Like nearly every American of good conscience, I have mixed feelings this Fourth of July. The promise of America is faltering under the most corrupt and despicable administration in our 250 year history. The upcoming midterm elections will hopefully spark some sort of a course correction.
In the meantime, there are children and grandchildren; national parks and beaches; fresh cherries and watermelon to be thankful for.
I substituted Licor 43 (vanilla liqueur from Spain) for Kirsch (cherry brandy) in the recipe. And no I didn’t “scrape a vanilla bean” into the cherries—that step was a bit much!
One thing that makes me feel patriotic is beautiful, sweeping American vistas. I have been known to break out singing “America, the Beautiful” in public. I think it should be our national anthem. The words are better than the “Star Spangled Banner.” And most people can sing it. It’s not as hard.
O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountains majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!
I’m also a big fan of “This Land is your Land.” I can – and will – join in singing harmony whenever I hear it.
This land is your land, and this land is my land From California to the New York island, From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters; This land was made for you and me.
Here’s the Woody Guthrie original version from 1940.
Other countries have spectacular scenery too, but ours is so vast and varied—from sea to shining sea.
🎵 🇺🇸 🎶
Maui, Hawaii, 1993San Francisco Bay, California, 2012Palm Springs, California, 2010The incredibly blue Lake Tahoe, California, 2012Moonrise, Lake Tahoe, California, 2012Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, 2009Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, 2009The hallowed ground of Gettysburg National Park, Pennsylvania, 2017Taughannock Falls State Park, Trumansburg, New York, 2022Lake Cayuga, Ithaca, New York, 2021Saratoga Springs, New York, 2019The Green Mountains, Stowe, Vermont, 2014The White Mountains, Bartlett, New Hampshire, 2013The rocky coast of Maine, Kennebunkport, 2022Nantucket, Massachusetts, 2007Walden Pond, Concord, Massachusetts, 2023The beach border of Westport, Massachusetts and Little Compton, Rhode Island, 2006Newport Harbor, Rhode Island, 2023. This is the 1970 America’s Cup contender Heritage.Watch Hill, Westerly, Rhode Island, 2021The Outer Banks, North Carolina, 2003Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 2009Delray Beach Florida, 2021Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, 2014The aquamarine Gulf of Mexico in Longboat Key, Florida, 2022
LAST ONE: the iconic Grand Canyon, Arizona, 2023. Pictures don’t really do it justice. There’s a quiet awe to the place that perhaps this video captures just a tiny bit.
If you made it to the end of this post, THANK YOU for looking at all my pics. I loved taking them.
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