July

I love July!  I find it to the be the most beautiful time of year in Iowa.  The greens are so varying and so intense.  The crops gently wave in the breezes, looking like lush, green velvet!  It is stunningly gorgeous to me!

The view from the front door

The corn

The little garden planted by son-in-law and daughter-in-law

Of course, I forgot to take my camera (but I got a couple on my phone) for Independence Day festivities, but we have had a fun week!  We started out Wednesday evening with son and daughter-in-law and a couple of friends joining us for some skeet shooting and grilling out.  The weather was beyond perfect, so we hauled a table into the front yard to enjoy our meal.  It will be so nice when we finally have our porch and our french doors!  They will be here by the end of summer, Lord willing! (Oh, and for my Rav friends, 7 adults, at least that many guns, lots of shot clay pigeons and not a single trip to the E.R).

Independence Day began with our annual parade.  We found a wonderfully shady spot and enjoyed the parade of veterans, followed by all the traditional floats, etc..  Again, the weather could not have been more perfect!!  After the parade, we grabbed some sandwiches and picnicked right there on the church lawn.  

After lunch, we headed back to our bestie's house and they got out the '57 Chevy and we went cruising!  There is nothing like being in the backseat of a classic car tooling down the highway with your hair blowing in the wind!  The green of July was, again, just enthralling me with it's beauty and I felt more relaxed than in a long time!  

 It's a beauty!

Getting to sit in the cool car!

The rest of the afternoon was spent resting and getting ready for our campfire at bestie's house.  

What a spectacular evening!  The weather was beyond perfect!  I still can't get over just how perfect it was!  There was lots of good fun.  A ton of good company. And, we could even see the fireworks from the front yard.  The neighbors also had a few going off so 18-month-old granddaughter got her first real taste of the pretty!  As she was watching she would say, "Oh, wow....", and "pwetty"!  It is so wonderful to see things through a little one's eyes.  It makes the wonder real again for grandma.

Learning to drive!  

Yesterday was spent working around the house, etc., and then the bestie's came out and we spent the evening target shooting. (Hmmm, about 250 rounds shot and not a single mishap.  Gosh, from what I read on Rav, the odds are way against that.  We must be superhuman!)  Anyway, snark aside, we had a good night and are all getting better at many different aspects.

I'm looking forward to a quiet day today, then off to Great-Great-Grandma's for the evening!