Celebrating the 4th of July

After a long days riding in temperatures that were bordering on uncomfortably hot, Paul and I arrived back at David and Mellissa’s on the evening of the 3rd July to find no-one in the house, so we walked through their garden and down the steps to the lake that is at the back of their property to find everyone on boats, on the pontoon, or in the water swimming.
















































We quickly realised they were having too much fun keeping cool, so we unpacked our trunks and got into the lake a s quickly as we could, followed by a refreshing beer, or 3....



























We had a terrific supper that Mellissa made and David BBQ’d of fish tortillas with salsa, salad, beer, coleslaw and more beer. David and Mellissa were great hosts and we sat in the garden into the evening with them, Pete and Beth (M’s cousin) and a few local friends....






















I awoke early on the morning of the 4th July and I was a man on a mission. Ever since the bike-in-the-mud incident about a week ago, I wasn’t happy about the remaining mud in the nooks and crannies of my bike, so it had to go.....




















Pretty soon it was back to its usual gleaming condition!

Four of us then went off to Boston to buy lobsters for the afternoon’s party that was to be help at Pete and Beth’s house. We bought a dozen and as we left the shop I spotted a monster 20lb lobster that was tricky to even lift....



























All that shopping was thirsty work, so we stopped for a quick one. This is Pete, David and myself....






















The 4th July party was great fun. We played tennis, croquet (well done Paul for winning), we swam, put up a Union Jack flag to accompany the USA flags flying everywhere and generally had a terrific time. Paul had bought from the UK two bottles of Pimm’s Number 1 – a gin based fruity summer drink, that seemed to go down very well. We experienced our first beer-ball and cooked the lobsters in a huge pot along with steamers (clams), potatoes, lobsters and seaweed....








































The evening was finished off with a glass or two of champagne watching the Boston POPS orchestra playing their traditional 4th July concert, with fireworks, on the TV.... Here are David and Mellissa watching.....




















Then back to D & M’s house and we watched the World Hot Dog Eating Championship – the winner ate 54 hot dogs and buns in 10 mins!!

Both Paul and I thought it was a pretty good way for two English guys to help celebrate the 4th July.

Many thanks to D&M for being great hosts and letting Paul and me stay with them.