Happy Fourth of July!

Hi, Kit Morgan here, and Happy Fourth of July to One and All! I hope you're celebrating safely, wherever you are, and enjoying time with friends and family. I was thinking of doing a history post about the holiday, or maybe something about fireworks. Then I decided it would be fun to share the typical way my family and I sometimes spend the Fourth of July Holiday.

We're not always together in one spot every year at this time. This year I'm the one that's missing. I'm in Northern California caregiving for someone again, so won't be in Oregon with family. My big brother isn't there either this year. A retired fireman and professional outdoorsman, he spends six weeks every summer now in Alaska as a fishing guide. 

Often everyone comes to my place, which is also the cabin in the woods we all grew up in. I live in a canyon with a mile long driveway and there's a creek running through it. We've got twenty acres and a sweet swimming hole that attracts a lot of family and friends all summer long. One year we have quite a few folks there between friends and family and it was loads of fun. I also couldn't believe some of the desserts that were brought. Yum!

Food, family, fun, and of course fireworks! With hotter summers, these have become more regulated, but that's okay. After going through what was called the Riverside Fire back in 2020 and almost losing the canyon to the fire, we don't mind extra restrictions. We often drive into our little home town seven miles away, and would bring a blanket and lay on it, the fireworks going off right above us. For a little town, it has one of the best fireworks displays around. 

There's always a sense of good old fashioned nostalgia around some holidays and the Fourth of July is one of them. It's easy to picture people back in the late 1800's and early 1900's celebrating our country's independence with all the same ingredients of food, family, fun, and fireworks, and having a grand time. Firework displays have gotten much grander over the years, but they're still fun and a big part of the holiday. So I hope you've got something special planned for the day, even if it's just sipping a glass of lemonade on your porch and reading a good historical romance! Happy Fourth of July to you!

Kit