Easter Weekend

We’re back from our trip to visit my dad over Easter weekend. Not only was it Easter, but my Dad celebrated his 89th birthday on Saturday…Happy Birthday, Dad!

He had a big party at my sister’s house, which was his signature fish fry…he has hosted fish fries for many years, so it seems the most appropriate way to get together in his honor. He has even specified that, after his funeral, he wants us to have one!

We took a few minutes to run out to the cemetery and check out the new flowers on Mom’s grave – very beautiful!

On Easter Sunday, my two sisters and one of my brothers-in-law came over and we had Easter dinner together – that hasn’t happened in many years! I had picked up a Honey-baked ham and some of their sides, so that was pretty yummy.

I had an interesting experience the first morning I was there – I opened the kitchen nook curtains and spotted a little turtle munching on a mushroom out back (left photo below). It brought back memories of the last time I saw my mom – we were visiting in Oct. of 2007, and she took K. and I out back to see a turtle that would come around for her to feed it (right photo below). From the size and markings I can tell that it’s not the same turtle, but I like to think that it’s a relative 😮

And finally, we made that long drive back home yesterday – K. took a turn at the wheel for TWO HOURS! She did very well, handling rain, bad directions from the Garmin, road construction, uneven pavement, and a bucket in the middle of the road…nothing fazed her – I was very impressed!

And I almost forgot a funny incident about a mile from home…Dad called and said that he had been sitting at his computer after we left and thought to himself, “I forgot to give Donna her keys!” I said, “Keys?” He said, “No…CHEESE!” Every year he buys cheese from his alma mater, Mississippi State – they sell it in the MSU Cheese store…MSU has its roots in an old Agricultural and Mechanical College. Dad gives the cheese out to lucky recipients at Christmastime, but since we didn’t see him then, he had just been saving it in the fridge for us. He had forgotten to mention it before we left, but fortunately, as I was loading our cooler, I saw the cheese box with our name on it and packed it as well. This year the cheese was Vallagret – can’t wait to get into it!

Now it’s back to the usual – I started to say “back to regular life”, but I’m not sure living in the middle of renovating a house can be considered “regular”! 😮