The Fourth of July Weekend Reunion Roundup

Before we begin, let me say that thanks to my Supah Jeenious Brother, comments are fixed and ready for you to tell me how much you love my wittiness and mad 'riting skillz, yo. Thanks to Jon for his Code Monkey know-how. He will now receive the secret recipe for the world's deadliest chocolate chip cookies.

And now, let the roundup begin!

First of all, there were mustaches, because no party is complete without them.

There were the 3 Mustacheers.

And also Moe, Larry, and Curly among the many mustachioed portraits that were taken.

There was a birthday to celebrate. Because turning 6 only happens once. It's big, my friends. Big!

There were homemade ice cream treats with a candy bar center. How many ways can you say "Mmmmm"? We found about 723.

My niece Olivia will hate me for posting this picture, but I took about 5 and she was making a goofy face in each of them. I think she spent the weekend making goofy faces just to spite me.

There were fireworks. It was wet and soggy and umbrellas and jackets were required, but still. We celebrated our nation's independence by blowin' thangs up, y'all!

There were yummy beverages.

There was Bocce ball. I am horrible. You do not want me on your team. Seriously. Even my dad told me I sucked. And when the man who thinks you can do no wrong says that, well, that's sayin' something!

It's not a party 'til something gets broken. Thanks, Becky. You owe me a pot. (Just kidding. You can give me cash instead.)

There was creek stomping, complete with the capture of crawdads and shells and golf balls.

Of course, swimming was a necessity. It finally cleared up enough after most of the family left. Then, my Texas relatives thought it might be a tetch cold for takin' a dip in the cement pond, given that they are used to swimming in bathwater.

Then, more ice cream was needed.

There was multi-tasking.

Papa played "school" with several grandchildren for coins. I don't know who won, but the play was intense.

There was also gambling for nickels. SCAT was the name of the game. After approximately 872 hands, I won a pot. Yeeehaaaaw!!!

My nephew needs to learn how to shuffle cards before he heads to university. Seriously. If he doesn't, he will either spend all of his time studying, because his friends will laugh at him, or he will get beat up. Either way, the boy needs some instruction.

Through it all, it was pretty great to see a lot of this:

Thanks to all of my family who endured broken-down vehicles, early morning flights, whining children and jam-packed accommodations to spend the weekend with us. It was worth it. Wasn't it?

Yes. Yes, it was.

The (Un)Usual Suspects

A roving band of miscreants known to officials as "The Family" was seen in the area recently. They are charged with merrymaking, loud laughter, public displays of affection, gambling (for nickels), the discharge of loud (but pretty) armaments, and eating everything not nailed down.

For identification purposes, officials have asked to post pictures of "The Family." At this time, members of "The Family" are only identifiable through aliases. Members of "The Family" are easily identified by their mustaches--even the women and children.

The Patriarch

The Matriarch

The Texas Two-Stepper

The Southern Belle

The Thinker

The Dog Whisperer

The Redneck

The Expectant One

The Jackal

The "Peacemaker"

Miss Optimistic

The "Quiet" One

The Birthday Boy

The Grim Reaper, aka John Deere, aka The Gardener

The Elusive Photographer

The Boss(er)

The Computer Geek

Curly The Contrary One If you see any members of "The Family," you should be cautious when approaching, as they have been known to give out hugs unexpectedly and may make a defensive move known as "the moose is loose." They are not considered dangerous, but they are thought to be slightly crazy. They may be redirected by offers of playing Bocce ball or SCAT for nickels and they can be pacified with food (particularly cookies) and beverages.

***********COMMENTS ARE FIXED!!!! PLEASE LEAVE ME ONE AND I JUST MIGHT DO A HAPPY DANCE. OH, HECK--THEY'RE FIXED, I'LL DO ONE ANYWAY!!!

Photo Friday: My Blue Visitor

This dragonfly (damselfly?) was paying a visit to my garden. I loved his vivid blue color. He patiently sat for me to take a few photos. You might need to click on them so that you can really see the details. He's quite cool.

Photos taken with a Canon Rebel xti 18-55mm lens.

Love Thursday: Love Comes Home

Beginning today, my family will be coming in for the holiday weekend. I will pick up my sister-in-law from the airport around noon. She will be the first arrival. Her husband (my brother), and her two daughters (my sweet nieces) were to have arrived last night. Unfortunately there were, um, hiccups in their trip. Their car broke down and now it seems my brother won't arrive until tomorrow when the car gets repaired. My other brother, his wife and their 5 children will arrive on Friday as well. My parents, after making a jaunt to pick up my stranded nieces today, will round out the family tomorrow. If math isn't your strong suit (it's surely not mine) that's 13 people coming to spend the holiday weekend with us. When you add in my own family, there will be 19 of us.

The last time we were all together was last summer to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary. We didn't spend but a few days together, but the time we had was wonderful. We have all been looking forward to this weekend to reunite. The cousins have been simply frothing to be together again.

I wish it wasn't so long between visits. I wish that we all lived closer. I wish that we were able to participate in each other's lives on a daily basis. But we don't live close, we can't be so involved.

Instead, we cram as much as we can into our days and nights. We hug, we laugh, we are goofy, we share meals, we play. We shift into roles that we haven't played in awhile, and we are comfortable in doing so.

