Sweet Fourth

Set the oven to 425 degrees, grease the muffin tins with cooking spray.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Tumble purple blueberries into the mix to coat the berries in flour. Make a well in the middle.

Mix milk, 1 egg, and melted butter. Pour into the middle of the well and combine gently til just moistened.

Scoop into muffin tin wells and bake for 20 minutes. Prepare leftover blueberries with sliced nectarines, make fresh coffee. Turn on Norah Jones and find your favorite book to snuggle up with on the sofa as you wait for the sweetness to come forth into the last of the summer morning chill.

Find a beautiful spot in the garden where you can hear the fountain trickling into the lower basin and gaze at the butterflies who flutter through life.

Sip your coffee, a small bite of buttery blueberry muffin...and sigh.

Sigh...because in a few hours, the peace will be shattered by family. Joyful, screaming, petty-arguing family with personalities that delight and grate, even as you roar in laughter at their sniping comments.

And this is a sweet fourth of July.