That's just fantastic...nothing like old family pictures - I always hated standing there waiting for Mom to take them - now I can't wait to get back home and root through another box!

Hey, check out this video of troops in Samarra having their own version of a fireworks show (via BlackFive)

Pretty cute. Hope you guys had a great 4th.

...you've got some pretty rad children. :D

Well, our 4th was both very good--a lazy day at home.....and also quite absurd, since in this part of San Francisco the weather on the 4th of July is invariably chilly and foggy.

An American 4th should be hot, with picnics and barbecues, and a big cool watermelon, and corn on the cob, and cold beer, and chairs placed in the shade of big trees. Followed by a warm summer evening with clear skies and fireworks and firecrackers.

Alas that never happens here, and my children have grown up deprived of some of the sweetness of life. (But with many plusses they will hopefully recognize later.)

I remember one 4th long ago, when I went with friends to the top of Telegraph Hill to watch the fireworks shot off from Alcatraz. A beautiful night, and then the fog processed in through the Gate, and we were lost in the mist. As some poet put it, the "fluffy, powder-puffy fog, that hides the Decalogue." And we could hear the fireworks go ka-boom ka-boom KA-BOOM! But we didn't see a thing....