Independence Day

Robert invited me down to see the place he was house-sitting for a VP at his college. Here he is poolside with Buzz, AKA Busby Berkeley, the dog who required the sitting. Buzz is a really friendly dog and very happy. He lives in a rather large house set among the trees some few miles from the campus itself. Swank, eh? Not a bad gig. The weather was cooperating, although it had tried to sprinkle off and on, there was never much in the way of rain really.

So we sat poolside, played with the dog, watched the birds coming to the feeders and sipped some G-n-Ts. Mmmm, doesn't that look refreshing? Something about a summer day and the flavour of a good gin and tonic -- although, Liz, I must say I miss the addition of Elderflower cordial! You have not had the very finest g-n-t until you've had one with some elderflower cordial in it as well. Yum! All in all a good way to spend a lazy day. Later that night we could see the fireworks in Rhinebeck through the trees, so that was nice.

I suppose enjoying the privileges of the privileged without actually being one of them has its perks, too. After all, who wants to have to clean a house that big, spend all that time walking around from one room to the next, looking through all the drawers in the gigantic kitchen to find your lemon zester (to be fair, they had labeled most of the cupboards that contained likely use items like glasses, mugs, plates, etc). I would doubtless get bored sitting by a pool for more than a day or two, anyway. But it provides a good excuse to wear a fancy hat or two.