Grazing

Eastside Road, Healdsburg, July 4, 2009—

INDEPENDENCE DAY is not typically a day of healthful eating. There were two parties to go to today, both quite nice. A backyard pool party at Stefan and Rhoann's to begin with, where we grazed on pizza and lasagna and chicken and franks with beans and cookies and cake and so on, washed down with copious quantities of Sauvignon blanc and a very nice 2003 Pinot Noir someone had brought.
Then an evening party at Richard and Linda's, where we had chicken and sausages and salad and asparagus and onions and nuts and apricot tart and chocolate cake and Lindsey's key lime pie, washed down with copious quantities of Sauvignon blanc and Pinot noir and Zinfandel.
And then a walk through the gathering night to the highschool field to watch the fireworks. Healdsburg's fireworks are extraordinary, and tonight they were better than ever, with an accidental grass fire set by some falling embers, put out to great applause by the local fire department. Healdsburg is a town of 12,000 or so. Half the town turned out to watch the fireworks; the other half stayed home to watch from front porches, some of them offering Free Hot Dogs.