HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Happy 4th of July to all our family and friends from the north east. We are having some unusually warm, dry weather here for the next few days - always nice for a long holiday weekend. I'm sure the campers are loving it. It is suppose to be in the high 80's low 90's this weekend - no rain and low humidity - a blessing in itself. By mid week, the prediction is for high 90's and high humidity - not looking forward to that.
Michelle, Robert and I were invited to a 4th of July party Saturday evening at friends of Michelle's. Melissa, Kevin and their son Alex live in a stunning home in the rolling farmland on the outskirts of Fort Edward, NY. Kevin and Melissa built their home on 20 acres of land surrounded by farms years ago and have just purchased an additional 20 acres adjacent to their existing property. They held a barbecue for friends and family last evening on their sprawling back lawn. Kevin had recently designed and built an outdoor kitchen off their back patio, along with a fire pit and place for their jacuzzi. It is an amazing setting that looks off across miles of farm land. The outdoor kitchen was a hub of activity - between cooking and drinks being made at the bar area. They had set up a huge buffet on the patio under the deck with enough food to feed an army. There was barbecue chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, brats, various kinds of meat balls, all types of salads plus a separate table with a chocolate fountain surrounded by all types of fresh fruit and, of course, desert. They had tables set up under a huge tent where people could eat in the shade and visit out of the sun. Kevin owns a dry wall company and Melissa owns "Top Dog" a dog training/agility, boarding and day care business. She also raises Australian Shepherd show dogs. They built their home in this rural area so that Melissa could have facilities for breeding, boarding, and doing day care. She has kennels adjacent to the side of the house where she can board up to 40 dogs at a time. Named "Shamrock Farms, it is quite the complex. They also have a stable with three horses. We had quite an enjoyable time, but had to leave before the fireworks to tend to the dogs at Michelle's. We have 4 boarding dogs, a rescue dog and Michelle's two dogs that needed to be let out for the evening before the fireworks started at dusk.
This morning, Michelle and I headed out to pick strawberries at one of the local farms. "Uncle Bob", as Michelle calls him, elected to stay home. The strawberry picking was not very successful. Because of the early hot weather, the strawberries had "gone by", but the farmer had put out a sign that berries were free, if any were left. We managed to find about a quart of small, sweet ones. On the way back home, we passed a blueberry patch and stopped and picked a total of 10 pounds of fresh, juicy, sweet blueberries. They were $2.50/pound - much cheaper than buying at the grocery store. I feel a blueberry pie coming on!! Michelle makes the best pies. From there we stopped at Joanne and Davids, friends of Michelle's, and raided their garden of yellow squash, zucchini, onions, basil and broccoli. Not a bad "grocery shopping" morning. I've missed being able to pick fresh fruit and vegetables.