Happy Fourth of July holiday to all my friends and contacts across The Atlantic. Congratulations on celebrating your independence.
Fourth of July is also a very special day for me, I call it 'Loss of Independence Day' !
I'd better explain. 50 years ago today I met my beautiful wife and around 18 months later we were married. So, in around 18 months time we'll be celebrating 50 years of marriage.
My 'loss of independence' on 4th July 1965 has always been the happiest day of my life.
I don't have a picture of her on the day we met, but here's an image taken by a friend on our wedding day.
Swinging Sixties Girl by
Alan Butterfield, on Flickr
We always celebrate 4th July by spending the day on our own, as we were when we met, and usually on a long, long walk.
As the weather forecast for today was pretty poor, we took our walk yesterday in Glen Affric, one of Scotland's most beautiful glens.
Glen Affric_1 by
Alan Butterfield, on Flickr
Thanks for looking.