Our family has an amazing number of birthdays spread out over September and October!

Dear Husband and I were invited to celebrate our birthdays with My-Sister-The-Nurse and her children and grandchildren.  It was wonderful to be wrapped up in that big group of people, from newborn to almost eighty years old.  We had a lovely meal, and watched the most brazen squirrel steal the ornamental corn on the table just outside the sliding glass doors.  I love being with my extended family.

This weekend, just two weeks later, My-Sister-The-Nurse, and DH and I drove down to visit with Frankie, and her husband and daughters.  It was My-Niece-The-Artist’s birthday on Saturday, and DH’s birthday is this coming Saturday, so we were celebrating, once more.

We drove down  on Friday,  getting in around 2:00 EST.  We sat quietly for a bit, not quite snoozing, until Frankie arrived and we had the chance to chat. Dinner at home, and we all called it a day early to be ready for a full Saturday.

We had a lovely breakfast that was sorta like a  “You Pick Two…..or Three or Five” before heading off for a tour at the Kokomo Opalescent Glass factory.  This factory is the oldest art glass factory in the United States.  They supply Tiffany with glass, and their glass is in the Smithsonian and the White House.   The tour was fabulous.  We saw molten glass moved by men from the furnace to a roller, where sheets of glass were created.  A glass artist was working on blowing a small bowl, and we saw most of that process.  We walked through a HUGE room of stored sheets of glass in every color, and of course, it reminded me of a quilter’s stash.  The end of the tour brought us to the area where artists were making items for sale in the gift shop.  One of the women gave a demonstration of bead making, and we each carried away a piece of the glass we saw being made at the start of the tour.  It was just fascinating!  I brought home two hand-blown teardrop-shaped ornaments for our Christmas tree.

We went to dinner at an Irish pub to celebrate birthdays, and visited with friends who came to see our artist.  We got to spend some time with our artist’s sister, too, which was very nice.  I spent a lot of time holding Mickey, their very old grey and white tiger cat, who needed to be kept warm.   I really appreciated getting my cat fix, since we have been pet-less for some years now.

Sunday morning we were treated to a fabulous breakfast before it was time for us to head home.  Frankie makes the best egg casseroles.  Her hubby put together Michigan peaches and blueberries, and strawberries for us, and there was an amazing variety of bread: rye, wheat, cinnamon, cobblestones, apple cider donuts, and on, and on.  We could have rolled home! lol

I’m not getting across to you that it was really the time with family that was so wonderful.  Yes, the tour was interesting, and yes the meals are always fabulous, but the time spent with our family was just the best!  It was really difficult to say goodbye.

Thank you, dear sister, for a wonderful visit!  Your home is lovely, and you are an amazing hostess. Big Hugsssssssssss to you.  Take good care of yourself, hmm?