Boarding @ Home: Day 104/84: July 4th ... Independence Day?

Liberation today here in England after Lockdown … whilst in the US it's the anniversary of the day in 1776 that their Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress. The thirteen British colonies had had enough of the impositions from Great Britain and felt they could make their own way forward. We lived for a while in the US at Tulsa OK in 1976 with Mathew and Julian both going to school there, that year being the 200th anniversary and HM The Queen visited President Ford - but our sojourn didn't include July 4th; Anne lived there long enough to enjoy several celebrations. They certainly followed a different path with a Presidential system of government to Canada or Australia/ New Zealand, the other three great British colonial settlements.
What to do in Weymouth? We had the camera ready to capture the crowds on the beach but with the English weather already back to normal thy certainly didn't materialise here. We collected the Daily Telegraph and Dorset Echo from our local store where we caught up on local news; same at Hamiltons where the chairs and tables were going out and the restaurant is formally reopened from today. Pete at Aunty Vi's thought about opening buy gave up and went home. After
lunch we'd arranged our mystery tour to include vital shopping calls: Batteries and Bath Olivers as well as coffee beans. PC World seemingly had a long queue but it transpired is wasn't their's it was Macdonalds' drive through. Perhaps Waitrose in Poundbury might meet our needs so off we went via a certainly mysterious routing into Upwey and were rewarded with coffee beans on Queen Mother's Square. The Deli at Preston couldn't deliver either. Next back to the chores picking litter at Somerset House which gathers amongst the flower beds and in the bin staithe. Not a glamourous task but rewarding on the eye. The intriguing surprise were the myriad acanthus, commonly known as bear's breeches, that have flourished alongside the modest appearance by hollyhocks.

Memories of Winchester Virginia … where Anne stayed.
History tells that Pennsylvania Quakers came to settle the area in 1732 and named the town Frederick Town after the father of George III of England; in 1752 however that name was changed to Winchester in honour of the ancient English capital. By then Frederick County had become a military and political training ground including a youthful George Washington who arrived there at the age of sixteen to survey the lands of Lord Fairfax. Washington built Fort Loudoun during the French and Indian War and at twenty-six, was elected to his first public office as the county’s representative to the House of Burgesses. During the Revolutionary War Daniel Morgan’s Riflemen from Frederick County were among the first who came to Washington’s aid against the British. Later, Winchester was a strategic prize of great importance during the American Civil War with the area scene of six battles; the city itself changed flags some seventy times during that four year conflict. One of our great family memories when staying with Anne was the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival in the Spring which draws vast crowds; we were all amazed by the procession of vintage US cars. Winchester has long been known as the “Apple Capital” of the US surrounded as it is by vast orchards and constituting one of the largest apple export markets.