Happy 5th of July

 Happy 5^th of July! I hope your day is full of fireworks and barbeques! We're partying hard because son, his wife, and their four kids are in town, and it’s always nonstop fun when they’re around. 

Although, the day before they came (July 1^st) wasn’t fun. It had a great start. We took our boat to a lake about an hour from our house. We had the lake pretty much to ourselves (being a Thursday and all). The weather was perfect, the water warm and smooth. We had Miranda and Bethany and her kids with us. The problems started when we were on our way home and our car died in the gas station parking lot. Before it died, the dashboard lights flickered and the radio stopped playing and the windows wouldn’t roll up or down—these became important warning signs. Larry walked to a nearby auto part store and bought a new battery while we hung out in the adjacent convenience store. Once the battery was replaced, we hoped we were back in business. The road from Lake Elsinore to Rancho is called Ortega Canyon. It’s a twisty two-lane road with narrow bridges. If our car broke down in the canyon, we’d cause grid-locked traffic because once you start, there are no turn around points. As we drove, we watched our dashboard lights flicker on and off. I said, “maybe we can make it to the Los Flores church parking lot.” Our Suburban died in the intersection right in front of the Los Flores chapel. Now, we had to keep people from hitting our boat. So, there we are in our bathing suits directing traffic in a six-lane intersection, three miles from home. Some friends with a healthier, younger Suburban came to tow our boat. Good Samaritans stopped to help us push the Suburban to the side of the road. The fun didn’t stop there, because after we got the boat safely stowed back in our garage and had arranged for a tow truck to take the Suburban to our mechanic, we found it had been impounded and towed to Laguna Beach. Now, instead paying for 3 miles of towing, we had to pay to have it towed 15 miles. 

I think it’s time to replace the 15 year old Suburban. Larry still thinks he’s going to use it to tow the boat to Bass Lake next month. (Six hour drive through the California Central Valley.) This sounds life-threatening and I think I’ll ride with someone else. 

On a happier note, we went to the art festival yesterday and it was business as usual, which was glorious because it had been non-existent last summer. It had been open during the holidays, but it had been a sad and lonely experience because so few artists had participated. Thankfully, on Saturday  it was at full capacity with live bands playing, the glassblower blowing, and the potter throwing his ceramics. 

Last night we attended our town's annual firework show over the lake. The music, the lights, sharing beach blankets with some of the people I love most in the world, the sense of community--I got a little teary-eyed thinking of how much we all missed in 2020 and how wonderful it was to be surrounded by good people gathered together to celebrate our country, our freedom, and the American way of life.

Even though we're halfway through 2021, since the mask mandate has been lifted, I feel like we're really just starting. Good things are coming our way.

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