Boz, British Bulldog and expat, says “All is forgiven, Happy Fourth!”
The Fourth of July comes abruptly to Vashon Island. Anyone on the island with an open window and who’s not on life support cannot escape the approaching drone of the hydroplanes circumnavigating the island like furious wasps. It’s a Vashon tradition I love–if nothing else, but for the letters to the Editor that the 5 a.m. wake-up call elicits.
Then the Vashon Fourth of July settles in quietly around the island, taking in more backyard barbecues, croquet matches, bocce ball, horsehoe sets and fire-pit jam sessions than any other parcel on Puget Sound. Tables will be laden with apple pie, pesto, potato salad, kimchi, sushi and salsa (along with requisite gluten-free experiments) and the faces around the table will be a varied as the dishes served.
It’s a time for friends and family to slow down and embrace any vestige of summer that suits our fancy. It’s a day when we share the gift of laughter, knowing that today’s joy was secured by yesterday’s sacrifice. We may not speak boldly, but that does not mean the moment escapes our hearts. When the fireworks begin over Quartermaster Harbor, the night sky will ignite in celebration, as will our gratitude and thanks for the generations before us. Your hopes and dreams are alive today in us. Happy Fourth of July from Vashon Island.
This photo was taken on the Seattle – Bainbridge ferry in 2003, a year before I moved to Vashon Island. Maggie and I never missed a Fourth of July on Bainbrdige Island, another local celebration well worth attending.
The house looks stunning with the bunting, and that Boz really does know how to strike a regal pose. Great picture of you and Maggie. Enjoy your Fourth !
Love the hat! I have spent a Bainbridge 4th but not since 1976. I think we might have to steal away to a little cabin on Vashon one of these days.
Enjoy the day!
Love that last paragraph. Well put.
You were born to were that Hat
Fourth of July on Vashon Island looks lovely. That is such a sweet picture of the front of your house with the bunting and the bulldog.
The hat is wonderful and so is this post. I used the adjective perspicacious to describe you in my latest post. It fits you as well as the hat.
Oh Boz, you look so proud, sitting on that beautiful rug. And I agree with Patrice — well put.
Do you still have that hat? I bet you could make a pretty penny selling it on Ebay– if you’re willing to part with it.
renae , yep that boater is a favorite of mine–close to 100 years old and oddly, the right size for a big melon-head like me.
[…] The Pacific Ocean has been pitching storms to the West Coast like a rookie on a roll. As a self professed non-whiner of Washington State weather, even I have had to bite my tongue and hold on to the belief that the sun will reappear on Puget Sound sometime before the Fourth of July. […]
[…] Credit: Tall Clover Farm […]