Sunday, April 22, 2007

Fresh Eyes

I spent the day with my brother, Jim. We had some a really good conversation.

Jim and I haven't had the opportunity to spend a lot of time together because we have never lived in the same place since I've been an adult. We still don't but now that he's in Kentucky where everyone else is, I get to see him much more.

After visiting with him I came back to Jackie and Mary Ann's and spent some time in their backyard journaling. I sat where I could look out at the sunset. They have most of the chairs oriented the other way because they are early risers and are much more likely to see the sunrise.



And I had this lovely view...



It's sometimes difficult to see places you're used to with fresh eyes, but when you give it a go, you're likely to find things that seem new to you again. Jackie has always had  real appreciation of history.





Jackie and Mary Ann love birds of all sorts. In the summer she has hundreds of hummingbirds, but it's still early for them. There was one yesterday and two today. However, there are houses for other birds, too.



Last Sunday while they were gone to church, a large tree at the back of the yard fell over. It was probably rotten for some time and finally fell.



It's just a few yards from this tree, which I think has a cool shape. It's also where some of the tools make their home.



There's a great view of the tobacco barn from there. No tobacco has been in it for many years, but barns are incredibly useful things. It's a pity we don't have them in town - we'd probably all be able to get our cars in the garages if we did.



I guess  in most families, a birthday celebration is straight-forward - there's cake, there's ice cream, there's singing - people go home.

Well, in my family a birthday celebration includes all of the above, but also has some worms, crocheting, porch painting and mulch mixed in.

Wednesday is Jim's 66th birthday but we all gathered today to celebrate. There were people there I haven't seen in a long, long time.

April is a big birthday month for us. Jim and BC are on the 25th, Jackie is the 22nd, and my mom's was the 24th.

We took lots of pix, including some of those family group things that everyone always intends to do but we never get around to.



 I have a few pix over the years of my with both my brothers, including one we took last year, but they are few and far between. There's so much age difference in us that they were grown, married and out of the house before I was born. Obviously, that doesn't offer the normal amount of opportunity for pix.




There was much outdoor work going on today - the porch was painted and Wayne, his daughter, Chrissy, and her boyfriend, Joe, were working hard. They planted, put down black cloth and mulched.



 I think I'd like Chrissy and Joe to come stay with me for awhile - they're both hard workers - my house could dramatically improve in a short amount of time.



Chrissy is a hard worker...






The little guy there with Joe is Alex, Angie's son. Angie is Wayne's oldest daughter. Yeah, I know, you need a scorecard.

Alex found a a little friend...



He wanted to share with his mom, and his grandpa, Wayne...



Meanwhile, indoors, Mary Ann was helping Joyce with some crochet questions. Does this look like the student at the feet of the master? It kinda is... Mary Ann is a crocheter extraordinaire.










Leah, however, is having none of it and looks on from afar...



Overall people seemed to be having fun...













Johnny and I would like to make it very clear that we did the dishes!
























Hopefully Jim had a good time. The rest of us did, I'm sure.