Friday, July 04, 2008

Happy Independence Day!

I'm not bitter - I'm wishing all of my American friends a happy Independence Day! It's not my favourite American holiday (oh, Thanksgiving - be still my heart!), but I love any reason that gives me a paid three day weekend in July.

Here is a mosaic of four things I love about my adopted country:

My creation

1. January 30, 2006, 2. The Majestic Space..............., 3. Wall of Yarn, 4. 1793 hdr

1. Barbeque. Holy Cow - who knew it wasn't just Kraft sauce you slathered on a burger just before you eat it?! Cornbread is pretty good, too - I don't think I ever had that before moving to the US.

2. The Smithsonian Museum. And one of these days I will even be able to get to it. Courtesy of my FIL, I have a subscription to the Smithsonian magazine and I drool over it every month. The sheer fact that only something like 5% of the museum's collection is ever on display and it is free to all boggles my mind.

3. Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Yes, I know other such events exist around the country (and in Canada, too) - but I love this one. It has become an event I attend every year with my friends and we have so much fun. (And that is one of Cristi's photos, by chance!)

4. Dewey Beach. We try to get down here a few times a year in the off-season and it is so relaxing and fun. Andrew and I have other reasons for liking it here as well ;)

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My garden is coming along nicely - here are some pics of my veggies.

Early Girl tomatoes. (The tomatoes you can see behind them are yellow pear tomatoes.)



Lemon squash:



Japanese eggplant:



I have already started to compile a list of how I want to improve upon my garden next year. I want to build raised beds, elongate the area I have already dug up, and incorporate hanging baskets for cherry tomatoes. I also want to plant eight ball zucchini and golden beets next year.

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I haven't shown much of my knitting lately - I haven't been doing too much of it due to the heat. I did manage to finish this baby hat I started sometime last year. The yarn is some superwash merino I had dyed with my crockpot and is very soft. The pattern is from a very old Patons pamphlet. The button was leftover from a cardigan I knit for Willow last year.



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Oh - one last thing. Andrew asked me to buy him some beer for the holiday since he was working late last night. Look what I bought:



Subversive, yes. Bitter, no.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

you did have cornbread when you were little - your grandfather on my side used to make it, but he called it johnny cake. When he made it he used a 9X13 pan and there wasn't enough for everybody to get their fill! You loved it spread with a syrup/butter mixture.
Love & Hugs

Anonymous said...

oops I hit enter before I signed my name!

Unknown said...

I love BBQ too. So good!!!

The beer choice cracked me up. Especially since growing up in Michigan Canadian beer was legendary. Supposedly, it had more alcohol.

Bezzie said...

The knitting pattern of the day calendar for today has a pattern by a Canadian. I had to laugh.

Ha ha, you sound like me--I've already got grand plans for next year.

turtlegirl76 said...

Hehehehe but hey, Canadians do beer better, so I'll give you that one. =)

(I didn't even recognize the pic until you mentioned it was one I took! That was from last year!)

Tez Miller said...

Ooh, free T-shirt! Do they let you pick your size, or do you have to take whatever's given? What's given tends to be Large, unfortunately - and as a Small, I feel discriminated against ;-)

Have a lovely day! :-)

Anonymous said...

Totally subversive!
We call cornbread Johnny Cake, too, and serve it with maple syrup for a dessert. Delicious!

Lee said...

In the US, the beer is always better on the other side of the border. In Texas, we always go for the Mexican beers since the big anti-beer conglomerates like A-Bush and G. Heilman bought the little breweries. Sigh.

I am also jealous of your tomatoes. Ours has lots of flowers and a few worms—just no fruit.

kemtee said...

Molson Canadian. My brew of choice but the distributors around here try to tell you it's "seasonal." Umm… then I guess in NY it was ALWAYS Molson season. (Though I prefer the Molson Export Ale when I can get it…)