As my kids’ lives became ever busier with work and college, they were glad to settle with old family traditions for Independence Day.
Meanwhile I kept busy with lots of gardening, which included finding patriotic garden decorations to add to my growing collection of Americana.
Funny how the neighbor contributed to the old-fashioned patriotic theme with his car!
Gladiolas are one of my favorite summer flowers, easily growing from bulbs that rapidly multiply and come back from year to year.
This year I finally fulfilled a life-long dream to incorporate bunting on the house, even though I was quite challenged in finding easy places to hang the bunting.
Next year a few extra buntings should easily complete each garage doors in the front, and across the deck in the back.
For this year its a good start!
For dinner we grilled fajitas…
For dessert we enjoyed hand-cranked chocolate almond ice cream.
Of all the homemade ice cream recipes we’ve tried, this is our favorite, which is much smoother than the tinny Prohibition Era boozy recipe.
That evening we enjoyed our favorite Independence Day movie, Yankee Doodle Dandy with James Cagney, and fireworks!
We wouldn’t change a thing, except for more Americana decor!
