Continuing on with my beautiful summer month of August 2013…Thursday, August 22 was my Dad’s 66th birthday, but I didn’t see him on that day. There was an upcoming picnic at his house that weekend, so we suspended getting together until then. But in his honor, I met up with Carolyn and her friend Dara at Amar for some delicious Indian cuisine. Their Chicken Tikka Masala is to die for, especially when accentuated with some onion and cheese pan.
The birthday get-together, which was more aptly promoted as a “F*rrell Microreunion” was held at Dad and Vicki’s house on Saturday the 24th. As a bit of background information, I had been contacted by my second cousin Craig back in January of this year. I hadn’t seen him since my Grandma Range’s 80th birthday party in 1993. Craig actually had the foresight to contact Gene Sorkin’s The Chimp tent, remembering that I had been involved with the Sons of the Desert. Craig is the son of Scott, who is the son of Virgil, the brother of my Grandpa F.
We had been in contact sporadically for the first half of the year, and my Dad had actually already met up with him. But this was the first time that I had seen him since 1993, and the first time that I had met his wife April, and children Patrick, Carter, and Iris. Craig also brought along his mother Mary and her husband Tom. Also at the picnic were Bill & Dottie, and Denise and her kids (Aaron had to miss it after having surgery right before).
Carolyn and I picked up Silas from Christi’s house, but missed seeing her new baby Delilah because they slept through our visit. Carolyn then had to go on to work, so Silas and I headed to Dad’s. Ashleigh missed out because she was attending a wedding. We had a great time getting the scoop on each other’s lives and discussing fascinating topics like celebrity encounters and Laurel & Hardy, over the good eats like pizza, chicken, buffalo dip, blueberry pie, the Hawaiian bread I brought, and of course, Dad’s birthday cake. I gave him the first set of the color Honeymooners as his gift. Actually Silas gave it to him.
Dad blows out 66 candles, give or take a few dozen
Silas wasn’t concerned with the candle count. He was just interested in cake.
April with their most recent kidlet, Iris. She likes cake too apparently.
Little boy in the big woods
Carter, Silsa, and Patrick. For the geneaology-minded, Silas is their third cousin, once removed.
Bill and Dottie discuss world affairs
Mary, Carter, and Tom
The other F*rrell family, minus Carter
Those one kids, with Silas looking decidely uncomfortable
Vicki, Dad, and Denise’s second photobomb of the day
Silas in a kinder, gentler moment with Holly the cat
Long lost second cousins, me and Craig
The baby whisperer
Speaking of Silas, he was in great form, enjoying every minute of exploring in the woods with the other kids, climbing on Dad’s motorcycles and riding lawnmowers, hanging out around the tree, throwing sticks, and eating picnic food. He only had to sit in time out twice, once for stealing Megan’s blanket and once for hitting one of the other kids. He averted a time-out by halting the throwing of grass into the bird feeder at the last second. One of my favorite moments was when he was running toward the woods, and Mary called out that he had forgotten his shoes. Without interruption, he veered his running path straight back to me to assist.
Silas and I stayed later than everyone else, and Dad made him two scrambled eggs for dinner. That boy loves his eggs. It had been great to see these long-lost relatives and they were all nice people and class acts. I took Silas back to Stephen’s dad’s house after I left.
Carolyn and I were going to get breakfast at the Waffle House on Saturday morning, but since we ran short of time, we ended up eating at the one near our house on Sunday morning. She had to work a 12-8 that day, but when she got home, we watched Moonrise Kingdom together.
We decided to end our Summer right with some magnificent foods that Carolyn concocted and some warm summer outdoor fun. Monday the 26th saw a trip to the library and the store, where Carolyn picked up the ingredients to make two of the best homemade pizzas I’ve ever encountered: one a Reuben pizza (her idea) and one a standard pepperoni, that tasted quite un-standard. We enjoyed these as we watched the silent movie Sunrise. Really, does it get any better? With Carolyn, the answer is always yes… Tuesday (our 8-month anniversary) saw her making some chocolate and peanut butter cookies, us taking a nice walk, and watching the movie 400 Blows. Wednesday was a haircut, a walk, and City Lights.
The Reuben Pizza. I wish it were still here.
Likewise this pepperoni masterpiece
Thursday, August 29, was a great day that involved two of my most favorite people. After the store opening in Independence, I wasn’t too tired to pick up Silas from Ashleigh’s and take him back to my house, where Carolyn not surprisingly was making more cookies. We took a nice walk to the pond in our neighborhood and I taught Silas about looking both way before crossing the street. At the pond, Silas took delight in throwing pebbles into the pond – just as I did when I was his age. I’d start him off with the small ones and we would save the ‘big ‘ums’ for last.
Silas does a bang-up job at the piano
Lecturing Silas, I told him he needs to walk a mile in my shoes. So he took me up on it…
We then headed out toward Indian Riffle park, stopping to get him some Burger King along the way. After a brief time-out for throwing a chicken nugget, we stomped our familiar park ground for a bit. He rode the slides, and sat on my lap on the swings – but my favorite moment was when he ran toward the shelter house and yelled “Happy birthday!” Apparently he had been to a party a similar park shelter. We took him back to Ashleigh’s, and then as promised I took Carolyn out to Tank’s – since she had missed the dinner that I had taken Ashleigh and Silas to earlier in the month at one of her favorite local restaurants.
Enjoying the view after a hard climb
Silas is happy as we rock the playground couch thing
Slide gliding
‘Round the tornado
Gazing at the skies from a stump
Hold on tight to Pa!
Swingers in motion
He looks like he has something to tell me
As we prepared to depart the months and head into the last pre-Fall holiday, the big game changer happened on Friday the 30th: Carolyn and I bought an industrial KitchenAid 5-quart mixer. This promised to yield a plethora of exotic food creations from my little master cheffette…starting with cookies that night.
Cookies!
KitchenAid!
Labor Day would indicate that the Fall was upon us, but we had no choice. That’s where we’d be next…
I don’t know how the two of you stay so skinny! The pictures in your posts play havoc on my diet…I can’t even imagine what it must be like on your end.
Brad, the pictures of your Grandson are all great. But the one of him ‘walking in your shoes’ deserves to be framed.
Have a Happy Autumn!
Dave Chasteen
October 3rd, 2013