Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

Happy Fourth of July to everyone!

I woke up early and watched our hummingbirds for about an hour. Our herd has multiplied to eight, often all at one time! They are now drinking over four cups of nectar a day! It makes me wonder who is pollinating all the flowers?

And Mimi, or anyone who is reading this, could you please send me some hints on photographing these little beauties. Just FYI, I have a Panasonic Lumix FZ30 with a 12X optical zoom, and I've tried everything to get sharp pictures (including hundreds of pictures in burst mode) but none come out to my satisfaction. Any assistance is appreciated.

The weather has been lovely, warm in the mid day but cool in the mornings and evenings, often accompanied by a nice breeze.

The campground here at Manzano Mountains is surprisingly empty, we expected a full park for the holiday, but have decided that the quiet is a special gift just for us on this holiday.

I've spent the morning putting together a playlist for the Fourth of July and am now loading it into the iPod so we can have some appropriate tunes for the day.

It's been our tradition that if we don't watch fireworks on the Fourth of July we try to watch either 1776 or Yankee Doodle Dandy, so that's probably what we'll be doing this evening.

If you haven't seen these films, I highly recommend both. Yankee Doodle Dandy is a wonderful mix of Hollywood hokum, infectious music and the unending charm of James Cagney at his singing and dancing best (he was Oscared for Best Actor for this role). Directed by the amazing Michael Curtiz in the same year he made Casablanca, it also features a fresh and lovely Joan Leslie (only 17 at the time!), Walter Huston (father of John and Grandfather of Angelica and Danny) as wells as James Cagney's real life sister Jeanne.

It's a delight all the way around.

1776 is a unique film, a musical which chronicles the events leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Written by Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards, (a history teacher with a flair for bringing the past to life) this will forever change your view of the founding fathers. It stars a young William Daniels, all fiery as John Adams, Howard Da Silva,(I guarantee you'll never think of Ben Franklin in the same way after seeing this performance) Ken Howard, as a strong and virile Thomas Jefferson and the amazing Blythe Danner as a bright and fetching Martha Jefferson.

While this is an often overlooked film, it's a true gem. The music is great and the story really does bring history to life. Highly Recommended!

So these are our plans for the day, relaxing with friends and contemplating the wonders of this beautiful country and the events and people who have brought us to this place in life.

We are truly thankful to live in this lovely (though often troubled) country and hope all of you will have a wonderful and happy Fourth of July.

Life is Good.