Thursday, July 16, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Busy!
I am busy celebrating birthdays these days!
June 15: my twelve-year old niece
July 9th: my youngest sister
July 10th: my birthday
July 16th: my youngest niece, who will be eight tomorrow
August 2: my mother
August 28: my ten-year old niece
September 4: my oldest sister
My family (especially my mother) has always made a big deal out of birthdays. If possible, the whole extended family gets together. Someone bakes a birthday cake and brings the candles and matches. Everyone brings at least one gift. If the weather is nice, we all troop out to a local park for a picnic. Otherwise, we gather at someone's house (usually my youngest sister because she has the largest house). Or, we go to a restaurant that is family-friendly and has a large enough space for all of us.
Last weekend we all met at one of those restaurants. We had a group of fifteen and a very patient waitress. There were six chldren in the group, who kept changing places around the table... first sitting by mom, then by dad, then by grandma, then by aunt or uncle. The waitress kept track of everyone. There were requests for more bread, more water, etc., etc. Finally, we needed plates for birthday cake, and we took up time opening gifts. She was amazingly patient and efficient. Thankfully, we needed only one check so she didn't have to make separate checks. Then, all the men sat around exchanging cash and credit cards.
I was a waitress during college, so I still have empathy for them. (Guess I couldn't make it on the Supreme Court.)
My husband can't believe how we celebrate birthdays in my family. In his family, they send a card, if they remember. They exchange gifts only at Christmas and then usually wind up just giving each other cash. They are more likely to go out for a beer than have a birthday cake. They have just as much love for each other as my family; they just have different ways of showing it. I like their way as much as I like our way. It's just interesting how different they are. Mine just happen to be all clumped together on the calendar, so we have a very busy birthday season!
June 15: my twelve-year old niece
July 9th: my youngest sister
July 10th: my birthday
July 16th: my youngest niece, who will be eight tomorrow
August 2: my mother
August 28: my ten-year old niece
September 4: my oldest sister
My family (especially my mother) has always made a big deal out of birthdays. If possible, the whole extended family gets together. Someone bakes a birthday cake and brings the candles and matches. Everyone brings at least one gift. If the weather is nice, we all troop out to a local park for a picnic. Otherwise, we gather at someone's house (usually my youngest sister because she has the largest house). Or, we go to a restaurant that is family-friendly and has a large enough space for all of us.
Last weekend we all met at one of those restaurants. We had a group of fifteen and a very patient waitress. There were six chldren in the group, who kept changing places around the table... first sitting by mom, then by dad, then by grandma, then by aunt or uncle. The waitress kept track of everyone. There were requests for more bread, more water, etc., etc. Finally, we needed plates for birthday cake, and we took up time opening gifts. She was amazingly patient and efficient. Thankfully, we needed only one check so she didn't have to make separate checks. Then, all the men sat around exchanging cash and credit cards.
I was a waitress during college, so I still have empathy for them. (Guess I couldn't make it on the Supreme Court.)
My husband can't believe how we celebrate birthdays in my family. In his family, they send a card, if they remember. They exchange gifts only at Christmas and then usually wind up just giving each other cash. They are more likely to go out for a beer than have a birthday cake. They have just as much love for each other as my family; they just have different ways of showing it. I like their way as much as I like our way. It's just interesting how different they are. Mine just happen to be all clumped together on the calendar, so we have a very busy birthday season!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
I Am Proud Again Today
I am watching President Obama's visit to Ghana today. I can't help feeling proud of our President. It's a good feeling to have a President who is admired by so many in the rest of the world. He is a man of the world, who can relate to people of other cultures. I believe that is what we need now.
Friday, July 10, 2009
A Birthday Story
I was born on my father's birthday, July 10th. So, every year we shared a birthday cake and blew out the candles together. It was nice sharing my birthday with my dad. My father died fifteen years ago, and my birthday became mine alone. I no longer had a shared birthday, though my sister's is July 9th, so we often celebrate ours together. At the time my father died, I was living in Philadelphia and my sister was living in Kentucky. For the first several years after our father died, my sister drove to Ohio on our birthday to visit his grave and place flowers on it.
