I got the email…but I also search your site each day. Love these photos and love your loyalty to our country…how lucky are we that your dad’s dream brought you to us! 🎉Love you…happy holiday weekend, Ms Beautiful Heart! ❤️🤍💙🇺🇸
Oh I just love you friend. I wish we could go to the parade together! I love these days and moments where everyone is just happy to be here. Thank you so much for your love. We are lucky to have you too. I miss my dad on these occasions because I know how much America meant to him. I think that’s the most important thing: The individual story. We miss them in the collective anger or frustration that can take over in media. It overshadows what we really need to know. So many stories that give us far more understanding and far less division. I hope you have a beautiful 4th! And thank you for this lovely comment Ms Lovely. oxox
Thank you, Deborah, my friend! I'm not in America but my heart is there. I wasn't born in Canada and I love the beauty of the country and my children and most of my grandchildren live in Canada, as I have for 34 years. But I am American and the child of immigrants from Poland and I am proud of my Polish heritage. I think we all love the courage that people before us have had and we all strive to maintain that courage throughout life. Every year we learn more and more about how important it is to participate in traditions in our countries, in the countries of others who are our friends. The world is a beautiful place. Let us all remember that!!
Thank you dear Jenni! I hope you write out more of your family stories because they are truly meant for those beautiful grandchildren to find someday! To hear how proud you are to be an American and where your parents came from and what they went through to get here. We do love the courage of our parents and our ancestors. We need these stories to carry on. The world truly is set up for us to see it's beauty by our Lord. Not to tear it down and complain all day. Thank you for this lovely comment. oxoxox
Love your photos, Deborah. Thank you so much for the kind mention, and for delivering this uplifting message. We need more positive voices in this world.
Dear Mary, thank you. It's days like these where I look around and see how beautiful we all are. Not divided, but celebrating in unison, the country that we must hang onto.
Hope you had a peaceful weekend spent loving on some family and your sweet kitty. oxox
Hi Deborah! I found you in the scroll!!! yay! What great photos! I've only ever been to one 2th of July celebration, 50 years ago, in Geneva, and I still remember the amazing party it was, the fireworks, the burgers, the marshmallows, and the American candy that we all wanted to have so badly. My memories of that day and night are so incredibly vivid. It was a wonderful celebration, and quite something compared to the bonfire and soup of Swiss National Day!
Dear Cesca! Yay! Thank you so much for your kind compliment. These celebrations really bring tears to my eyes. I love to see people from all walks of life happy and remembering how good we have it. Oh and that celebration in Geneva sounded wonderful! I didn't have time to make a cake - so we bought one because for some reason I love the chocolate cakes, with rich frosting, dotted in red, white and blue. It's like we are supposed to have that! and watermelon! lol. ox
These pictures are so beautiful! Awesome share of your parade. We had family over for a cookout and it was the best day with amazing blue sky and sunshine and some pool time.✨❤️
Dear Cori! thank you so much!! I LOVE our local parade and all the fanfare! The baseball champions who played hard all season long right across the street from our house! It's so fun! Your 4th sounded perfect! The sky, the sunshine and swimming! The quintessential downhome family 4th! oxox
That’s the perfect visit! We had a bunch of company for John’s brother’s memorial a few weeks ago and it was a beautiful thing for three days. This 4th, we sat with friends at the parade in the morning and then it was quiet (but we have dog/firework management every year anyways! yikes - they can’t stand the bangs). Our daughter who is the only adult kid left living nearby — her family all got sick :( - and they always come to the parade and we bbq after. All good. We had our fill recently and just want everyone to feel well. Summer is supposed to be fun when you’re a young family!
