If we were having coffee: Celebrating a birthday

A puppy-themed birthday celebration for a very special little boy.

Birthdays! What music in the world! In these unresting times, when nothing intellectual, economic, social, political, seems stable; when customs and traditions hoary with age are mixed with explosive elements, this oldest of institutions is not in danger of yielding to destructive forces.

~J.R. Macduff, Birthdays, 1893

Decorating the cake.

If we were having coffee, I would be delighted to see you again.  It’s been a while since our last coffee chat, hasn’t it?  I never did finish telling you about the Cleveland Film Festival or the rest of the movies we saw.  Ah well, perhaps I’ll catch you up on that someday.  In the meantime, come on in!  Because summer has already arrived here in spite of the date on the calendar, I have lots of cold beverages for us today although the usual hot stuff (coffee and tea) is available.  There are cold snacks, too.  Hummus, pita, raw vegetables, and lots of pickles.  On our way home from a recent trip, M and I stopped off at the Amish market in Easton (here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland), where they have quite a variety of pickles, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

We can have a seat out on the porch where the ceiling fan will attempt to keep us cool or we can stay inside and enjoy the air conditioning.  I’m leaving it up to you.  I should warn you that even with the ceiling fan and windows open, it’s pretty hot on the porch right now since the sunlight is pouring in there.

There were puppies everywhere!

How are you?  What have you been up to lately?  Have gone on any adventures or done anything wild and crazy?  Do you have any upcoming trips planned?  Have you been discovering and/or creating?  Have you eaten any great food recently?  And since I’m asking about food and I’m curious, what is your go-to comfort food?  Have you read any good books or seen any good films since our last chat?

Balloons and flowers.

If we were having coffee, tea, or some other beverage, I would tell you that I am still reading Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  It is a really well written book that tells an interesting story while tackling the issue of racism in the U.S.  I probably would have finished it by now except I had some other reading to do.  I received a book from the publisher for a TLC Book Tour review early in the month and couldn’t put that off since I was scheduled to do my review on 28 April.  In case you missed it, you can find it here (there’s also a giveaway!).

As for films, would you believe that M and I only recently watched Scent of a Woman?  I know, I know.  It’s from 1992.  That’s old, I suppose.  I didn’t realize when we watched it that Al Pacino had won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as retired Army officer Frank Slade.  M and I have seen parodies of the film and the character, but had never seen the movie.  I enjoyed it.  I’ve always liked Al Pacino (as an actor, of course, since I obviously don’t know him), and found the movie to be both funny and sad.

This hutch used to belong to my grandmother. M and I still have the dining room table that goes with it. M the Younger and his wife now have the hutch.  They don’t need the table since M the Younger built one for them.  (One of these days I’ll take some photos of the things he’s built.  He has a talent for woodwork.)

If we were having coffee or something else to drink, I would tell you that I’ve been away for nearly a week.  As you might recall, Little Wookie’s birthday was on the 19th of April.  His birthday party, which we were graciously invited to, was last Saturday (the 22nd).  It was a puppy themed party which, of course, had me wondering if his parents intended to gift him with a puppy.  Wise parents that they are, they did not.  There were plenty of puppies to be seen, none of them live.  As cute as puppies are, they also require a great deal of care, attention, and training.  Little Wookie’s parents are well aware of that, and restricted the puppies to fake varieties.  A one-year-old is enough to keep them busy for now.  Maybe when he’s older a puppy will make an appearance in his life.

Pup-cakes.

The trip out and back was fairly uneventful in terms of the drive itself, thank goodness.  There is so much traffic on the roads these days, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike is, as always, one of my least favorite highways to travel.  The truck traffic can be heavy, the road narrow at times, and that concrete barrier in the middle does not comfort me in the least if we get stuck between it and a truck.  Even so, parts of it are a beautiful drive through the mountains, and it was interesting to move from late spring (early summer) here on the Eastern Shore to early spring in the mountains and mid-spring in northeast Ohio.  The redbuds were in bloom in Maryland and in parts of Pennsylvania, and they are one of my favorite trees.

Tiny puppies playing on the piano.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that the party was wonderful.  Little Wookie had a chance to dig into his birthday cake (literally!) and smash it into his face.  He seemed to enjoy opening his gifts and cards.  The ripping of envelopes and paper was nearly as good as the gifts themselves.

Playing with his other Grandma.

There seemed to be just the right number of people attending.  Some of Little Wookie’s cousins were unable to attend due to either illness or conflicts.  All three of my grandchildren were born in April, the dates very close to each other (the 14th, the 19th, and the 23rd).

Smooshing the birthday cake. (Little Wookie’s parents were smart and removed all but his diaper for this event. He still had to get a quick bath after the cake smooshing part of the party, but at least he could return to his birthday clothes afterwards.)

If we were having coffee, tea, or some other beverage, I would tell you that we stayed a few extra days to do some maintenance on the house.  As you might recall, M the Younger and Mere are renting our house in the Bogs and, as landlords, sometimes there are things that just have to be done.  The joys of being a homeowner include a lot of maintenance, sweat equity, and money (which can’t be avoided, but can be alleviated somewhat if you happen to be handy).  The major stuff included building a railing on the back deck, painting the trim around the windows on the outside, and roof repair (replacing a few shingles that were blown off during one storm or another).  There was some plumbing, too.

One more birthday sign.

I didn’t actually participate in the building and maintenance activities.  I had the good fortune to be babysitter to Little Wookie.  We spent our time together playing, walking, singing, and doing all sorts of fun things.  I also attended a story time at the local library with Little Wookie, and that was great fun.

Geese on the pond at Breezy Acres.

I don’t think I’ll bother with a Souper Sunday tomorrow.  I made this weekend’s soup yesterday, and it was hot and sour soup because (bet you already guessed it!) I picked up another Little Wookie cold/virus.  For the first time that I can remember, I have laryngitis.  That’s something I may have had once in my life.  It is a good thing we’re not really face-to-face chatting since you wouldn’t be able to hear what I say.  Plus you’d end up exposed to this virus with all the coughing and sneezing I’ve been doing.

Mystery fruit blossoms. I forget when we planted this tree, but it’s grown beautifully over the years and it was heavy with blossoms.  It might be a cherry tree.

If we were having coffee, it would be time for me to turn the chat over to you so you can tell me all about what you’ve been doing since our last get-together.  I hope life has been treating you well.  Thank you so much for stopping by.  Stay for as long as you like.  You might even want to watch the sunset from the dock or the Point later.  Sunset is scheduled for 7:52 PM.  It’s rather hazy out today and that might make things interesting when the sun dips down below the horizon.

Pretty in pink.

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

Crabapple blossoms.

This post is in response to #WeekendCoffeeShare which now has a new home.  Thank you to Nerd In The Brain for taking on the job of hosting it, and to Diana for starting it. Put the kettle on, start the coffee maker, open a bottle of wine, or whatever your preference is, and join us.  I’d love to hear all about what you were up to this week.

A birthday party sunset in the Bogs.