For somewhere between 48 and 72 hours, our home will be everyone's home. It is where we'll sleep, play, eat and all the rest. But it wouldn't really matter if we were getting together in yurts, treehouses, tents, or igloos. Because home is where ever we are together. Home is family, no matter the location.

Happy Love Thursday, everybody! May you settle in to where ever home is for you.

Jardin Alcatraz: Or How I Became A "Gardener"

I grew up in a small town in Central Illinois. It was largely a farming community, although there was a large segment of the population that also worked in either the nearby coalmine or for the state government in Springfield, just down the road. While I didn't grow up on a farm, I had plenty of friends who did. If any of them read this post, they will likely wet their pants from laughter or give themselves a concussion from shaking their head so hard in wonderment that there could exist a simpleton such as I.

The reason? I am attempting to grow my own food. That's right. I have a garden. It is possibly the weensiest garden on the planet, but it's a good way to start. Especially for a greenhorn like me.

Last summer, I discovered Square Foot Gardening. I read about it and decided it made sense and would be something that I could attempt without looking like a complete gardening idiot. The premise is that you have a raised garden bed and instead of planting your plants in rows, you divide your garden into square foot sections, with each plant getting its own square foot. This eliminates the need for walking along rows as every plant can be reached from the edge of the planting bed. Also, since you don't walk along the dirt, there is no compression of the dirt around the plants and their roots, allowing for better growth. There is also less weeding because you place weed barrier down and build the planting box over it. As I said, this sounded like just the thing for a newbie like me.

Growing up, my parents didn't have a garden. They raised a tomato plant or two, but never felt the need to go all out and plant a garden. When I was young I was glad of this because it meant I didn't have to do any of the work associated with keeping a garden.

One of my best friends when I was growing up had a large patch of her yard dedicated to a garden and she and her sister had to work in it, weeding and such. This was always a bummer when I would come down to see if she could play. "No, I have to work in the garden," she'd say glumly. Then I would leave, disappointed, but also glad that my parents weren't gardeners and I'd skip off to find something else to do on my summer day; probably this involved whining to my mother that I had no one to play with.

For some reason, a few years ago, the notion of raising food that I could then eat was completely enchanting to me. I started back in our old house with a container for bell peppers because I love red peppers, but ouch! Have you priced them at the grocery? So I grew peppers in a pot and was so excited with my yield of 2 peppers in two years. Just call me Mrs. Greenjeans! It was really okay, though, because nobody else in my family eats peppers, so it was just enough for me.

But when we moved and acquired a much larger plot of land, I decided that I was going to try my hand at raising some food. Well, vegetables. Obviously I am not ready to start keeping chickens or goats or cattle. Especially with the issues in this neighborhood. But a garden wouldn't disturb anybody and in fact, could butter some people up if I found some generosity within myself and shared my bounty.

For Mother's Day I asked my husband to build me a raised bed and he obliged. Quickly I set about putting in the plants I had been raising from seedlings. They all died of transplant shock. Things were not looking good. But I sucked it up, replanted some seeds and bought some young plants for vegetables that are harder to raise from seeds. (Hello, peppers! I am talking to you!) The children would check the beds and report to me which seeds were sprouting. Each and every time there was something new they were absolutely breathless in their reports such was their excitement. I have to admit, I experienced a small thrill as I watched the seeds sprout, as well.

And now, I eagerly check my garden each morning after I have walked the dog. It is exciting to see what new vegetable is coming on. We've had some wonderful tender lettuce so far. And the other evening, I harvested two whole sugar snap peas, which my boys ate with gusto. It was extremely gratifying to hear their robust "MMMMsss" after they sampled their lone peas. My daughters, however, want nothing to do with peas. Maggie has proclaimed peas "gross" since she was about 6. Mary hasn't voluntarily consumed a pea since she was in a high chair. The boys (my new favorites) can't wait for new veggies to come on so that they can try them. But hey. I am eating food that I have grown!! Next to growing a child from cells, this is the most amazing thing I have ever done.

So here is a look at my mini vegetable garden.

See? Mini zucchini!

See? Mini peppers!

See? Mini carrots!

See? Mini, but very tender lettuce!

See? Cucumbers that haven't yet done anything but flower! Oh, but when they do? Cucumber sandwiches and cucumber and onion salad are on the menu!!

See? Sugar snap peas! Oh, stir fry...here I come!!

And also Sunflowers! Wait. Sunflowers? Yes. I planted some flowers in my square foot garden. I planted sunflowers, because the children wanted to see a giant sunflower grow. They didn't believe that it would be somewhere between 8 and 12 feet tall. Phsst. Rookies.

Also--Zinnias, because I love them.

Cosmos, because they are so ethereal.Marigolds, because they are an organic way to keep critters away. Maybe next year I won't plant so many flowers, but if I do? So what! It's my garden and I'll plant what I want to!

Also? I have named my garden Jardin Alcatraz, because there is no way, due to fencing, that anything is getting out that shouldn't be out, or coming in that shouldn't be in!

I love my Alcatraz garden. I talk to the plants. I treat them like beloved pets. I coo at them-- right before I rip the fruit from their stalks and consume them with culinary relish. BWHAHAHAHA!! Yes. I am one sick puppy. Also, I am taking orders for zucchini bread. Want some?