Labor Day Holiday

Labor Day coincides with my friend's Dana's birthday so on Saturday we cruised on over to Florida..

The trip was too rushed for me, I am more of a cruiser by nature.

I had to get my mom's food and medicine and get her all tucked in for the weekend.

Caitlin was riding up the next day after the football game and I didn't want to leave her in town with no phone. Her last phone ended its like in a toilet bowl so I didn't want a very expensive one. That was a bit of a search.

Penny is being treated for a skin infection , so I am frantically concerned for her.

Caitlin and I were in tears waiting for the vet to call us .Poor little Caitlin had to leave work crying and I had to go to Karen's for a glass of wine.. 

The news was good, her liver is strong enouugh to take the treament. We are taking her and Jack along with us, also Victoria, my weekend child.

We were all excited and stayed up until 3 the first night, finally snuggling under sleeping bags and llistening to the wind and the waves untilthey whispered softly enough to send us to sleep

The next day we floated on the bay until a shower brought us in.

It was so cute seeing Dana's dog Rascal showing Jack how to get up and down the stairs to the water!

  we went to a Mexican restaurant to sing Happy Birthday. With 3 teachers and several Margaritas, there were lots of different versions of that old natal day song!

Then another night on the dock where stiff joints were defeated by stalwart hearts (and rum)

 

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It's Time for a Walk

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sunflowers

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Be careful what you wish for....

Look at Caitlin and Ian driving off in his brand new truck.

It really has not been that long since they were sitting in a stroller together.

While we are on the subject of cars,

just have a look at mine

Molly, Caitlin,Leah and Kelsey came running up to the house, all excited!

"Come look! Close your eyes! We have a surprise for you!"

It seems that they had decorated a friends'car for a football game a while back...

and I said, "How cool, I wish someone would decorate my car"

Apparantly I should have said, "How cool, I wish someone would paint my kitchen"

It reminds me of the time when Mariah was bitty and I said, "What is this colored all over my bedroom wall?"

"I did it,"she exclaimed proudly, "It says, I love you, Mommy."

I painted around it.

I drove around town proudly with my decorated car, too.

Toilet Humor

We were having problems with a leaky toilet.
Now, Tom can fix anything
Not always exactly the way you would want it fixed
but it will either work or be so torn up that you dont' have to worry about it anymore.
He comes in with another toilet.
He tightens it too far and it cracks.
Lesser men night have cussed and fussed
Not my Tom
He gets another beer
AND another toilet
problems again
not to worry
He comes back with yet ANOTHER toilet.
By this time
I have to ask
"Where the hell are you getting all these toilets?"
(It is important to note that I only asked after the third toilet)
Turns out there is this bar in Mobile
the place to go if you are young and/or hip
called The Soul Kitchen
semi-famous people play there
like Paulo Nutini
Drive By Truckers
Corey Smith
but I digress
this bar had recently moved
and is owned by Tom's boss's son
He apparently neglected to take his toilets with him.
So
my toilet probably has some tales to tell....
 It's also a handicapped toilet
so everyones feet dangle into space..
Never a dull moment!

The 106th Birthday Party

The Porch was jumping
People came from everywhere!
Tom and Marti were 106
I'm 51, he's 55.

This is my mom.

Tom and his Mom

Look at rowdy little red-cheeked Lilly, all of five years old.

George Landon and Evelyn, cousins, 2 years old.They live next door to each other and are best friends and worst enemies.

Allan , my seven year old superhero.

My old friend Steve and the new member of our family, his partner, Vaughn,who drove 3 hours to be with us.
Also , Dana, one of the Lagoonatics from Florida.
Trying to decide how to put the candles on the cake. (I can't stop being a teacher)
Blowing out the candles
and a kiss....
Paula, who just moved from Atlanta to FL, My daughter Mariah and Stacey , who came from MS fo the festivities.
Paul, my artist friend, Vaughn and Gina. I waited tables with her back in the Paddy O Toole's days and we have recently gotten back in touch.
getting some baby lovin from my great niece Evelyn
Me, Rachel, also from the old Paddy's days, and Jutta, who lived nextdoor to me for about 7 years. we moved , then she moved in next door again at the new house.We stayed up way too late on moonlit nights.When she married Paul 10 years ago, she asked tom if he would give her away. "I'll walk you down the aisle,"he said almost tearfully, "but I'll never give you away"

Definitely time to say goodnight!
We are so lucky to be so loved.
I loved it that kids I used to take care of that are in their twenties now,come to hang with us. Here are Miranda Becca and Katie chowing down on some cake...It's still fun to play at Marti and Tom's house! I love having the house filled with kids.
I love having our mothers with us.
It's a good life.
I'll never feel bad about growing older as long as birthdays are such fun!
Wishing you new birth all of your days,
Marti

Playing at Paula's

My best friend Paula just moved from Atlanta to Inerarity Point , FL, 3 streets down from my other best friend Dana.

Now I have my best friend Stacey 1hour and a half to the west and Dana and Paula 1 hour and a half to the east.

Life is good!

Paula lived with her mom in Atlanta for 12 years after a horrible divorce.

All this time she talked about a beach house she would have one day.

She even had a hope chest filled with beach stuff.

We all indulged her, like a child who says "this is what I'm gonna be when I grow up".

No one thought she would ever really do it.

But she damn sure did!

She took a deep breath, held her nose and dived in.She quit her jobs (all three of them) , packed her car and moved!

Dreams come true.

But not by themselves.

Paula's girls, Kelsey and Leah, mine, Mariah and Caitlin, showing snowball toungues.

"How can she do that?" everyone asks

The answer is most of her childhood and all of my money spent in a gym.

This is pretty much the way I've looked all summer.

Mariah hasn't had a vacation in years.She was like the teenagers, all giggly and silly. I loved seeing her like that.

On the way home, Mariah said,"I have a feeling we need to stop and buy lottery tickets."

We won 62$!

This made the entire trip cost us 40 bucks!

Life is good here on the sunny side.

I wish everyone blue skies and beach breezes,

Marti