Sunday, June 15

Today is Father's Day. Happy Father's Day to all the dads in the family. And happy memories of the dads who are no longer with us.

We were up at 6 a.m. this morning, so we could complete preparations for a family gathering honoring Hubbie for Father's Day and his birthday. No matter how much we accomplish in the few days ahead of a gathering, there are generally still three hours of work to be done before folks arrive.

One of Hubbie's daughters was the first to arrive. She brought a vegetable plate to add to the meal. Others arrived by 11 a.m. In another hour, almost everyone was here, and the meal was done.

Seventeen of us enjoyed a meal of a choice of ham, barbecue, or chicken (I cooked the chicken this morning in the slow cooker), potato salad, macaroni salad, baked beans, coleslaw, cheese dip, chips, raw veggies, fresh fruits, and a choice of lemon pudding cake, or pineapple upside down cake, and drink choices of water, sweetened or unsweetened tea, soft drinks, or coffee.

This is Hubbie's 80th birthday, so I put the number 80 on pineapple upside down cake. I usually only put number candles on Mother's cake, but now that Hubbie has reached his eighth decade, I felt he should have candles, too.

Hubbie got lots of nice cards for his birthday...which is actually on Tuesday...as well as a pretty spectacular gift of an e-tablet. His kids and sisters went in together to get this for him, mainly to entice him to use his social network page more.

Among family who attended today were one of his sisters (the other is ill and couldn't come), his nephew and great-niece, his niece and her husband and baby, his two daughters, one of whom came with her husband and granddaughter, his grandson and great-granddaughter, and his son and grandson.

We had pushed the couches back against the wall, and rearranged the other furniture, so there was room to set up three card tables and chairs. With the leaf in the dining room table, everyone was comfortably seated for lunch.

Around 3 p.m., everyone was ready to leave. Before I let them get away, I herded them out into the yard for a group photo.

It was an enjoyable day, but we were pooped afterward. Mother was ready to go home shortly, so I fixed a container of food for her to have later...cold chicken, and macaroni salad...and a container of cake helpings. She wanted a small piece of each kind.

Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house, then crashed in his recliner, where he slept for about an hour and a half. Later, I went to Mother's to put drops in her eyes and check the thermostat. It was set at 77 degrees, but she said that's where she wanted it.

Around 7 p.m., Hubbie and I were finally ready for supper. We had more of what we had for lunch, then watched TV for a while. I was plenty ready for bed by the time 10 p.m. rolled around.