Monday, September 07, 2009

Mom's Birthday Party ... There WILL Be Chicken


A portion of the party chicken, at the first lid lifting progress check.

Mom turns a year older this week and since we can't zip to St. Augustine during the work week, we celebrated her yesterday.
Saturday, I barbecued beaucoup chicken so that she and Dad would have some extra to eat after my crew descended on her dining room table to feast in her honor.
We had a great feast, ... BBQ chicken, our heirloom salad, green beans, garlic bread, corn on the cob, and a carrot cake that was amazingly amazing.

For a cake with no chocolate, I have to admit it was delicious. I've always thought of carrot cake as kind of a girly, tea partyish, bridal showery, frilly cake, but I had to eat my words and two pieces of cake yesterday.
It was so good.


Mom specifically requested the presence of her grandog, so Bear got to go to the oldest city too!
He was very good, did not destroy anything, and turned on the charm to totally shmoooze his grandmother. Here he is testing the seabreeze for new smells.


Mom and Dad have wonderful mature pines towering over their suburban lot. They are straight and massive. They are the kind of huge straight pines that would have wound up as ship masts in another time.
When I arrived at 2:00am Sunday morning, a full moon was illuminating the yard and a huge owl swooped in and landed at the top of a pine as I unloaded the JEEP.
I never would have seen it on a normally dark night.
Sweet!
Why the late (or was I early?) arrival?
'Cause I felt like driving Saturday night, but I didn't get that feeling until late in the evening.
So, Bear and I went early.


The last time I saw Mom's goldfish pond leopard frog, I swear it was about half this size. That was a few months ago.
It popped out of the pond while I was tweaking her waterfall pump yesterday.





And here is the reason I did not post Saturday or Sunday.

The birthday girl needed chicken cooked long and slow ... that would be Saturday's excuse.
Plus, she needed us.
That was Sunday's excuse.

Later this month, it will be Dad's turn, so I may miss another post in late September, but for now I'm back.

I've got purple finches, datils, butterflies, exotics, and whatever happens today to post this week, so stay tuned.

22 comments:

Dani said...

Happy Birthday wishes to your Mom. She's a beauty. :)

MamaHen said...

Yea!!! Happy Birthday to Mom!! hope she had a great day.
I love carrot cake! We'd been fightin' over it! lol!

Drinky Crow said...

Bear at 2:00 AM. THAT is a wake-up call.


Happy Birthday to the FC Matriarch.

cinbad122 said...

There was NO carrot cake at the baby shower I went to....only brownie a la mode!

jean said...

Happy Birthday to your Mom. I'm glad Bear behaved himself.

MinorcanMeteorolgist said...

That pine tree looks perfect to climb (see my latest blog post.)
And, yet again, I learned the identity of an animal on here. I have seen plenty of those frogs out in the swamp, and could never identify them. Thanks again.
Happy birthday to your mom!!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday to your mom! It looks like a great day.

Patti

kevin said...

Happy Birthday.

I look forward to running into them at Wal-Mart soon.

Deb said...

Your mom sure is a beautiful woman! And in my mind, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting is pure heaven.

R.Powers said...

Thanks Dani! I think so too!

Annie,
We'd have to arm wrestle for it!

Drinky,
LOL! He's a wack job at any hour! Pretty fun to travel with though.

Cindy,
Brownie ala mode? You must have been in hell ... poor thing.

Jean,
Thanks! Yes, I was relieved when we loaded back up and he had not broken anything or anyone.

HT,
Climbing trees always sounds good to me! You posted? I'm still showing Florida Folk Fest.

Patti,
Thanks! She had a good time.

Kevin,
If that doesn't work, go eat breakfast Sat at Theo's! Mrs. FC said she saw ya.Go Gators!


Deb,
Thanks, I have always thought that too! You would have loved this cake then.

Ericka said...

happy birthday to your mom! the menu sounds fabulous. you're making me hungry.

cool froggy - i hope bear didn't notice him.

LauraHinNJ said...

Happy Birthday FC's mom!

BTW, I love that Bear's definition of *being good* centers around his not destroying anything.

;-)

Sayre said...

Oh, good boy, Bear!!! You're a big dog now!

So sweet to cook for your mom on her birthday - that chicken looks delicious!

Aunty Belle said...

Woo hoo!!

Happy B'Day Mama! Whata fine time y'all had--a son that cooks (uh, who made that carrot cake?)is a treasure.

Them is fabulous pines--ya know, FC, we doan git so many down heah--I mean Orange/Osceola counties--an' growin' up in G'ville (Go Gators!!) we had plenty of tall pines. I like the smell of pine.

Youse very fortunate to have yore Mama to visit.

MinorcanMeteorolgist said...

FC - Yes, about that...I didn't post because I got in one of my "academia-must-solve-problems" modes...So instead of writing about tree climbing, I've been studying electric force fields at a "physics party" with a bunch of my friends (wow, we're nerdy)
And you need to check your email before I start deducting points from YOUR grade. :-)

lisa said...

Well, that sounds like mom had a great birthday thanks to the wonderful son and family! Food sounded awful good!!

threecollie said...

Happy birthday to your Mom. Sounds like a great time!

Thunder said...

Tell her Happy Birthday from us!

Kathy said...

I love reading your family related posts. Happy birthday to your mom. You have such a lovely family!

roger said...

a fine looking mom. a fine looking cake. happy birthday!!!

Miz S said...

Isn't it funny how grand-dogs recognize the TRUE alpha female and accord her the proper respect?

Happy birthday to your lovely mother.

R.Powers said...

Thanks y'all! She had a great day. I appreciate the kind words.