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| My daughter Avery's spectacular carrot cake. |
I remember when Jennifer turned 50.
We had a big party. All the ‘Dillos came. I made a mix for the
occasion. Almost 4 hours of Neil Young music that Jennifer and I
enjoyed. Some of the ‘Dillos like Neil. Anyway, we inflicted that
on everybody. Did it again later for my 50th. They are an accepting
bunch, bless them.
This time it was classic jazz that
everybody seemed to welcome. Chet Baker, Miles Davis, Bill Evans.
Stuff from the late ’50s and early ’60s. Will and Clint and I had
a brief conversation about Davis’s Kind
of Blue album. Clint
wanted to know what service I was using. It’s just YouTube.
Frankly, I don’t know why anyone needs anything else, but that’s
just me.
Conversations can go anywhere with
the ‘Dillos and associated friends that honored Twin Oaks for the
occasion. Ailments are unfortunately part of the talk now. But so is
art, music, travel, handmade crafts, pets, plants, parks, crawl
spaces, local history, strange ideas, anything you’d like to share.
That’s this group in spades.
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| It was a gorgeous late fall afternoon in our back yard. |
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| The appetizers were magnificent. |
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| Action shots... |
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| Paul, me and Clint yacking. |
Avery and Carter joined us, of
course. My newly engaged daughter got to show off her perfectly
elegant ring. So a big part of the yacking was congratulatory and
excited about that future event. Local friends Jeff, Amanda, Jane,
Paul and others dropped by to share a gorgeous late-fall afternoon
outside with Clint, Mark, Brian, Diane, and Will up from Atlanta.
We drank nine bottles of Prosecco,
which I kept either in the freezer or on ice. We cleared the carport
and opened it up for a nice sitting space overlooking the gardens and
the woods. Gin and tonics came in a distant second. Jennifer had free
rein on the arrangements. She had everything catered to her
specifications, with variations on her own recipes used by the
caterer. It was fantastic, decadent, and totally fitting the
occasion.
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| More action shots... |
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| Can you find the engaged young woman in this photo? Carter sits next to her. Her high school friend Dakota joined us. He always brightens a room. |
After decades of success in her own
business, she is also retiring. So the party was no mere gathering.
It was a double celebration. There was plenty of all the good stuff
and more than plenty in a few instances but, hell, excess is a ‘Dillo
tradition, though we have dialed it back through the years. My
personal favorites were Jennifer’s catered Smack Yo Mama Mac and
Cheese and Avery’s not-catered homemade carrot cake. Both made
everybody go mmmm.
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| The presentation of the cake to "Happy Birthday" sung over a Bill Evans piano riff. |
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| Jennifer received some quaint and thoughtful gifts. |
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| We've seen rowdier days. This was just right. |
Congratulations to my life partner. We met on my birthday in 1987. Retirement won’t suit her. She’ll be busy planning stuff, planting stuff, traveling and arguing about how some people just don't know how to run a committee. Whatever it is, cheers to the one I love.
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| As gorgeous as ever...all things considered. |
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