One night, my sister had a dream, in which our father was speaking to her. He thanked her for the flowers and made a suggestion. He suggested that, rather than leaving flowers at his grave that she send them to me on our birthday. So, every year when I lived in Philadelphia I received a bouquet of flowers from my sister on my birthday. She still does it, now that I live in Kentucky near her. Today, I had lunch with my sister and three nieces and they brought me roses for my birthday. And for Dad's birthday, too.
Here I am at lunch today, with my nieces. Yesterday, I made a birthday cake for my sister, and today she and the girls made a birthday cake for me!
(See yesterday's post where we celebrated my sister's birthday!)
Birthdays!
In my family, summer is the birthday season. I was born on my father's birthday, July 10th. My sister was born on July 9th. My three nieces' birthdays are in June, July and August. My mom's birthday is in August, too.
Yesterday was my sister's birthday. She was true to an old family tradition... having a birthday picnic!
This is the birthday girl; my youngest sister, she is 17 years my junior. She is the one in the family who went to medical school and became a doctor. She has three girls, ages 12, 10, and 8. These are the nieces I watch on days when my sister works.
She and the three girls gathered around the birthday cake:
Sammy came along to take a dip in the creek. She loves to doggie paddle in the creek!
This is Molly, on the bridge over the creek. Her birthday is next week.
And on the playground:
But who needs a playground? A big rock is fun, too!
Well, now I am going to go and celebrate my own birthday... today! My father is no longer living but I will think of him as I celebrate the day that is our joint birthday.
Yesterday was my sister's birthday. She was true to an old family tradition... having a birthday picnic!
This is the birthday girl; my youngest sister, she is 17 years my junior. She is the one in the family who went to medical school and became a doctor. She has three girls, ages 12, 10, and 8. These are the nieces I watch on days when my sister works.
She and the three girls gathered around the birthday cake:
Sammy came along to take a dip in the creek. She loves to doggie paddle in the creek!
This is Molly, on the bridge over the creek. Her birthday is next week.
And on the playground:
But who needs a playground? A big rock is fun, too!
Well, now I am going to go and celebrate my own birthday... today! My father is no longer living but I will think of him as I celebrate the day that is our joint birthday.
Monday, July 6, 2009
In the Night Sky...
The International Space Station passed over us last night. I stood outside and watched it pass all the way across the sky. It was very bright and took about five minutes to pass over.
The photo below is how it appears from earth. My view was a lot smaller than this, but I could make out the shape of it when it was directly above me. It felt a bit surreal to me. I think it was the first man-made object that I have ever seen orbiting the earth.
It made me remember the time in 1968 when I saw the movie "2001 A Space Odyssey". It was just released and, at the time, the year 2001 seemed impossibly far away. In some way now, I feel like I am living in the future.
I Made Shade!
Our back deck was unlivable in the summer because of the hot sun. We have trees at the back of our yard, but none close enough to the house to provide any shade. I have spent three summers here unable to sit outside during the day because of the hot sun. I decided this year was going to be different! So, I went to work (with some help from my husband) to create shade. Here are the results:
We had an old gazebo down in the yard. It used to have a roof, but it was blown off during a storm last winter. We moved it up to the deck and reassembled it there. We put a canvas top on it. I hung some flower baskets to bring some greenery closer to the deck.
We bought outdoor drapes which I hung on the west side to keep the sun out in the afternoon. Also, I bought a little table to use with the umbrella we were storing in the basement.
The "Yeager" sign used to hang on the wall of an old family cabin on a lake in Michigan. It helps us to pretend we are looking out over a lake as we enjoy the new-found shade on our back deck. Now, if we just had a loon calling to us in the distance!
We had an old gazebo down in the yard. It used to have a roof, but it was blown off during a storm last winter. We moved it up to the deck and reassembled it there. We put a canvas top on it. I hung some flower baskets to bring some greenery closer to the deck.
We bought outdoor drapes which I hung on the west side to keep the sun out in the afternoon. Also, I bought a little table to use with the umbrella we were storing in the basement.
The "Yeager" sign used to hang on the wall of an old family cabin on a lake in Michigan. It helps us to pretend we are looking out over a lake as we enjoy the new-found shade on our back deck. Now, if we just had a loon calling to us in the distance!
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