On the Fourth of July

I celebrated the fourth by having dinner with my friend, Venessa, her cousin and a friend of the cousin. The cousin and her friend have been in Italy for a few weeks taking a writing class - in English. It sounds like they've made the most of being based in Europe. They threw around names of cities and countries like....well, like I do. So strange to have someone say, "Isn't Portugal lovely?" And I nod and say, "Yeah. It's nice." Or when someone asks, "I hated Barcelona. Have you been there?" And I answered, "Twice." Not something I ever really expected to be able to do. Life is surprising.

Anyway, our dinner was not exactly a celebration of the 232nd birthday of the US. It was more an accidental Fred's at a movie with friends, I wanted to see Venessa and here guests were there. But it was nice to be at a table full of Americans on the 4th.

This picture above reminds me of a podcast I listened to today. It was the Knitpicks podcast, which I forgot to mention on my list, but I really enjoy. They were talking about the fact that there's a worldwide shortage of sheep sheerers. Supposedly, you can make a lot of money if you learn how to do it - like through a weekend workshop or a series of workshops. I thought it would be an interesting sheep/wool centered class to take, just to learn how to do it. I think all the musky animal smells would be nice to work around. Plus, it would give me a different appreciation of sheep and wool. And just think about how that would round out my CV.

They also talked about a Babydoll Southdown sheep, which is a breed of miniature sheep, often kept as pets. Fred and I talk about getting a dog. And he talks about getting a pet rabbit (No). But I think I'll bring up the idea of a sheep. It's just a tiny little thing. And we have that balcony.

Happy Fourth of July! I'll just watch re-runs on tv tonight. Nothing celebratory is happening here until Sunday - and I'm not going. Wave a flag for me.