It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Sand in the City Sculpture

Working on another sculpture

I can’t find any better description than that. Days like today make me think of the song from good ‘ole Mr. Rodgers. The last several days actually have been pretty incredible. After weeks of rain the sun has come out, the humidity has been reasonable and there has been a nice breeze. My walks have stretched out to several miles as all I really want to do is stay outside.

John is recovering from his hernia surgery and doing very well. Surgeon said it was easy peasy and by his two week check (next Tuesday) he should be back to normal. Lifting really was his only restriction once the anesthesia wore off. He only took his pain meds the first 24 hours; what a guy!

Gardens at Brucemore

Brucemore

The Freedom Festival has begun here in Cedar Rapids, it’s actually almost 2 weeks long with lots of different events. We are trying to do several of them. One of the first ones was Sand in the City, a sand sculpture event. It’s amazing what people make out of sand as you can see in the photos. The weather was not great for this so there were not too many entries but we did get to watch them working on several. 

Janie & Evie

Emily and Evie

Emily, Mitch and Evie

Monday night of this week we went to the Balloon Glow. This event was suppose to be the week before on Tuesday but we had some wicked storms that day and even a tornado warning so it was postponed until July 1st. That worked for us since John’s surgery was on the original date and we would not have been able to go. Mitch, Emily and Evie joined us. This event is on the lawn of Brucemore, which is a historic mansion here in town. It has beautiful gardens and grounds, making it an ideal spot for these types of events. This event has music and food vendors but you are allowed to bring in your own food and drinks. So I put the chairs and cooler on a little cart we have and John got to watch me haul it all in and back. I definitely got a work out in since the truck was close to a mile away from the grounds. It was so worth it. The band was a local country group called Lonesome Road, and were quite good. There were 5-6 balloons  that were inflated and then when it got dark they lit them up. What a great way to spend a lovely summers night.

Lonesome Road

Tomorrow on the 4th we plan on heading downtown for more Freedom Fest music and the fireworks. I think Trudy and Mike will join us. Its been a few years since we have watched the downtown fireworks display so it should be fun.  I wish you all a wonderful 4th of July and to all those who have given of their time and talents to serve our country we give you a huge thank you. I truly believe it is the people who make this nation such a great place to live.

Happy Trails....................