Yesterday, the 4th of July, America celebrated 250 years of independence!

We thought about maybe attending the celebrations in the town of Independence, which is about 45 minutes to the south from us, which would probably have been fun but in the end we decided against it .
They anticipated a lot more than the already 20.000 people they normally get, it being the 250th, and traffic and parking most likely was going to be a zoo, so we stayed here in Willamina for some good old, small-town-America, festivities.



James went golfing, as he does almost every year, and I walked into town for the little 'fair' or 'vendor row' as they called it.
The weather was gorgeous and there were a lot of people strolling around the colorful booths ... Tie-dye anyone?

                          

                        

Quite a lot of people were decked out in red-white and blue. I totally forgot to make an effort ... shame on me ..

                                            

The hamburger chef at Coyote Joe's showed off his patriotic colors ...


  
I wasn't interested in the car-show and we'd seen the lumber-jack activities last year so I went back home and spent a lazy day reading and relaxing. 

When James got home later that afternoon we threw a nice rib-eyed steak on the BBQ:

                                


He at least had golfed with a red-white and blue golf ball which by some miracle he managed not to loose! Must have been a great round!

                                      

Father cuts the meat ...

              

Together with some sweet potato fries and James' mom's overnight salad it was a meal fit for a king ... and a fine one as well for a 250 year celebration!

(Which reminds me : on Monday I'll celebrate my 4th year of being an American. 
  Not quite 250 years but I can hardly believe it's my fourth already!)

                        

At dusk we drove into town to attend the traditional fireworks the city of Willamina puts up every year. 
People come from all around to see them because for such a small town their fireworks are famously 'out of this world'!

They sure didn't disappoint this year and were even better than last. They probably put in some extra effort it being the 250th celebration and such ...

                                         

                                   

It's been another quiet week otherwise. We're having great weather, temperatures around 72F are about perfect for summer, at least in my eyes!
I wish/hope it would/could stay like this ....

I put some 'new' (leftovers from when we lived in Newberg) outside carpet down at our pond-side patio. 
It had started to look a little ragged:

         

It took some mickey-mousing to make it work, it's a true patchwork, but it looks much better than before ..

           

Walking into town on Saturday the berms were pink with wild Sweet Peas:

                   

And on one of my morning walks I found these bright red Bane-berries:

                                      

They are a shiny, cherry red and look appetizing, but are highly toxic and can be mistaken for edible berries.
The name “bane” actually means 'something that causes death or a deadly poison'.

I've not spotted too much wildlife lately. 
There's a few Quail showing up almost every evening at the feeders to pick up the spills ...

                                                

... and the chipmunks are getting friskier by the day ... one of these days they might come close enough to eat from my hand!

                               
                                                                                                 

We've also seen a Tanager for just a minute or so but unfortunately I didn't have any oranges out so he quickly disappeared. Too quick for a picture!
I actually have a special feeder for them with little bowls for grape-jelly and pins for oranges but they come by so seldom that it all dries up and shrivels so had to take it away.

I think that was about all. So far I don't hate this summer but I'm crossing my fingers and toes since I don't think it will stay this 'cool' for much longer ...