Thank you so much dear Mary! It's always so good to kick it off with that parade! Just sets it up for a great day :). God Bless you too and hope you had a good weekend. oxox
Oh, Deborah! Your images brought me to tears! All these beautiful people that love America so much that they went to all this trouble to proclaim their love for her in red, white and blue! I wish I could fly my stars and stripes today! My husband is finishing the basement and I know where my flag is but it is buried in a pile of boxes. My love of America is not buried. My family is a bit like yours. My grandmother's family moved from NYS to Ontario during the War of 1812, to support Great Brittan. We call them United Empire Loyalists. My uncle traced that family back to the Mayflower. My dad was born in MI. His parents were Canadian though. I always said my mom was a United Empire Loyalist who married a Yankee! Lol I love America! Did I say that already? I loved the photos of the bikers...likely many of them veterans. One of the most poignant memories I have of 2021, was when at a Freedom rally, we were marching and a police officer on a bike reached out to high five a young patriot girl who was marching by with a Canadian flag. I wish I had gotten it on camera. Sadly our flag was despised because the freedom fighters held it high. Mine was cut down and stolen from my front yard twice. I said to my husband...I know where all the Patriots live because they all have flags. Now, since the tariff wars, everyone who despised us for our flag waving and freedom rallies, is waving a flag and screaming--Buy Canadian! All because of their hate for you know who! Oh, so now you are flag wavers! I would be happy to be the 51st state in the USA! Our liberal and socialist government have destroyed our country with taxes, inflation and soft on crime and drug policies. But I believe things are changing in the US. Many are turning back to the land, their communities and family values. There is a swing that will not be suppressed and I'm hopeful that US will remain the great and sovereign nation that she has been! Happy Fourth of July, Friend! ❤️ 🇺🇸 ❤️
Dear Rosemary, wow! " United Empire Loyalists" - what a story about your grandmother's family moving from New York during the war of 1812 to Canada to support Britain! This reads like a movie! and so sad about the flags. Torn down, burned and now like a switch, waved again! Ridiculous. It's the "individual" that strives for better. That wants to provide and have a safe roof over their head and food to eat. The individual from all walks of life. They don't want to be caught up and "used" in self-profiting agendas and government games. The individual wants the basics out of life and governments should be there to make sure that happens. Sadly, this is not the way of many governments who more aspire to be principalities under the guise of "care." Thank you for your comment
Thankfulness for the blessings of God for all that he has given us in this world, while I live in Australia we respect the ideals of the 56 men who signed the Declaration and the struggles you have gone through as a nation to maintain those ideals.
Dear Martin, thank you so much for this lovely comment! It was a crazy plan! And nothing will ever be perfect - but a nation that follows it's Maker, no matter how unsteady will surely be guided. America continues to be a blessing to so many. People who are born here, that don't appreciate America -- I find that sad, yet normal. Do we really appreciate what is taken for granted? not really. God Bless. oxox
Thank you so much Mark! That means a lot! And it was another great parade! This time I just watched (but have to admit I really wanted to run on the street with a camera or two! lol). Hope you had a great weekend. ox
Thank you so much dear Trudi! It was another great parade! We sat with friends and neighbors. Sadly, this year the family that always comes with us were all sick with colds -- and our youngest lives in San Francisco -- plus the oldest just moved north too! But we had a great day :) ox
Love the pictures (you really are a talent) and love the text. In fact, it slightly echoes what I myself posted earlier. Seems to be a vibe in the ether... 🙂
Awe, thank you so much Stone. This made me smile so big. I'm trying to catchup here and will definitely go look for your piece. I wrote this a few years ago and added The Free Press piece/link - because I felt it valuable. I think it's a vibe for sure. From country, to family, friends, work, it will never be perfect. The true gift is to realize that our freedoms lie within, bestowed to us by our Creator. In America, we can do just about anything if we put our mind to it. Even with all the screaming going on around us. That's just a distraction by design :) Hope you had an awesome weekend. oxox
Thank you dear Julie! I hope you had a good one too. The parade was such a lot of fun. It's beautiful to see people from all walks loving and appreciating their life. oxox
My Dear Friend Kristin!! This means the world to me! Thank you. Hope you had a fun hometown celebration too! And that's really strange (but is it? ha ha!) - Substack is so out of control. It's all bots handling everything. I have to get past it and back to Who's really in charge. I just wrote a piece for Lighthouse (from an older piece I pulled and re-wrote) for this Tuesday. It's all out of our control. I wrote in the piece that a few big rental car companies have turned everything over to bots and now people are renting cars, never seeing a teeny scratch somewhere on the car, "before driving it." They get back and get slapped with a huge bill for damages. It's bots!! CRAZY stuff!! Love you. oxox
