Happy Independence Day!

Hello, my friends, I hope that your 

weekend was a good one! 

Here we are in July already, and 

in the United States of America we are 

celebrating our patriotic holiday of 

Independence from foreign rule, 

and the birth of our great country, on July 4th, 1776. 

Of course, this day falls on a Tuesday, 

which is quite inconvenient for having a party, 

so most of us had our family celebrations

over the weekend. 

With Ramblin' Man recovering from surgery, 

we had a quiet celebration - just the two of us. 

(And the dogs :)

I wanted to make it special, so I gathered 

together some simple patriotic accessories, 

and set the table for two on the deck. 

Most things I had on hand, but I did 

find the flag printed cloth napkins and 

Starbucks coffee mugs recently. 

I saw the cute idea to use cupcake liners as 

drink cozies on Pinterest to keep out unwanted sippers :)

The napkins are actually kerchiefs! 

I wrapped a more traditional kerchief around 

a pot of geraniums and wrapped the umbrella pole

 with three colors of crepe paper. 

The umbrella is actually a large rain umbrella 

taped to a 6 ft. dowel with packing tape. 

I taped the dowel to the railing in 2 places to secure it. 

I've used this idea before, for bridal and baby showers.

The chair pads are actually doilies made 

with chenille yarn. 

They were Ramblin' Man's Mom's and 

were given to me, after she passed away 

last December, by my sweet Sis-in-law. 

She knew that I would cherish them :)

The apron was a gift from my daughter, Jennie. 

I had so much fun putting together our 

special table for our celebration for two! 

On the menu: 

Pineapple - Teriyaki chicken ka-bobs.....

Rice (with extra sauce) and spinach, pineapple, 

 and sunflower seed salad with balsamic vinaigrette. 

We had a wonderful conversation about how 

fortunate we were to live in this great country, 

despite the many challenges our country faces

at this time. 

 

We have faith that our forefather's designed a 

constitution that would withstand the tests of time, 

and that truth and justice is the American way. 

Our Declaration of Independence reminds us 

of why this country was founded. 

Signed by the founders of our country. 

Here, in part, is what our Declaration of Independence states:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,

that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights,

that among those are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness-

that to pursue these rights, governments are instituted among men,

deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,-that

whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends,

it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute

new government, laying its foundation on such principles and 

organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their 

safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should 

not be changed for light and transient causes, and accordingly all experience hath shown, 

that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and 

usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide

new guards for their future security. 

Wise men, indeed. 

Our celebration ended with some patriotic 

cupcakes and a nice, hot cup of coffee.

Starbucks, of course! 

Seattle is the official home-town 

of Starbucks.  

Carrot cake cupcakes with cream-cheese frosting. 

xoxo

Cheers! Here's to truth, justice and the American way! 

All too soon our celebration was over. 

Some days, life truly is a bowl full of cherries :)

I'll leave my patriotic pretties out for a couple of days

until after the actual 4th. 

I still have some cupcakes left! 

A dear blogger friend sent me this wonderful, 

hand-made card. 

I might add some pages to my 'Stories of Summer'! 

And as the hills beyond turn gold in the evening light, 

we count our many blessings on this anniversary 

of our country's independence, and pray 

that we can uphold the declarations of our 

founding fathers through these uncertain times. 

Thank you for joining me, dear friends, and thank you 

for your continued well-wishes for Ramblin' Man's recovery. 

He is doing very well, and is almost back to his old self -

or so he insists, as I say 'No, you cannot go out and mow the lawn, 

or clean the gutters, or chop any firewood for the winter, right now!'

It's hard to keep a good man down :) 

xoxo