summer morning and musing about the 4th of July

Yesterday morning was so lovely that even though I gathered up my grocery bags, my list, and my intentions to shop...I never made it. I went for a walk on the Gustavus campus instead, then went up by the hospital to look at the wild flowers, and then to Whiskey River for breakfast and bird viewing.

The flower beds at Gustavus are lovely. The cannas there are blooming already and are such vibrant colors. They look like tropical birds.

By following a couple of Facebook photo sharing sites, I have gotten interested in editing. The picture below is the original, probably not set up very well, but the next two are edited versions.

This is my view of the valley as I walked near the hospital. The minute I opened the car door, I could smell the prairie grass, the warm sun, and that earthy smell you get in the heat of summer.

I was awake too early this morning. As we get older, different things disturb our sleep. For Regis, it is light. If I turn on my iPad to read, he wakes up. For me, it's sound. About 3 am, one of his alarms went off...and he has many alarms, some of too high a pitch for him to even hear. If a thing has an alarm on it, he sets it.

I harvested my lettuce crop yesterday. It had a fine crop of tiny birch trees in among the lettuce so it all had to go. Good thing the lettuce grew faster and taller than the trees so I was able to cut the lettuce right at the tree tops. Don't want to be eating birch trees.

Here are some more experiments with photo editing.

Warhol effect

Ella and I are going to drive a golf cart in the 4th of July parade and sell water for the Chamber of Commerce. I think it will be a hoot. We'll get to see the parade but won't have to sit in the hot sun for hours. She is trying to get me to let her drive the cart. I said she needed a license and she wondered if her school ID would work. Nope. I don't think so.

I have some Independence day apparel coming in the mail tomorrow. A flag tunic, a long scarf, a hat, and sunglasses. Of course, I do. Ella will be similarly costumed. We love holidays.

I don't know what it is about parades that I find appealing. I usually hate noise and crowds, but I can't resist a parade. There are elements I don't like...the vans blasting radio music and the fertilizer trucks, but the whole, I love. The bands, the queens, the Shriner cars, the politicians although they have been banned from our parade which I think is disgusting since Independence Day is to honor our independence of which they are a part. Our theory is that the Chamber is a conservative organization, they banned politicians because the DFL is strong in our county and they make a great parade showing. I wish I had a photo of the lone grump guy driving a pick-up for the GOP. So sad.

Some other favorite photos from parades past.

I always get weepy right at this point.

This is a poignant moment in the parade.

Grace Engesser was the Grand Marshall in 2006.

We can have this apparently, but not politicians. Hmmm....

I love this!

The shirtless guy in the background is in almost every picture. Dude, put on a shirt!

Love bagpipes and men in kilts!

The drum line...a proper finish!