May the 4th (of July) be with you

Week one in California.

As of yet, there are no bars around the Joshua tree, and you can’t create your own rocky road.

Yesterday, we went to Joshua Tree National forest.   Apparently, a forest doesn’t need real trees.

We went to the cafe next to the visitor’s center — where I remembered buying the best chocolate brownies EVER just a few years ago.  Their stove burned up and all they had was one chocolate muffin.  I suppose it had once been fresh — about a week ago.  Anyone need a brick?

Today, we took a walk along a stretch of land that was supposed to be a water-hogging golf course but the owner went bankrupt (if the cost of the land made him go bankrupt, what did he think was going to happen after he received his first water bill?).

Tomorrow we go up to Big Bear.  It’s 70F in the day and 48F at night — in July.  A lot of people in this area have 2 houses, and my sister’s friend has one in Palm Desert as well as in Big Bear.  It’s about a two hour drive up a mountain so big it can be seen from my sister’s house.

Big Bear behind bars

There’s going to be a fireworks display and I’m electing to stay at her friends house with the dogs while they go to see the show.  The dogs aren’t a fan of the noise and I’m not so keen on the migraines the light show might produce.  It has about the same effect on my psyche as watching China dump plastic garbage into the Pacific ocean.

I love my country.  I understand that fireworks were a part of the celebration of our nation’s birth from the start.   But the fact that half of the country celebrates the constitution, and the other half wants to destroy it, leaves in question who is celebrating what exactly?

If you live in the United States of America, remember that we are celebrating the birth of a nation:  

I pledge allegiance to the flag

and to the REPUBLIC for which it stands.

It’s not about the barbeque.

If you’re from England.  We won and now you have the blood of two American actresses circulating in the veins of royalty.  That must be quite taxing for the queen.  

This afternoon, I’ll be doing work remotely from my computer — after it has the chance to cool down.  It’s old, tired, and doesn’t get along well with electricity.

So….as I contemplate which coat to take in the mountain with me — in July — when the present temperature outside my sister’s home is 110F, I’m remembering that the United States of America is a Constitutional REPUBLIC — not a democracy.

And if you live in the USA, have a meaningful 4th of July.

© Joelle (Keep your hands off my Bill of Rights) LeGendre.