Here is a sure sign that you threw a good birthday party for someone who turned 90…
And that was just the champagne. Don’t forget the vodka laced lemonade and the coolers full of fancy beer. But one of the best things about my mom’s birthday is that we had family from all over the country stay for a few days after the party. Aunts and uncles and cousins from Boston and Seattle and other such far-away exotic places.
And the thing… oh, sweet wonderful thing, there you are… about my family is that we are all just a tiny bit crazy. But in good ways. And we are natural-born experimenters and we like to try new things, or put a new spin on old things. I guess what I am saying is that we have a very wide range of interests. And we tend to be musical and artistic. I couldn’t have been adopted into a better family if I had tried.
We have home beer-brewers who grow their own hops, and experts in just about every type of food and beverage. So we basically just took turns cooking meals for each other in-between catching up on family gossip and trying to outdo each other with exciting stories. But man, my family can cook…
I forgot to ask everybody for permission to put their pictures on the blog, but this one doesn’t show any faces… except my brother Henry in the background, and you already know him. But here are is one of my favorite cousins and her husband. They live in Boston now, and she is a highly trained pastry chef who teaches the art to others. And he just loves to cook. So we ate some good stuff…
ummmmm… frittatas… Now I am not going to turn this post into a foodie blog… and I could, because we ate this good for two more days…
But it was so awesome to be with all these people again. No, that isn’t all of them. Some are in the kitchen, or cleaning up from the party, or still getting up and dressed. I could go on and on about the fantastic meals we ate for three days, but there really isn’t any point…
But come on man, she put meringue IN the pancakes! They were so light and fluffy they almost flew away. And he made a fresh berry compote to go on top, and…
Pouring My Art Out 
Note to self: gatecrash one of Arthur’s parties.
The line forms here and you’re a little late. As you see it is now stretching down the block and around the corner. If no one esle is watching, I may let you cut in though.
Note to all: You can hire Jessica to throw a party just like that one… we still have all the stuff… in my music room… which used to be her bedroom.
Smart thinking. Now she can’t sneak back home and come down to breakfast one morning like nothing had happened and she’s been there all along. Adult kids are sneaky like that.
If she breaks up with her boyfriend and moves back home, I am moving in with him. He is that cool.
As a Brit queuing is in my blood, I wouldn’t dream of cutting in. I found another legitimate way though, I’m going in the birthday cake.
Topless in bikini bottoms?
Yeah, don’t eat the cake
Hey, whose party is this?
A good host keep the pleasure of his guests in mind. Perhaps it should be a bikini bottom party and that’s the uniform of the day. That means you can’t invite your mom or Jessica though. Scrap that.
Thanks for that mental image…
Will there be pasties? Not the English food kind, those tassels you paste to your nipples kind…
You know something I don’t. Is this a burlesque thing?
If by that you mean old school strippers, then yes.
😀
Will the pasties have tassels he’ll twirl in opposing directions like in The Graduate? Yeah, who could forget?
He might be that talented.
I would get you an invitation.
You say this now after I have devised all manner of ways to get in. Just being invited isn’t as exciting. Oh well, I’ll bring a bottle anyway 😦
There goes you popping up out of the cake bare-breasted. 😦
First you spend all your time on my blog trolling for women like it’s a singles club, and now you are going to try to steal away my best gay English blogger friend? I don’t think so!
Bitch!
now now
We can smuggle you in dressed as Bett Middler.
Sounds sweaty
That is up to you. Do sequins breathe???
You’re cracking me up
I really want to know this stuff.
I will ask some of my gay friends here. They would know… trust me…
How can you go wrong with Veuve Clicquot? That says party right there, in my book. Sparklers are just icing on that proverbial cake.
And we didn’t even have a cake. Thanks.
Food looks amazing, and if we must disclose hts to comment 5’10” was 5’7″ at age 11. And I always hated basketball cuz everyone would ask if I played My height isn’t even that tall for women these days, but it was when I was a kid.
My feet got to be size 15 when I was still short and skinny. I looked like a capital ‘L’
That is very funny…btw my husband is size 14 and he has really good balance. It’s another plus to shoe size i guess.
I have to really work at it to fall down.
There’s an other plus?
Can’t have too many pluses, Mr. Negative!
I have 12EEEE. Negative is not available in all desired styles. Positive is always on clearance at some point because they don’t sell all that often.
