Red, White ....

... and Blue.

We crammed in a lot of things today on this lovely July 4th!  I took loads of pictures and had selected about ten favorites but decided to just post my red, white and blue shots. 

We made plans to go to several different locations today all within a short drive of each other.  But before we left I sat on the deck in order to get my SquirrelsEtc shots.  I had put out a prop that I purchased several weeks ago to be used today.  And the beautiful blue and white blue jay made a brief appearance for me! 

Also before we left I took a shot of our American flag that Richard put out front as today is our Independence Day here in the States.  

Our first destination was the wild flower field that's just north of Jacobsburg state park.  We were quite surprised when we drove past JBurg that it wasn't as busy as we expected it to be .... especially for a holiday.  And the picnic pavilion wasn't reserved which would serve us well later on for lunch.  

The wildflower field was absolutely stunning with lots of different blooms.  But sadly we didn't see too many butterflies.  It's been a terrible year for the number of butterflies we've seen flitting around.  We've only had two sightings of monarch butterflies in our own yard and very few elsewhere.  

At the wildflower field, which is at Ballas park, there is also a small pond.  There is normally lots of dragonflies and the like here.  The "red" in my collage is a calico pennant dragonfly.  I've seen these before but had no idea what they were called ... thankfully Google knows everything!

We drove back to JBurg for our picnic lunch and a look around.  There were several frogs in the pond and we were lucky enough to see both a male and female Ruby-throated hummingbird. Sadly no decent pictures though. 

After a delicious supper that Richard grilled for us we went out to see the July 4th fireworks display that Bethlehem puts on.  We didn't choose the best viewing area but they were still beautiful! 

Happy July 4th to all my American friends!