America-Star Rating **************************************************
Fifty reasons to love a country:
1. The open road
2. Diners
3. Big Sur and a Bloody Mary at Nepenthe
4. ''Have a Nice Day''
5. Sink disposal units
6. Power Showers
7. Blueberry Muffins
8. Free coffee refills
9. Genuine sales with honest reductions
10. Panera, where once I ate a salad for breakfast - outdoors to boot
11. Ginger ale
12. Fruit stands selling strawberries for practically nothing
13. Basketball courts where you are welcome to join in a game
14. Optimism
15. Sunsets over the Pacific Ocean
16. Third Street Promenade
17. Borders bookstore
18. Newspaper vending machines
19. The LA Times
20. Early morning street cleaners
21. The New Yorker
22. MAD Magazine
23. Reeses
24. Zinfandel
25. Riding bicycles toward Malibu at ten o clock in the morning
26. Manners
27. Lemonade from Hot Dog on a Stick
28. The rolling hills of California
29. Barack Obama
30. Diversity
31. Opportunity
32. LA Lakers
33. Architecture
34. The Surf
35. Driftwood sculptures on the River Beach in Carmel
36. Resilience
37. Paper Bags
38. Freedom of expression
39. Avocados
40. In and Out Burger Chain
41. Whole Foods
42. David Hockney
43. Jane Bradford aka Gram Bradford (grandma and californian artist)
44. Huge Parking Lots
45. Sideways/American Beauty (the movies)
46. Pat Metheny
47. Palm Trees
48. The Desert
49. Sunset Magazine
50. How incredibly easy it was to compile this list!
With thanks to my three sons and husband for sitting down at the table to come up with this tribute to America on this special day. We had lots of fun!
38.
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Luciana Lhullier says:
May I add a few of my own?
51. the atmosphere of university towns; 52. raspberry cheesecake; 53. westerns; 54. Starbucks; 55. cinnamon rolls;56.Subway (the restaurant); 57. my friends :-)
Mary Wilkinson says:
Keep going Luciana! I
Keep going Luciana! I agree.........Mp
Jodi Thompson says:
58. baseball 59. backyard
58. baseball 59. backyard grilling 60. movies 61. Venus Williams 62. Serena Williams 63. Andy Roddick
Let freedom ring!
Mary Wilkinson says:
YES! Jodi! Love
YES! Jodi! Love it........Deuce
Sue Glasco says:
Some more...
Thanks, MARY, for your inspiration and appreciation.
64. Neighbors helping neighbors after a storm.
65. Food pantries for the needy staffed with volunteers.
66. The Mississippi River.
67. Friends greeting Cherokee youthful bike riders to make their welcome to Illinois better than it was in 1838. See the front page story in the Southern Illinoisan:
http://thesouthern.com/articles/2009/07/04/front_page/29143294.txt
Keiko Amano says:
Mary, I love your 9 and 40,
Mary,
I love your 9 and 40, and agree with them all! My additions are as follows.
Writers Workshops
Santa Monica Freeway
Wilshire Boulevard
Readings at bookstores
Movies
Flowering Trees
Spacious Super Markets
Good Libraries
The Size of Trash Cans
Pedestrians’ right of way
Mary Wilkinson says:
Excellent Keiko-I agree with
Excellent Keiko-I agree with all especially Pedestrians' right of way! The list is potentially endless. Thanks for the connection request. I like your question-I think I will blog the answer! I was wondering what to write about and you solved my dilemma. Mp
Ellen R. Sheeley says:
Thanks to your family, Mary,
Thanks to your family, Mary, for coming up with this idea and this list.
I'm reading this late, but you gals are putting a tear in my eye and a smile on my face.
I have felt such ambivalence about my country since living in the Middle East and hearing nothing but complaints (and, yet, so many people asked me to help them get into an American university or obtain a green card or, yes, even marry them so they can come here). For all its flaws, it does seem that the U.S. holds an important role in this world, if only for the symbolism and hope and optimism it gives to so many. I am proud of that, but we do have some work to do. Fortunately, this country seems to have a lot of self-correcting measures built into it, so we can get it back on track, I hope.
david fingerman says:
l.a. lakers? really?
l.a. lakers? really?
Mary Wilkinson says:
Glad you like the list Ellen
Glad you like the list Ellen and Sue and YES DAVID the LA LAKERS!!!