Four in the north on the Fourth

Just a note to say hello. We didn't do much on the Fourth. We grilled out. But we've had gloomy, rainy weather for most weekends for the last month it seems.

I watched this BBC video of President Bush being heckled during his Fourth of July speech and citizenship swearing-in. It seems to me as if--between election rancor, consumer woes, gas prices, poor weather and other troubles--this holiday was a bit off. My impression of a general malaise was amplified when I worked for a few hours on Saturday.

I was in a down mood when I got home Saturday evening. But I was greeted by Meggie bounding down the stairs. She said, "Hello, my lady, would you like to eat at the Daddy Restaurant? I am your helpful waist-ress."

"Why, yes. Thank you very much," I said to my waistress. My waistress informed me that the menu featured steak, hot dogs and salmon. I ordered steak and rice.

"Very well, my lady," said the waistress who trotted into the kitchen. After I finished my tasty meal, the cook instructed the waistress to offer me dessert, which I overheard to be ice cream and chocolate sauce. But by the time the waistress had taken my dessert order, the cook had left to put the youngest diner, who had covered herself in food, into a bath (it's a full-service restaurant, the Daddy Restaurant). So my waistress expertly guided me to a dessert she could dispense without the cook's help. "Would you maybe like a pop instead?" she offered, "We have every flavor. Strawberry is a really yummy one."

I felt much more festive after my excellent strawberry Otter Pop, which my waistress had opened herself, using blunt kindergarten scissors, and served to me with great decorum: "Here is your yummy pop, my lady."

Sometimes a memorable meal at a great restaurant makes a holiday.

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Pictures.

What you have to do if you don't have a sidewalk for your chalk.

How Alan spent a large part of the Fourth of July. Laurel threw a potted plant down the landing.

Still a crib lounger, when not pushing over breakable, dirt-filled objects.