All-American Weekend in Phoenicia, NY

I finally got the all-American barbeque I'd been wanting since before July 4th, and it was truly wonderful. My boss and his wife kindly invited us to their weekend house upstate, and we had a great time cooling off in the creek, eating hamburgers and many other things, as well as taking turns on the zip line (where I got stuck twice).

The food was amazing.

Chicken skewers.

Mango salsa with avocado chunks.

Crudites with hummus.

I really wouldn't mind having a backyard like this...

Or a beautiful den like this one...

Here's Jibby, who ran into the creek and started swimming

and reminds me very much of my not-so-little puppy at home:

On another note, is the last week of July really here already?!