Thursday, July 27, 2017

A Birthday ... Among other Things

A local horse farm, flanked by the sunset
 The summer is flying along. I caught the above photo Monday night while driving home from Oriental. I'd been enjoying the company of lots of lovely ladies at our church's second "Ladies Salad Supper." Here are the ladies. Don't they look happy? We had fun.
 I finished knitting this shawl. (It's bigger than it looks.) I'm wondering whether to put a little trim around the edge, so I laid that red yarn around the edge to see -- what do you think? Crochet a picot border or not? Red? Another color?
 At least once a week Adam puts in his "office hours" down at the river park in Oriental. He enjoys reading there and meeting/talking to people who walk by. When you have a dog like Beau, you have your own greeting squad!
 Here's a random thing. We were in Books-a-Million and saw this display for record players. Really! Brand new ones for sale to the youth of today. I was puzzled. Do kids have LP's to play on them? I have a stack or two of old LP's, but I don't think my kids do. Is this supposed to appeal to them or me?
 If there's any doubt, the display next to it helps -- a whole rack of Harry Potter stuff, with prominent LP's of the Harry Potter motion picture soundtrack. Yes, a soundtrack that was written long after LP's were old news. I guess they want my kids' generation to buy the LP's and the record player, and put away their iPod shuffles and cell phones/ear buds.
 Adam and I love to drive down to Vandemere to their beautiful waterfront park. It's pristine, shady, quiet, and hardly used. We were the only ones there Friday evening.
 The  docks are quite nice too.
 We are enjoying our nearly-empty-nesting.
 So is Beau :) He says, "Can I be the only kid now, huh?"
 Well, here's the real last kid! Julia just turned 18. As is tradition with our kids, she went straight out and did something that would've been illegal for her the day before -- she bought a lottery ticket!
 What a cutie. This is what Beau did the whole time she was in the store:
 Two birthday photos:
 

This is the third year Anna has bought Julia a Chinese birthday candle.
The first year, it pretty  nearly blew up!
Last year, we lit it outside to prevent a house fire.
Here's this year's candle, straight from the orient:
 

It came in the most unusual bubble wrap I've seen. It's a bubble wrap container with a hinged lid.
 

I won't post the video here because it's long and big to load, but the great firing of the birthday candle was a flop. I think the mechanism failed to ignite properly. The candle arms never extended, the central flame did not shoot up, there was no endless birthday song either. Boohoo! But it was fun lighting it and watching the plastic melt!
Adam bought Julia a glass dip pen for her birthday. She loves it.
 He already had ink she can use.
 I baked her a pumpkin pie at her request.
 One last random thing I want to share -- look at the beautiful purse I found at our local thrift store for $4!! What a find. The brand is Sakroot. Julia was given a small purse by this company for her birthday. I love the style of the fabric.
In addition to these varied events, Adam and I enjoyed a visit with friends on their boat in the town dock slip in Oriental. Ray and Beth travel around, living aboard. They've sailed on their 41' boat from Texas to Florida to Virginia to the Great Lakes, down via the Mississippi River, with a stay at a lovely marina in Demopolis, AL, and many other places. We enjoyed hearing their news. They pass through our area every few years.

And this morning I sang with a friend, Nadine, at the 1st anniversary of the Oriental grocery store, "The Piglet." It's a small Piggly Wiggly, thus the name. Nadine and I are in the early stages of trying to form a group called "Higher Ground," a gospel ensemble with guitar (her) and autoharp (me) with an Appalachian Folk sound. It was fun to sing, but hot. Usually we sing in church, at the 5th Sunday Sings, and hopefully at local nursing homes this coming year.

That's all from us, folks! I hope you're staying cool this summer. We're almost done with July. Hooray!!!

6 comments:

Carol Blackburn said...

Sure sounds like you've had a busy week and it's only Thursday. Lots of fun stuff. Congratulations to Julie on turning 18. The nest may be empty but it seems that the heart is full. Enjoy your day!

GretchenJoanna said...

You are so busy! The summer heat isn't keeping you down, is it?

That birthday candle is quite extravagant! I've never seen anything like it. God bless Julia in this new era, and you the parents, the nearly-empty-nesters :-)

Pom Pom said...

Aw! Happy birthday, good Julia!

Una said...

I've just been catching up on the tale of the exploding candle. Scary. I must have missed it first time around. As for the shawl, my favourite colour is blue so there are no prizes for guessing which colour I would use to edge it.

Lisa Richards said...

That is puzzling about the LPs and record players.
That park in Vandemere looks like a most excellent place for "introverting"! Ha ha!
I would vote for a darker color for the shawl trim. Maybe one of the plummy colors?
I spent a lot of time mourning over being an empty nester. My poor hubby said, "It feels like everyone DIED!" I decided to be more philosophical about it and just be happy that they are so happy and excited about their young lives. Glad you guys are taking the positive route!
I enjoyed watching the Chinese birthday candle melt on FB. :)
The dip pen is gorgeous!
I just ordered a vintage purse on Ebay. I'm not a purse and shoe collector, but I wanted an across the body type purse that would hold just the essentials. Tired of my big bag. I saw this one and it was so intriguing. I made a Best Offer and it was accepted! How thrilling!
Tell Julia to take it easy on the lottery tickets and I'll try to do the same on Ebay, hahahahaha! ;)

Lisa Richards said...

As if my first comment wasn't long enough, I just wanted to say I'm excited for your new ensemble! I used to sing a lot but haven't for years. A friend was telling someone the other day that I sing just like Amy Grant!! I had to say, "Nope. Not any more." (If I ever did.) Allergies seem to have invaded my vocal chords. But you inspire me to try again! You are a renaissance woman for sure!