Oh that's great! Thank you so much Teddi! I get tears over how beautiful it all is. We kicked off the 4th, again, with the parade and it was awesome. Hope you had a great weekend too! ox
THANK YOU sooooooo mucho for looking! The parade was stellar again! So beautiful to see all walks of life just appreciating and loving their country and each other. Hope you had a great weekend. oxox
This touches me. I grew up in Vicksburg Mississippi. A city that surrendered after a grueling 40 some days. Citizens living in caves to escape the cannons and other large guns . The city finally surrendered on July 4. I give that information to say this. I never saw the 4th of July celebrations until 1976. The 200 year celebration. I started reading to see how and why we never did this before. While I understood the reason. I felt slightly cheated. Guess that is why I love fireworks to this day. Also as the family genealogist, I am so thankful that my Scottish and Portuguese ancestors were able to come here for the American dream. Every one who thinks the borders should be shut descends from a immigrant. Well my Choctaw ancestors didn't but all other sides did. One family from religious perscution, another family backed Mary queen of Scots. Another left Ireland during the potato famine. It goes on. Every one says illegal immigrants now but back in the day there was no immigration policies. You had money or you were sent here to work for your freedom in the new world. It is so messed up the government is in your private business. Any way. I loved it and I love your stories about you dad coming here. Sorry I wrote a book my sweet friend. oxoxox
I absolutely treasure your stories! This one about Vicksburg! WOW. You need to write more of them down! I am thankful we came too. I agree, it's all the government's fault. They screw everything up with all their bureaucratic crap and never get anything right it seems. Then the people pay. We came here with 2k British pounds and we were told my dad needed to have work within 6 months. It was pretty basic or we had to go back. I don't think it's that hard to make sense of something as simple as wanting to live here. What do we have to do to do that? Here's 3 basic steps. Come with money, work for your freedom. Then become a citizen. It holds us accountable for the idea of America. Simple. But everything basic has been let go of to chaos -- that the government created. And I love it when you comment. I love that you are the genealogist! I love that you are making up for all the fireworks you missed. And.... I love you. Hope your 4th was good. oxox
I got the email…but I also search your site each day. Love these photos and love your loyalty to our country…how lucky are we that your dad’s dream brought you to us! 🎉Love you…happy holiday weekend, Ms Beautiful Heart! ❤️🤍💙🇺🇸
Oh I just love you friend. I wish we could go to the parade together! I love these days and moments where everyone is just happy to be here. Thank you so much for your love. We are lucky to have you too. I miss my dad on these occasions because I know how much America meant to him. I think that’s the most important thing: The individual story. We miss them in the collective anger or frustration that can take over in media. It overshadows what we really need to know. So many stories that give us far more understanding and far less division. I hope you have a beautiful 4th! And thank you for this lovely comment Ms Lovely. oxox
Thank you, Deborah, my friend! I'm not in America but my heart is there. I wasn't born in Canada and I love the beauty of the country and my children and most of my grandchildren live in Canada, as I have for 34 years. But I am American and the child of immigrants from Poland and I am proud of my Polish heritage. I think we all love the courage that people before us have had and we all strive to maintain that courage throughout life. Every year we learn more and more about how important it is to participate in traditions in our countries, in the countries of others who are our friends. The world is a beautiful place. Let us all remember that!!
Thank you dear Jenni! I hope you write out more of your family stories because they are truly meant for those beautiful grandchildren to find someday! To hear how proud you are to be an American and where your parents came from and what they went through to get here. We do love the courage of our parents and our ancestors. We need these stories to carry on. The world truly is set up for us to see it's beauty by our Lord. Not to tear it down and complain all day. Thank you for this lovely comment. oxoxox
Love your photos, Deborah. Thank you so much for the kind mention, and for delivering this uplifting message. We need more positive voices in this world.
Dear Mary, thank you. It's days like these where I look around and see how beautiful we all are. Not divided, but celebrating in unison, the country that we must hang onto.
Hope you had a peaceful weekend spent loving on some family and your sweet kitty. oxox
Hi Deborah! I found you in the scroll!!! yay! What great photos! I've only ever been to one 2th of July celebration, 50 years ago, in Geneva, and I still remember the amazing party it was, the fireworks, the burgers, the marshmallows, and the American candy that we all wanted to have so badly. My memories of that day and night are so incredibly vivid. It was a wonderful celebration, and quite something compared to the bonfire and soup of Swiss National Day!
