And this one is sort of the reverse -- standing in the hallway near the great room, looking out to the kitchen/dining room. 

Slow progress is being made on the house. The framers should finally be done tomorrow, and the roofers can begin putting down the actual roofing tile. At least it looks like a house from all angles now! 

Here is a picture of the back, where eventually a deck will be. This is taken from about the middle of the backyard -- which is huge. 

Last night for the fourth of July I went to a firework show put on by two ex-coworkers and friends of mine. They have spent quite a bit of time and money in the various rockets (or whatever you call them) as well as the firing mechanism. They built this entire control board and many, many actual launch tubes. The show actually went for nearly an hour and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Below are a few of the best shots -- keep in mind this is the first time I've photographed fireworks and the camera is pretty simple. 

I was very impressed with the size and colors. For a "backyard" presentation, I expected less. 

This image gives you an idea of the variety. This is nearing the end, where lots of explosions were happening at once. 

Here is a peek at the finale, which of course was so busy with color that the camera couldn't keep up.