Happy Fourth of July

Have a cupcake!

I hope you had a happy Fourth, that you and your family are safe and well, and that we can all come together, those of us who are Americans, and be grateful for the good things about this country.

I am not one of those, “Woe is us, America is terrible, no patriotism here” people. I’m grateful to be in a country where I can vote, drive, work, live alone, speak in public, wear my Star of David to go out and buy gummy peaches from the nice Muslim shop keeper who asks how my family is and I ask about his, take care of my cat, and have friends over for dinner. I don’t have much but I have a lot of freedom. That wouldn’t be the case in a whole lot of the world.

Gadi and Mike just dropped a new episode of Israel Update and it is fantastic. I will say more about it soon. NOTE: Gadi’s cats make appearances! Both of them! The oldest one is the gray and white, the younger one comes on later. Cat videos with Gadi! Middle East politics!

It’s a nice July 4th for me. Some good friends came over for dinner and I made my first hamburgers! I baked them in the oven because I don’t have a grill and my stove heats a bit unevenly and I’m afraid of food poisoning my guests. I made a recipe that involved crunching up crackers and an egg in the ground beef and baking. They turned out well. We had red white and blue red velvet cupcakes for dessert.

I don’t have a lot materially but I’m really pretty happy. I’ve made so many new friends in just a few months, and reconnected with old ones. Things are looking up.

Enjoy a cupcake. Happy Fourth.