Greetings and Salutations Culture Vultures,

Hopefully this letter finds everything just "Phat & Happy" in your neck of the woods.

July 4th holiday came and went with a bang and a whimper. Not being an American goes a long way towards me having little feeling in regards to the significance of the holiday. As far as I can gather, the holiday is similar to Australia Day. I always remember the Aussie holiday being celebrated in a lot more "non-commercial" widespread fashion. Just an observation. My 2 cents worth, that should be 2.2 cents worth if you are living in Australia now that they have introduced the GST.

Last weekend I spent up in the resort town of McCall, Idaho which is about 1 1/2 to 2 hours drive North of Boise. I went up on Friday night with a couple of good mates of mine, MJ, her husband Tom (better known as "blouse") and their 3 year old son, Cameron. Oh, and you can't forget Max the dog who is fondly looked upon as the furball with feet.

We spent most of Saturday installing new trim work after the house painter had made a right cock-up of everything. They were quoted 8 grand to fix the interior, so it was out with the old trim and doors while the paint brushes got a fair workout. Tom and I managed to get a fair bit of the upstairs trim replaced without too many dramas. Although I did manage to shoot a 2 1/2 inch finish nail into the palm of my hand. I think we did alright even if I do say so myself.

After spending most of the day working on the house, we managed to score a big feed of T-bone steak and salad before retiring to the hot tub on the back porch with one of Tom's famous "wicked" orange juices in my hand. Kicking back in the 40c degree (102f) water with a drink in one hand and the nights starry sky before you is one of life's simplest pleasure. The hot tub did also manage to loosen up the sore muscles that we encountered while alternating between the standing and squatting associated with installing the trim.

I'm a little stiff today, but all in all, I had a great weekend. Good company, good food, good location equals great time. Rest assured that the photos will follow once I get them developed.

Todays' photo is Part 6 of the East Coast trip that was undertaken last year. Check out he sights of Quebec, Canada

Hope to hear from you soon.

Stay Happy ;-)

Fitzy