Happy Fourth!

I'm glad we have such great neighbors and friends who invite us to do fun things with them! We went to one house for dinner, where we had great conversations. I talked with our neighbor's mother-in-law about infrastructure problems in India, and another neighbor - who had just had his hip replaced but seemed to be doing great - told us about his ongoing research on microbiomes among adoptees. Then the party migrated across the street for desserts, including J's very popular brownies and a whole freezer full of berry parfaits, and then we did fireworks in the street. D. had his close female friend with him, which I think he appreciated. J. and I dashed off to see the tail end of the aerial fireworks at the school, but I returned after that and saw more of our friends' fireworks. Most of our friends have dogs, and they seemed to be doing okay, overall - nervous but not too freaked.