Happy Fourth

I am, largely, in favor of independence. It's much better than the alternative, certainly. We celebrated our country's ancient freedoms this year with meat, which is traditional, and with sparklers, which had to stand in for more weighty artillery. Also strawberry shortcake.

Earlier we visited Concord's Picnic in the Park and took part in some athletic contests—specifically, a three-legged race (disastrous), a sack race (I came in second), and a wheel-barrow race (finally, sweet victory!).

The whole thing was much fun, and very old school. The founding fathers would be proud; or at least, our 19th century imagining of them would be.