Family Fourth of July

Every time we go to our mountain place in Ashe County, we say, "This was the best ever."  It always is!

We had a big group of friends, family, little kids, and dogs.  These are my sister's two grandbabies.

There was a lot of creek sitting and riding across the mountain trails.

There were eight dogs as well.  Our dog Kasey and our granddog Roo had a large time running up and down the hills and meadows,

 and cooling off in the creek.

Kasey looks like she has become "one" with the creek.

My dad's health keeps improving thanks to my sister Katy's tender loving care.  Here we are sitting on Kenny and Katy's front porch, with their dog Fred.

I went up the mountain to a natural spring area and dug up some good black mountain soil to put around my flowers.

Our neighbor Mary has several large flower beds around her house that are looking beautiful.  I particularly like the hollyhocks along the fence.

The rhododendrons are still in bloom.  Some of them create huge walls of flowers.

The wildflowers are abundant in all the fields, meadows, and along the creek banks.

Right when it was time to leave, the skies began to darken and rumble.

There were impressive storm clouds all the way to Efland, when it finally became a downpour.

This doe was sheltering under a tree.

It was a nice Fourth of July holiday.