The long, wonderful holiday weekend has come to an end. I hope yours was as fulfilling as ours, with reminders at every turn of why America is such a wonderful country to call home.

I think we covered all the basics - fireworks, small town parade, (turkey) burgers on the grill and corn on the cob, a day at the beach, more fireworks, and some time at the pool. We met lots of new friends and met up with old friends. Got sunburned (a little extra red to go with the Fourth of July clothing color scheme). Got caught in the rain and even, once in a while, avoided getting caught in the rain. Enjoyed family time.

Toward the end of the weekend the Boy Scouts in the family returned from a rainy, hot week of summer camp, having earned lots of new merit badges and gained invaluable new skills. The best, for me, was hearing the pride in their voices when telling me of their accomplishments - they worked hard and their rewards were hard earned.

A pretty great couple of days.

And now, back to the sewing machine. I'm debating adding a challenging new textile project to my plate, which I'll be sharing about in the next few days.