A landscape does not get under your skin in one day. And then all of a sudden I had the revelation of how enchanting my pond was. I took up my palette. Since then I’ve hardly had any other subject.

~ Claude Monet

In the boat this morning, on the river, in the lovely sun and green ripples, I realized that we have lived on this river for twenty July 4ths. Frank drove the canoe, with the motor. And my daughter and her boyfriend, and I had someone special tucked into my lap under my sun hat wearing a life preserver. We have had so many lovely outings on this river in two decades. Awake since 5:00 a.m., out in the yard, so happy to be home. Watered the vegetable garden and picked some zucchini. Saw a bluebird cross the yard. We all had breakfast, and then it was my idea to go on the river. Sadly, we could not fit Charlie. We owe him a river outing now. Such peace and quiet and tropical lushness. Duck families, a few of them, with ducklings scrabbling after their mother in the mud of the river’s edge. Red wing blackbirds criss crossing the river. Turtles jumping from their logs into the water as we slowly passed. Pink roses, wild, in bloom. A shallowness; some drought. We need rain. Two great herons lifting off. Dragonflies of all sorts, tons of them. We used to call them sewing needles. A light wind against our faces, so pleasant, on our return. A lovely way to spend the holiday. Then I go off to Farm Pond for my fabulous, sunlit swim. Frank, in the afternoon, cut the grass and then came to apologize to me. He ran over the hose with the mower and then that ripped the faucets from the side of the house, and then he had to turn off the water on that side of the house, and now no outdoor shower until he could call a plumber. What?????? Oh, I was disappointed. But I let it go, trusting a plumber would come in the next day or so. Then, he said, just before dinner, “I’m going to Home Depot. I think I can fix this.” And off he went. And, yes, of course he fixed it, as he knew he didn’t want to go out of town with me not having my outdoor shower! So, we got our July 4th outdoor showers after all. This was very kind of him, as those of us at home are very much appreciating this summer pleasure with construction going on indoors. My daughter took the picture, at my request, of the lily on the river. My hands and phone unreachable. She let me pick out the exact one I wanted to take home with me from the river today.