to hang sheets and a quilt outside so it smelled just wonderful when I made the bed.  I'm going to hang more laundry out to dry.  Things get softer in the dryer but they don't smell as good.  I think I can sacrifice a bit of softness for a lot of the fresh smell of sunshine on my clothes.



The lantana hanging outside the kitchen window is blooming away.  




 
It was a good thing that I kept an eye on the sky because late in the afternoon when I went out to take the last blanket off the line the sky was getting gray in the west and soon giant raindrops started beating down.  It rained like crazy for about half an hour with a little thunder off in the distance but I didn't see any lightning.  I'm glad I didn't forget my wash outside, I don't think rain is clean anymore.

 
This afternoon I finished knitting the toe of the Blues Anklet.  Now I have an odd number of Fixation anklets (Fixation is the name of the cotton and elastic yarn I use) so I'll have to cast on another one.  Oh darn.  But not one the same color, of course.


After supper I worked on the right front of the Montparnasse Eco cardi I'm hoping to have finished by the end of August.  I need to knit 5" even before starting the decreases for the neck and I figure I've got a bit over 3" so far.  Big yarn and big needles are my friends.

July 4--Annie Oakley.  Lucy stared at the black and white photograph she'd found in a box under a table in the thrift store.  She loved old pictures and postcards so she was always sitting in some dim and dusty corner sorting through someone else's castoffs.  This brittle photo was yellowed and crumbling at the edges but someone had written "Annie Oakley, Little Sure Shot, 1890" on the back.  The words brought sketchy memories of stories told by her Great-Grandpa Charlie about being with Kit Carson in the Wild West and a little woman shooting at targets and never missing while standing on the back of a galloping horse.  The woman in the photo was fine-boned and delicate with masses of dark curly hair.  She looked like she'd never handled a gun.  Lucy was intrigued to learn more about her and bought the photograph for $2.17 including tax.

I thought about grilling the chicken breast I had marinating all day but, of course, it was pouring down rain at the exact time I planned to start the charcoal.  I baked it instead.  It was good.  Not as good as if it had been grilled but I don't think the coals would have lit in the downpour.  I wonder if I'll be able to fall asleep with all of the explosions outside but I'm going to try.
--Barbara