Independence

4th of July. I celebrated by being unable to kick some kind of flu bug and alternating between episodes of Inspector Lynley Mysteries, napping, and Joseph Mitchell's Up in the Old Hotel, which is probably one of my top 5 books, ever, and is compulsory reading for any New Yorker in my opinion. (Or, as people are prone to saying on the 'net, IMHO, as if anyone had reason to suspect them of prevarication on subjects like restaurant reviews.) Then we went up to the roof and ate Popeye's and could vaguely make out some varicolored lights. We could hear a lot, though: the neighborhood was full of illegal fireworks and sitting up there was like being in a gigantic bowl of Rice Krispies. Then that gave way to the inevitable whine of sirens - presumably firetrucks, hopefully not ambulances.

On the subject of cold cereal, here are a few combinations I like:

-Rice Krispies and bananas

-Cheerios and raisins

-Special K and blueberries

-Shredded Wheat and strawberries.

The second two are for Spring/Summer. Obviously.