Happy Birthday, America

Some of the highlights of the day:

The local parade, which included the usual things as well as larger than life paper mache sharks,

drumming bananas,

silly handouts,

true, yet amusing, statements,

sparklers with the family,

watermelon, and

forgetting my tripod for the fireworks, and missing the whole show while talking to a friend I haven't seen in a couple of years.

I am so grateful to have the opportunity to live all over this great country and to enjoy the many freedoms provided. I appreciate more and more the freedom of speech we have, that we can speak out when we disagree, and that we have a culture that encourages that. I am so glad that I've have the chance to live elsewhere and to see the contrasts in all sorts of things, that help me see the positive and the not so positive in both.