The big birthday

We celebrated my dad's 65th birthday this last weekend. The party was really centered around family; his sister Dottie, brother Richard and of couse my dad. My dad is a twin, but has not celebrated a birthday with his twin for at least 20 years. Call it life, call it whatever but the time finally came to celebrate with Family. For me this was great, because this has not always been a focal point on my dad's side of the family. Friday my uncle Dick and Evelyn came into town as a surprise for my dad and Dottie. Clyde's was the venue for dinner, and both he and Dottie were surprised to see Dick show up. Dottie was very happy to see him, and was also taken back by how much I resembled my mother. For me, these were wonderful words, because I don't get to hear much about my mother.

Saturday was really nice as well, because we got to see some pictures of grandpop Cain, and read a little bit about his musical talents as a piano player in Philadelphia in the early 1900's. We also had Blue Crabs for dinner on Saturday. This consisted of one bushel of crabs, and me trying to time each load to the eating capacity of the crowd in attendance. Unfortunately, more crabs hit the table than could be consumed. If you get crabs, always go with the xlarge. It may cost more, but it is worth the effort; nothing like picking through an insect sized crab only to retreive a small bite of meat. The birthday celebration extended late into the night (anything past 9pm is late into the night), with cake and birthday singing. Matt stayed up with me picking crabmeat from the remaining crabs that weren't consumed earlier in the evening. At this point, my hands resembled scared prunes, and any new cuts took on a new level of pain as the salt found it's way into the cuts. But anyone who eats Blue Crabs knows, this is part of the experience. We said our farewells to Dick and Evelyn on Sunday, and finally Matt. Jeanne, Robert and I gloriously enjoyed a nice afternoon nap and recounted events from the weekend. Let's hope that the family can maintain some consistency in the future.

What's in bloom. I highly recommend daylilly "Canalope" as it has been blooming huge canalope colored flowers for the past 2 weeks. Shasta daisies are in full swing, and provide the garden with a huge swath of white flowers. And the black eyed susans are now starting to come into bloom, which were planted with the Shasta daisies for a nice white/gold combo. The purple coneflowers have also been blooming full force, and look great mixed with the shasta daisies, and black eyed susans. Also in bloom in lily "Casa Blanca", a magnificent white lily with huge blooms, and awesome fragrance. I was out last night replacing light bulbs, and noticed it's overwhelming scent. What a nice thing to enjoy in life.

And....above all else, Robert was an absolute gem this weekend. Not one problem or complaint, and he got along nicely with everyone. He really loves being around family. His big milestone for the weekend was seeing a tooth brush in one of his children's books, and sticking his finger into his mouth imitiating brushing his teeth. He just continues to amaze me with his intelligence and love for Jeanne and I. He loves his blow up pool in the backyard, and splashing daddy with his hands.