You got a point there.
I usually wear a hat so it isn’t so noticeable.
You could just file it down.
I feel I am safe in saying that you look like a Mad magazine Spy vs Spy kind of guy. My hat didn’t hide the point that much better. Perhaps something quicker like a grinder. The showering sparks could add a fun element to it too.
I remember the spies… you could also have used Phineas from Phineas and Ferb.
How did everyone get on height in the comments? I thought with all this talk about food in the post you’d be talking about the extra weight you had to lug home!
Not me… I joined a gym, remember…
But I bet you didn’t go before you returned home!
True, but I bounce back fast.
Since I didn’t get in on head of this post I can’t reply under the appropriate comment, Aug 11 6:45, so here it is. I too am tall since age 17. About 3 years ago I had an interesting experience at a fast food place. I went to read the menu board and the guy in front of me must have been 6’6″ or better. I was craning my neck and looking from one side of his head to the other. It was then I had the experience of what it must be like to not be tall and to be inches shorter than everyone else.
If you ever have the chance in a crowd Art, do the same though the odds are against you being there. It took a long time to happen to me. Now when I find myself standing among others who are trying to see beyond me, I try to remember to turn sideways somewhat to minimize my body width at the shoulder or subtly move behind them. I had been totally unaware of my being unintentionally inconsiderate of people shorter than me. Like any adult at a parade, I would always encourage kids to go around me and get in front, but never really thought about the adults behind me that much. When I speak to people in wheelchairs I sometimes now go to my knee so they don’t have to look up to speak to me and we can be face-to-face and eye-to-eye.
The funny thing is that my cousin from Seattle, her boyfriend was there for all this. He is like 5 inches taller than me. He is in that picture of my mom holding the sparkler… the really tall guy to her left.
So off to the gym for you?! lol
Oh, yeah.
lol, i have a secret..
yeah?
yeah here’s a hint
https://www.facebook.com/wepoetsshowit
That is so cool.
It is so refreshing when a happy occasion brings family together.
And the ‘refreshments’ didn’t hurt any.
So am I to understand that YOU took the pictures? In other words, you were the one to physically hold the camera, point and shoot. Is that so?
Yup. Still using my little Father’s Day camera.
GOOD LORD IN HEAVEN MAN! JUST HOW FRIGGIN’ TALL ARE YOU??
I am 6 feet 4 inches… what brought that up???
I have been 4’11” since I was 12 years-old. I’ve never seen the world from over top of anyone’s head before.
I think I will do a blog post where I put up pics of everyday things viewed from my height. You all may be surprised at what I see down here.
awwww…. now I just want to meet you so I can carry you around… (sorry)…
HA! That would be hilarious!
Even better, I’ll come out to wherever you are on Halloween and we can trick or treat as Sonny and Cher!
I will give you a mask of my face, strap you to the front of me in a baby carrier, and you can be mini me!
AWESOME!!!! Can I wear the signature PMAO Shades too?
I will, however, need a very large bib- if you know what I mean.
Oh… are you a drooler??? Hey, I sent you an email. It is a tiny little thing, but you know… don’t want to anger the great state of Texas by making people think I am from there… California is still trying to come to grips with the idea…
I replied. 🙂
I’m not a drooler, but I do come with a rather large set of endowments that I doubt you have. Maybe we’ll set you up with a box of tissues instead.
California, huh? Sorry about your sports affiliations. Sadly, we can’t all be New Englanders. 😉
Fortunately, I do not have the ‘organized sport’ gene… so the Padres can suck all they want to… But I am now worried about one thing when it comes to our Halloween idea… I hope my back doesn’t give out.
Yeah, being top heavy sucks. Hey…I know! We’ll drive around in matching clown cars! Or how about our own version of this:
That would be something to see alright… but you better be chasing me, or the cops will show up…
Holy crap, you’re right. BUT ME CHASING YOU WOULD BE EVEN FUNNIER!!!!!
Til you had to bail me out…
Oh wait… never mind… you had that right… and I would have to bail you out… so that would be funny too.
I have plenty of experience bailing people out. I wish bondsmen issued frequent flyer miles the way airlines do.
sigh
I read the post… awesome… I do have one tiny correction… I will send an email…
SingTFB…
Good food and good family?
Doesn’t get any better.
That is so true. But tomorrow is going to come close.