Dear Cesca! Yay! Thank you so much for your kind compliment. These celebrations really bring tears to my eyes. I love to see people from all walks of life happy and remembering how good we have it. Oh and that celebration in Geneva sounded wonderful! I didn't have time to make a cake - so we bought one because for some reason I love the chocolate cakes, with rich frosting, dotted in red, white and blue. It's like we are supposed to have that! and watermelon! lol. ox
These pictures are so beautiful! Awesome share of your parade. We had family over for a cookout and it was the best day with amazing blue sky and sunshine and some pool time.✨❤️
Dear Cori! thank you so much!! I LOVE our local parade and all the fanfare! The baseball champions who played hard all season long right across the street from our house! It's so fun! Your 4th sounded perfect! The sky, the sunshine and swimming! The quintessential downhome family 4th! oxox
It was amazing I’m quite well rested and visited
That’s the perfect visit! We had a bunch of company for John’s brother’s memorial a few weeks ago and it was a beautiful thing for three days. This 4th, we sat with friends at the parade in the morning and then it was quiet (but we have dog/firework management every year anyways! yikes - they can’t stand the bangs). Our daughter who is the only adult kid left living nearby — her family all got sick :( - and they always come to the parade and we bbq after. All good. We had our fill recently and just want everyone to feel well. Summer is supposed to be fun when you’re a young family!
They’ll bounce back they’re in my prayers ❤️✨🍒
Happy Independence day God bless you and yours 💐 Deborah 🙏🕊️ xxx
Thank you so much dear Mary! It's always so good to kick it off with that parade! Just sets it up for a great day :). God Bless you too and hope you had a good weekend. oxox
Oh, Deborah! Your images brought me to tears! All these beautiful people that love America so much that they went to all this trouble to proclaim their love for her in red, white and blue! I wish I could fly my stars and stripes today! My husband is finishing the basement and I know where my flag is but it is buried in a pile of boxes. My love of America is not buried. My family is a bit like yours. My grandmother's family moved from NYS to Ontario during the War of 1812, to support Great Brittan. We call them United Empire Loyalists. My uncle traced that family back to the Mayflower. My dad was born in MI. His parents were Canadian though. I always said my mom was a United Empire Loyalist who married a Yankee! Lol I love America! Did I say that already? I loved the photos of the bikers...likely many of them veterans. One of the most poignant memories I have of 2021, was when at a Freedom rally, we were marching and a police officer on a bike reached out to high five a young patriot girl who was marching by with a Canadian flag. I wish I had gotten it on camera. Sadly our flag was despised because the freedom fighters held it high. Mine was cut down and stolen from my front yard twice. I said to my husband...I know where all the Patriots live because they all have flags. Now, since the tariff wars, everyone who despised us for our flag waving and freedom rallies, is waving a flag and screaming--Buy Canadian! All because of their hate for you know who! Oh, so now you are flag wavers! I would be happy to be the 51st state in the USA! Our liberal and socialist government have destroyed our country with taxes, inflation and soft on crime and drug policies. But I believe things are changing in the US. Many are turning back to the land, their communities and family values. There is a swing that will not be suppressed and I'm hopeful that US will remain the great and sovereign nation that she has been! Happy Fourth of July, Friend! ❤️ 🇺🇸 ❤️
Dear Rosemary, wow! " United Empire Loyalists" - what a story about your grandmother's family moving from New York during the war of 1812 to Canada to support Britain! This reads like a movie! and so sad about the flags. Torn down, burned and now like a switch, waved again! Ridiculous. It's the "individual" that strives for better. That wants to provide and have a safe roof over their head and food to eat. The individual from all walks of life. They don't want to be caught up and "used" in self-profiting agendas and government games. The individual wants the basics out of life and governments should be there to make sure that happens. Sadly, this is not the way of many governments who more aspire to be principalities under the guise of "care." Thank you for your comment
I felt so moved that you loved the pictures. oxox
Thankfulness for the blessings of God for all that he has given us in this world, while I live in Australia we respect the ideals of the 56 men who signed the Declaration and the struggles you have gone through as a nation to maintain those ideals.
