"Liberty has never come from the government.

Liberty has always come from the subjects of it.

The history of liberty is a history of resistance. "

- Woodrow Wilson

Trivia: The 'Star Spangled Banner " became the national anthem in 1931.

With a bang, of course, Vee. I've been hearing fireworks up into the night for the past week.

Personally, my big thing of the day was that I finished weeding the perennial bed.

Cookout with my family......I have to make the traditional burgers and hot dogs for my hubby AND vegetarian burgers for son and DIL !

We eat outside around the picnic table and enjoy time together.

At dusk tonight there will be lots of fireworks ....which is a mystery because they are not legal in New York State. I imagine that there has been a steady traffic of cars with trunks full of explosives driving the short 10 miles from the Pennsylvania border !!

reader, I love the photo. Those roses area really an explosion of colour!

I agree about the roses. They are aptly named. I spent the 4th with family. After a picnic supper, my brother and sister-in-law and I slowly talked ourselves out of a planned outing to watch local fireworks. The humidity, the finding a good place to watch from, the possibility (or in my case, inevitabilty) of mosquito bites, the traffic on the way home. I mean, what's wrong with watching New York City's fireworks on TV in a comfortable air conditioned living room? Sounds like we're getting old!

<Sounds like we're getting old! >

Oh, my gosh, that's exactly what I thought last night when I decided not to go to see the fireworks!

No humidity or heat here (it was 66 degrees and cloudless), but it is practically impossible to find a parking spot in the places to see the fireworks... and then the hassle to get back home. I could have parked 15 blocks away and walk, but at the thought of that, well, that's when I felt old...

We saw our fireworks on July 3rd up in New Hampshire. NH, as far as I can tell, has no restrictions regarding what types of fireworks people can buy and set off, so we enjoyed almost a full hour watching two households/neighborhood groups produce an absolutely professional-grade fireworks show. They shot everything up and out over the lake, and we had the best seats in the house -- on a boat just beyond firing range :) It was amazing.

It was my son's first day back in the states after a semester in China. Hot dogs on the grill, tomato salad, white chocolate mousse with raspberries and blueberries, then the local fireworks show. Friends went into Boston to hear the Declaration of Independence read at the Old State House and go to the Esplanade for the Pops concert, but we were feeling more like homebodies.

I did see some pretty fireworks late last night from my front porch. Someone was setting them off in a yard beyond the treetops in my neighborhood, so I got a surprise viewing when I went to fasten the front door.