Independence Day

4.1 miles on the 4th of July ... benefit for the historical society, located at old Hay Lake School, where the mostly downhill race begins.
But Mile 2 is a dreaded flat stretch of loose dry gravel, devoid of shade, and dusty with speeding an occasional SUV or pickup truck... about 75 degrees yesterday.
Feels like I am recovering from Grandma's Marathon two weeks ago, but pushing about as much as I ought to.

Anyway, at the finish line in Marine on St. Croix, we were elated to discover that Sweet Pea and I had made a PR for that race ... and Don and I had each won an award:
2nd in our respective 60-69 age groups.
This small, community annual event is a regular on our racing schedule. We enjoy seeing friends and children of all ages.
We hurried home for Sweet Pea's weekly American Sign Language conversation with her tutor. Meanwhile Don stopped by the River Co-op for fixings for a pot-luck salad.
He is also working on setting up interactive calendars between all of our laptops... and we had some fun with entering data in the afternoon.

4th of July Picnic and Fireworks
Our gracious host and chef provided delicious barbecued chicken breasts (and hot dogs for those who made that choice).
We appreciate the good conversation with friends ...
and their potluck contributions, too, of course.

Fresh fruit salad:
Pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, grapes
Blender dressing: banana, raspberries, raspberry vinegar, olive oil, poppy seed

Thanks to the creator of this delight for sharing her recipe before we dished up. Being a regular reader of our blogs, she understood that we would like to know what we were eating. And we went back for seconds!
Click on this one for the luscious super-size picture.
The fireworks were predicted to be the best in the area due to Stillwater being the birthplace of Minnesota and 2008 being the 150 year anniversary of statehood.

In viewing a picture, a person has to have seen fireworks to appreciate the color, magnitude... and noise! of fireworks. So why do Sweet Pea and I take pictures of fireworks? Because it is fun to do (and yes, we do have the flash turned off!)
Our sweet potato salad:
Actually, our old favorite recipe for potato salad.. but just substituting sweet potatoes.. for more nutrients and a lower glycemic index.

Sweet potatoes, cooked just until tender (boiled or steamed), peeled, cubed, drenched in lemon juice .. If you have fresh organic lemons, grate some of that pesticide-free lemon rind on there too.

Frozen peas, with any ice rinsed off
Cubed cucumber (hydroponic or organic is nice)
Sliced organic celery, including some leaves
Sliced fresh onions and green onion tops would be nice, but the co-op didn't have any yesterday.
Eleven hard-cooked eggs ...
I always cook one more than I need, and then try one while they are cooking .. to see if they are done.
And thanks to our Weight Watcher's leader, the day before, for sharing that her gandmother made the best potato salad: "I use a dozen hard cooked eggs !" she explained.
Some salt

Dressing: yogurt, excess liquid drained off, and chopped chives
We set a bottle of raspberry vinegar by the salad, for added tang.

This salad needs something else, I think ... some caraway or fennel seed? dill? fresh ground pepper, too? An Independence Day with some sadness and anger: ... the war, the fractured economy, the inadequate health care, the global warming, the declining respect for the US in the world community, the (expletives deleted) administration.