Independence

The above re-enactment from Colonial Williamsburg, where Patrick Henry, in the House of Burgesses, cried: 
"Give me Liberty, or give me Death!"

(Psst: Fourth of July in the garden, added below fife & drum of 3. July.)

A brief kindred-spirit wave across oceans and continents!  Brief wave, as I'm deep into writing organic farm stories for the upcoming book... 

Tomorrow comes 4th of July in a strange year: a cognitive dissonance celebration of Independence from 18th century throne-tyranny, with rah-rah teleprompter remarks from the current throne on the Potomac. Potemkin Village, Inc. 

While worldwide, 

...and the rockets red glare,
the bombs bursting in air...

Am haunted by the fife & drum Fourth of July rendition in the film, "The Great Escape", set in a Nazi prisoner of war camp. There American and RAF officers plot inconvenience to their captors, while burrowing, they hope, to freedom.

I read The Ugly American growing up, not an easy read. Now ugliness turns America into a Brown Shirt concentration of Nutsi powah.

Meanwhile,  among saner environs, a friend sent me a quiet gift today. He mentioned that on a camping trip, he and his wife tried to invite a young woman to their campfire supper. Her car was packed to the gills; she looked distraught.

She declined. Turning her back, she could not get a fire started; struggled to open a tin of stew manually, without an electric can opener! Finally gained entry and ate cold stew. 

We seem to have misplaced some skill sets!

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I thanked him for their awareness of an apparently displaced person, frightened and alone. His reply, brought a gush of tears to my eyes: 

'Every January, the first thing I write in my daily diary is "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers. For by this, some have entertained angels without knowing it." Heb 13:2'

Happy Independence Day to us all, however we find it. 

Fourth of July: Puttering in the garden before the sun rose over the mountains, with freedom to do so, got me to thinking about the general fear-meme since iconic towers imploded into their footprint.

Rigidity is one response to fear; bring on the control-freak clowns. On a small, irritating scale, neighborhoods in condo-land and suburbia impose sameness of grass and shrubbery, and punish vegetable and flower growers. Yes, we've lost our minds!

It's wilder where I live, with attendant surprises. Last night a bear tried to climb the bird feeder piñon by balancing one hind paw in my hanging basket begonia!

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I had forgotten to bring in the feeder last night, an oops on my part. This was a new inventive attempt by the bear, as I've made easy access awkward by lugging over large unsteady rock below the feeder, and hanging the feeder as high as this tall person can reach.

In the boonies, it's stressed that pet and bird food, human food are not left out overnight or bears become a nuisance or dangerous. Wildlife folks spend part of every summer relocating errant bears.

While murmuring apology to the lavish begonia and removing squashed bits, I had to laugh, at a little wild freedom on the Fourth of July. Bears were here first. May they be here when we're gone.

WAYFARING TRAVELER SERIES:
Blue Ridge Mountains, 
Book III: 

Wayfaring Traveler,

Earth-Whisperers

end of summer!!
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