in spite of ourselves

I don't know how it happened, but suddenly my mother turned 76 and I turned 54 and BG got to be twenty five. We're all still in the village, thank goodness. Today we celebrated her birthday down at the log cabin that was built in the 30's. As the story goes, it was a hunting lodge for the Ferguson family back in the day. There was this big old cottonwood tree that stood guard over the cabin while me and brothers were growing up there. It died a few years ago and had to be cut down. Fortunately there was another little tree that wrapped its' branches all crooked like up and around the trunk of that ancient cottonwood. Pardon me for not knowing the name of it. I'll have to ask Daddy tomorrow after breakfast at Mel's.

A good time was had by all at the girl party. We ate fattening stuff for lunch and drank fruit tea. Me and Yaya even managed to sneak out to the patio for some state of the union chat. The blended history within the group that showed up at our log cabin today would fill an entire shelf at the local library.

I'm considering a restful night's sleep on the couch because it's early and I'm tickled to death to be at home with Sam and Faith, listening to my kids discuss things rationally in the kitchen. As much as I hate drama, this is the closest thing to heaven for a smartass country gal who is an asparagus and tomato farmer. And terrified of snakes! There was a six month period where that wore out faded couch was my bed. What the HELL was I thinking?