Dear Martin, thank you so much for this lovely comment! It was a crazy plan! And nothing will ever be perfect - but a nation that follows it's Maker, no matter how unsteady will surely be guided. America continues to be a blessing to so many. People who are born here, that don't appreciate America -- I find that sad, yet normal. Do we really appreciate what is taken for granted? not really. God Bless. oxox
Great photos, Deb! Happy 4th of July
Thank you so much Mark! That means a lot! And it was another great parade! This time I just watched (but have to admit I really wanted to run on the street with a camera or two! lol). Hope you had a great weekend. ox
They’re great photos, Debs! Happy 4th July to you and your family. I hope you have a wonderful time together. ❤️
Thank you so much dear Trudi! It was another great parade! We sat with friends and neighbors. Sadly, this year the family that always comes with us were all sick with colds -- and our youngest lives in San Francisco -- plus the oldest just moved north too! But we had a great day :) ox
Glad you still enjoyed it! 🤗
Love the pictures (you really are a talent) and love the text. In fact, it slightly echoes what I myself posted earlier. Seems to be a vibe in the ether... 🙂
Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸
Awe, thank you so much Stone. This made me smile so big. I'm trying to catchup here and will definitely go look for your piece. I wrote this a few years ago and added The Free Press piece/link - because I felt it valuable. I think it's a vibe for sure. From country, to family, friends, work, it will never be perfect. The true gift is to realize that our freedoms lie within, bestowed to us by our Creator. In America, we can do just about anything if we put our mind to it. Even with all the screaming going on around us. That's just a distraction by design :) Hope you had an awesome weekend. oxox
Happy Independence Day to you and yours. Keep embodying the spirit of its
Thank you dear Julie! I hope you had a good one too. The parade was such a lot of fun. It's beautiful to see people from all walks loving and appreciating their life. oxox
Stunning photos Deb!! Lovely tribute to your adoptive home too. oxox
FYI I haven't received any email notifications for the pieces you've tagged me in.
My Dear Friend Kristin!! This means the world to me! Thank you. Hope you had a fun hometown celebration too! And that's really strange (but is it? ha ha!) - Substack is so out of control. It's all bots handling everything. I have to get past it and back to Who's really in charge. I just wrote a piece for Lighthouse (from an older piece I pulled and re-wrote) for this Tuesday. It's all out of our control. I wrote in the piece that a few big rental car companies have turned everything over to bots and now people are renting cars, never seeing a teeny scratch somewhere on the car, "before driving it." They get back and get slapped with a huge bill for damages. It's bots!! CRAZY stuff!! Love you. oxox
Thank You . I attend our local parade every year it is good to take pride in our wonderful country
Oh that's great! Thank you so much Teddi! I get tears over how beautiful it all is. We kicked off the 4th, again, with the parade and it was awesome. Hope you had a great weekend too! ox
Thanks for tagging me, this was beautiful sounds like you had a fantastic time!
THANK YOU sooooooo mucho for looking! The parade was stellar again! So beautiful to see all walks of life just appreciating and loving their country and each other. Hope you had a great weekend. oxox
I did, and appreciate your kindly words and am so glad you had a great time!
I’m just glad to be catching up here with awesome friends like you. oxox
This touches me. I grew up in Vicksburg Mississippi. A city that surrendered after a grueling 40 some days. Citizens living in caves to escape the cannons and other large guns . The city finally surrendered on July 4. I give that information to say this. I never saw the 4th of July celebrations until 1976. The 200 year celebration. I started reading to see how and why we never did this before. While I understood the reason. I felt slightly cheated. Guess that is why I love fireworks to this day. Also as the family genealogist, I am so thankful that my Scottish and Portuguese ancestors were able to come here for the American dream. Every one who thinks the borders should be shut descends from a immigrant. Well my Choctaw ancestors didn't but all other sides did. One family from religious perscution, another family backed Mary queen of Scots. Another left Ireland during the potato famine. It goes on. Every one says illegal immigrants now but back in the day there was no immigration policies. You had money or you were sent here to work for your freedom in the new world. It is so messed up the government is in your private business. Any way. I loved it and I love your stories about you dad coming here. Sorry I wrote a book my sweet friend. oxoxox
Dear Beautiful Friend, Linda!
I absolutely treasure your stories! This one about Vicksburg! WOW. You need to write more of them down! I am thankful we came too. I agree, it's all the government's fault. They screw everything up with all their bureaucratic crap and never get anything right it seems. Then the people pay. We came here with 2k British pounds and we were told my dad needed to have work within 6 months. It was pretty basic or we had to go back. I don't think it's that hard to make sense of something as simple as wanting to live here. What do we have to do to do that? Here's 3 basic steps. Come with money, work for your freedom. Then become a citizen. It holds us accountable for the idea of America. Simple. But everything basic has been let go of to chaos -- that the government created. And I love it when you comment. I love that you are the genealogist! I love that you are making up for all the fireworks you missed. And.... I love you. Hope your 4th was good. oxox