Last year I was in Montreal for Independence Day, so there was not much celebration, and I did not get to take advantage of my excellent downtown location for viewing the fireworks.

So this year, I decided to throw a "swim, grill & chill" party for some friends, punctuated by a viewing of the big city fireworks show from the roof of the building.

The afternoon started rolling as everyone arrived and somehow managed to pack all of their food into the refrigerator. We immediately set about diminishing the supplies of Ace pear cider and watched a Wallace & Gromit video.

After a couple of hours of hanging out, we made our way down to the pool for some swimming and grilling. Karin took the first turn on the grill, looking very fashionable in her new hat:

Mmmm....bratwurst.

Later, "Hedgehog" took over the grill, adopting a more aggressive approach:

We were not exactly the all-American Norman Rockwell celebration, with our Thai iced tea and portobello mushrooms and mahi mahi and German sausages, but hey! America is a melting pot, isn't it?

We also skewered some shish kebabs:

Everyone helped themselves and ate heartily. We were all stuffed, with plenty of food left to spare.

In the background of the last two images you can see some of the other tenants. Later on, they actually began chicken-fighting in the pool. It was a perfect opportunity for Bruce to use one of his favorite snarky comments:

"I remember my first beer."

They were also playing Jerry Jeff Walker, on repeat, loudly, from a boom-box much closer to our corner of the courtyard than theirs.

In the spirit of what I like about America but don't actually see all that often—tolerance—we let the music play on and did not object.

Hurrah for melting pots, culinary diversity, and getting along with people who don't celebrate the way you do! That's patriotism I can stand behind. Especially the culinary diversity.

Finally, we could eat no more and moved the party back upstairs to the apartment. Christine and some of the other girls commandeered the oven to bake cookies, while everyone sprawled across the apartment in various postures of relaxation...

We hung out and ate cookies for a while, until the sun began to set and we set out for the nearby rooftop deck to stake out our seats for the big fireworks show.

Details and images from the fireworks in the next post, as the story continues...

You should also definitely check out party guest Kenan's comments on these festivities, including some interesting ruminations about patriotism, nationalism, and our place in the world.

OK, I was going to save this one for a week or so from now and do another batch update on interesting google search hits.

But I have had 4 hits in the past 24 hours on "landon donovan pictures" and one on "landon donovan hot pictures".

Somehow I fear these are all from the same poor misguided person.

So let me nip this in the bud and help you out, o soccer-lustful stranger. I think you are looking for the New York Times Magazine feature The Boys Of Soccer. Enjoy.