Momcat

I have long wanted to capture Mija's purr. It's loud, but cell phone video doesn't seem to collect the full range of the frequencies of the purr. On Mothers Day, she seems to want to be by me quite a bit so I did some experimenting. You'll need to turn your sound up but you can hear her distinctive sound.

I will, on occasion, awaken to this sound. There is nothing more soothing than a purring cat.

Beverage:  English Breakfast Tea

Deb

Mom's 80th Birthday

If everyone invited had come, we'd have had 54 people in the basement of the dentist's office in Center Point. As it was, 32 people attended. It was entirely family, but that's the way mom wanted it. It was enough to get her to agree to being recognized in the first place so if the only people she wanted to invite were family, that's who got invitations.

Toward the middle of the open house, we set fire to one of the cheesecakes and made mom blow it out.

The oldest great-granddaughter gave mom a wand and a crown.

Toward the end of the event, we had to take the obligatory photos. There's us kids.

It took a little convincing, but grandma wore her birthday crown. Here are my brothers and their spouses.

Then there are the great-grandchildren. My oldest niece, Christina, gave birth to her 5th child, Adalynn, the day before the party, so she wasn't in attendance, although my brother brought the other kids.

My other niece, Amber, came with her husband and daughter. We count Mary's two kids, on the right, as part of the family, too.

Once this was done, it was time for the extended family. Probably one of the best reasons to have a party like this is that you get to see the cousins you grew up with.

We spent a lot of time remembering the big family gatherings we used to have. Our 4th of July celebrations were originally at Ken and Effie's farm. But, when my mom's generation started having children, the sheer number of people running around proved to be too much to host, so we moved to the city park. I have just a couple of memories of July 4th on the farm; fireworks set off in the corn field by my great-uncles and ice cold Nehi soda pulled from a steel cow trough full of ice. There are far more memories of the time at the park and then going to the Monona city fireworks display.

We talked about our genealogy, what we knew. Of course, we regret that we didn't ask our parents more questions when they were alive. My dad had 6 siblings. Only the oldest is still alive and she has dementia. Of the 6 spouses, only 3; mom and Aunts Dorothy and Audrey; are still alive. We cousins know a lot and it was wonderful to share things, but there are things we will never know. That is, perhaps, the nature of existence.

Here is mom and Aunt Dorothy. I swear. Aunt Dorothy simply hasn't aged. She looks just like I remember her in my youth. She just laughs when you say that to her, but it's sure the truth. Some people have really good genes.

Once we got home, got things put away, food frozen and could sit, mom allowed that this had been fun. It was nice to see her as the center of attention.

Beverage:  English Breakfast Tea

Deb

But I Don't Want a Party

When we all got together at Christmas, my sister brought up the fact that mom would turn 80 in April. She felt it was important to recognize this event with a party. Mom is the type of person who doesn't like a fuss being made over her. The idea of a party (gasp) in her honor (double gasp) just wasn't to her liking. She had mentioned to me over a year ago, that she would just prefer the whole birthday pass without notice. Sharyn, however, is sort of a force to be reckoned with.

I couldn't help. First of all, work was consuming days and weeks. We remain intensely busy and my having to make decisions, find things, send out invitations or other things just wasn't something I was going to be able to do in a timely fashion. Second, but most importantly, I had a wedding to attend. This wedding was going to occur 2 weeks before the weekend set for Mom's birthday party. The best I could do was assist when I got to Iowa and do some light tasks from Illinois. That was fine. My sister took over.

She picked the food and helped mom find places that would make it. She sent out the invitations and was the point of contact for RSVP's. She coordinated with mom's husband, Dale's, family for what they offered to bring. She arrived a week before everything was to happen and made sure we had all the supplies.

Sharyn, my brother's fiancee, Mary, and I made cheesecakes.

I made a lightly lemon-flavored cheesecake with blueberry topping.

There was a plain and a plain with cherry topped cheesecake. Mary made chocolate and mocha and caramel cheesecake bars. If there's one thing we do well, it's dessert.

We had sloppy joes (or Maid Rites, depending upon which part of Iowa you're from) and beans. Farther down the table were veggies, fruit salad and chips.

We rented the basement of a local dentist's office. It was the perfect size for our gathering. Decorations were simple.

Sharyn found everything at the dollar store.

One of Dale's daughters-in-law, Amy, made bouquets for the tables.

and

With five tables, we had 10 bouquets so I brought a couple back with me.

The sunlight on the daffodils just made them sparkle. I took the daffodils to work but kept the daisies at home.

Daisies are such hardy flowers. These lasted for 3 weeks with regular changes of water.

One of the cool things was this slide show of mom done on mom's mac. Sharyn scanned in a wide variety of photos and added them to the packaged music in the program. I printed some photos from Carole and Larry's wedding and we found a few photos of the cousins to add to the table.  (Carole and Larry were starting their honeymoon cruise to the Caribbean so weren't able to come.) There was a bag for cards. Mom had requested no gifts, a request some of us ignored. There was also a letter from an aunt who lives in California. It didn't take us long to set up and we were ready for relatives.

Beverage:  English Breakfast Tea

Deb

Mothers Day 2015

It's a rainy Mothers Day today. I wanted to mow the lawn. The rain we had at the beginning of the week and then the warm, sunny days have caused the grass to explode. While the mower is probably quite capable of plowing through wet grass, the residue on the underside of the mower won't be good for it. It's supposed to be cool and dry by the middle of the week. If I can get one part mowed when I get home, that's a start.

But the day is not a wash, by any means. There are many things to do on a rainy day. Plus, Carole and Larry gifted me with some lovely items for this holiday.

They took a honeymoon cruise to the Caribbean. Of course they had to get chocolates.

Here are a pair of earrings. I don't have anything to wear with them, but, as I'm cleaning out my closets, that will change. (I have removed half of my work shirts because they don't fit or I don't like them. I have space again and a feeling of lightness and satisfaction. It will take awhile to do this, but the results are so worth it. The give away stack is growing again. When I'm done, I'll only have clothing I want to wear.)

There was also a lovely photo of one of the beaches they visited.

On Thursday, I came home to a box on the front porch.

I know this box. I recognize the shape and size.

Flowers and chocolates. I really like the chocolates from Pro Flowers. And the vase this year is so distinctive. I love deep, intense color.

Ah, I have tulips and iris.

I trimmed the ends, put them in water in the vase and set the whole thing in the living room window. On Friday, both flowers had opened.

What a lovely display to come home to and to gaze at while sitting in the recliner. Happy Mothers Day.

Beverage:  English Breakfast Tea

Deb