July 4 – “Join us on the deck”

I just remembered (well, Chris reminded me) the one most unexpected food that was served at that wedding the other night.  It was so unexpected, in fact, that I forgot it was there.  Snuggled amidst the grilled chicken and chicken strips and tiny baby hamburgers was a tray of … (drumroll here) … waffles.  Yep.  Breakfast Belgian waffles like the kind you can make yourself when you stay in a “Free Breakfast” hotel.  Plenty of butter and syrup available among the condiments, too.  Sheer genius. 

We spent the better part of our day-before-Independence-Day doing yard work.  With all the rain we have had in Galveston, the grass is doing flips of excitement.  So are the flower bed weeds.  The big news about the “outside” part of our day?  Three guys showed up and walked the lot next door, talking about plans to build a house with a detached garage.  Sounded suspiciously like it was going to be one of the scattered home low income sites planned by the city.  What’s that?  Of course we eavesdropped.  Otherwise we would have been summarily drummed out of the Nosy Neighbor Association.  So, it was a sad day for the hopes and dreams of the 40 Steps Conservation Society (AKA: Chris). 

After we got cleaned up we went over to say Happy Birthday to Nathan.  He was out mowing the grass at the Fire Department Union Hall when we arrived, but Cailyn and her cousin Lexie and a few other youngsters were making the most of the hot day by playing in the backyard blowup swimming pool.  He got back pretty soon after, and then pretty soon after that we got a fire call notice on our phone that someone was having trouble breathing … across the street from his house.  He recognized which neighbor it was, so he and I walked over.  Nathan immediately went into medic mode, trying to calm the guy down and explaining to his aging mother what was happening.  The ambulance and fire engine arrived within minutes, and Nathan continued his calming, teaching, translating-medical-talk-to-the-mother role until the ambulance and fire fighters drove away.  Nice job by the fire and medic crews, but I was especially proud of how Nathan had spent his birthday thus far, helping others.  Love you, my son.

Chris and I spent the evening listening to some live music at Rita’s, a local ice cream shop.  Yep, those things still exist.   Except they serve more exotic things than just ice cream.  We had a cherry/key lime frozen drink.  Pretty tasty stuff.  The music was good a band called Salty Sounds.  Actually the band was our church worship leader and one of the other musicians from the praise team.  They are really good.  They play a mix of all kinds of music, so they appeal to the mass hordes of traffic passing by on the seawall.  They closed up shop and we left the seawall before the city fireworks started.  The traffic was already beginning to stack up.  We’ll just head up on our deck and watch the show tonight.  Anybody need a safe spot to watch some fireworks is welcome to join us on the deck.

James 3:9-10 says, “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.  Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.”

Father, please keep all these tourists (and us locals) safe over this big weekend.  Amen.