Friends, family, festivities, and the Friendly Confines

Me and the girlies of Michigan, on May sixth

It's past but I'm going to show you my Easter table. In fact, two Easter tables: mine at home and Audrey's at hers, where we had Easter dinner.

And then you must see my Month-of-May table, honoring mostly, Mother's Day. Towards the end I do switch some mommy things out for some Memorial Day things.

Decorative but not functional

I don't do a great deal of seasonal decorating aside from my dining table and the ledge that surrounds it. And of course the front door.

Now as for Easter. I know what the holiday is about: the resurrection from the dead of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I know that it's not open for interpretation.

This bottle comes out for the month of May

However. While I have a white cross that of course is part of the display, I do bring out my bunny collection during April. A few egg-type decorations too. Don't judge.

But I'm getting ahead of myself because I wanted to start with my/our most recent adventures, and work backwards.

The roses were from my son Andrew

That way, I have a shot at keeping you on your toes.

We had a pleasant Mother's Day. We waited to celebrate until the Monday after, when a bunch of us went out to a Chinese buffet restaurant and exchanged all of our gifts.

Dagny and family spent the week before Mother's Day in Washington DC

(I buy gifts for my daughters on Mother's Day because they are mothers, and they buy me gifts because I am their mother.)

On that same Monday -- this past -- our Andrew texted me to let me know that he was in Chicago overnight. Since the Cubs were back in town, he wanted to know where the best seats were.

Rhett and Elliot were thrilled with their gifts from Mari

(Andrew is a pilot who flies a charter jet. He had flown clients to Chicago and just had to wait for them to be ready to go back home.)

So I told him, and he got seats near where I said, and he and a buddy co-pilot went to the game. And he had a fantastic time, not having been to Wrigley since he was a child too young to remember, and he sent me some great pictures of the stadium and the sky.

The sunset at Wrigley Field on May 12 when Andrew was there

(Since TG and I had been at Wrigley for a game exactly one week earlier, it made me wonder how many more times in this life that the stars will align in just such a way. I am thinking zero times.)

On Tuesday a box of two dozen roses arrived from Andrew. He told me that when he ordered them, the agreement was that they would be delivered on Sunday. Mother's Day.

I told Andrew that Dansby is my favorite player so he sent me this

I'm sure Andrew wondered why, as we were texting on the day before about the Cubs game, that I never mentioned the flowers. Because I didn't yet know about the flowers. Arrgghh.

But I liked receiving the roses on Tuesday and have enjoyed them a great deal. Such pretty colors! Although Andrew said his instructions were to include a majority of pink and white roses, and he was disappointed, I told him that I love them just the way they are.

Erica says this is Sibi impersonating an otter

Still working backwards, Erica came over last Saturday to bring Rizzo home. The Chericas had kept him for us while we were out of town for the better part of a week.

The purpose of our recent trip was two-fold: to visit Wrigley Field once again and see our Cubbies play a baseball game in the Friendly Confines, and to visit my dear friend Mari and her husband Bob in Allendale, Michigan. Just west of Grand Rapids.

Sibi does have ears ... and side eye ... to spare

The game came first, on Monday, May fifth, and it was as much fun as always, and the home team won, which was a joyful outcome. Yes we sang Go Cubs Go and I waved my large W flag.

It is a mere two-and-a-half-hour drive from Chicago to Mari's house, and we arrived there at about two in the afternoon on Tuesday, having lost an hour in the process (it's one hour earlier in Chicago than at Mari's).

Me in the courtyard of our hotel before leaving for Allendale

But that was fine because if we'd left for home directly from Chicago, we would have misplaced the very same hour.

Mari and Bob were there on the front porch to greet us, and a truly wonderful visit commenced. That evening, Mari's two daughters and their husbands and children came over for grilled hamburgers.

Meet Rose, one of the golden speed bumps

I have followed Mari's blog long enough to have commented on the birth of all of these children, and over the years both Mari and I have lavished one another's kids and grandkids with gifts for visits or special occasions such as weddings and births and so forth.

So, I've seen Alaina and Ruby grow up, and I rejoiced at the births of Cassie and Connor, and it was a special treat to meet each one of them.

Violet, the other golden speed bump at Barefoot Dave's in Grand Haven

Alaina and Ruby both had gifts for me, and I had gifts for all four children, and after supper we enjoyed opening those. Then we all sat outside on the porch on the cool spring evening.

The next day, Mari and Bob had planned a trip for us to Holland, Michigan -- where it was Tulip Time -- and to Grand Haven, and then to the White River Light Station, for sightseeing.

Even in springtime, the cemetery was haunting

But our first stop was at Oak Hill Cemetery in Grand Rapids, where we spent a happy few hours photographing some breathtaking monuments and flowering trees.

The weather was perfect; Not hot and not cold. Balmy, sunny, sublime. To wander a historic cemetery with no time constraints, with friends who understand how much I love this and who share my enthusiasm, was so great and I am so grateful.

There was a glut of beauty both natural and man-made

Then we headed for Holland, where it was so crowded that we couldn't even find a parking spot. I did get a glimpse from afar of the original old-country windmill that stands in a field of tulips. I did not see the tulips but I did see the windmill.

So Bob drove us to Grand Haven, where there's a spectacular red lighthouse. When we got out of the car, I was shocked to learn that the temperature on the lake was twenty degrees colder than in Grand Rapids, and there was a stiff wind.

The redbud trees were showing out

I gamely walked all the way out on the pier to the light, but I was suffering. Still, it was an awesome experience because I've seen Mari's blog photos year after year, during the winter, of this pier when it's clad in ice.

She braves that every year to get the shots, so I tried not to complain too much of the cold on a day in early May. BUT next time I'll get my Pittsburgh Pirates zip-up sweatshirt out of the car and bring it with me any time I'm near Lake Michigan.

It was cold at the White River Light Station too

Thought you were a Cubs fan, you may be thinking. Yes. Yes I am; but we were in Pittsburgh last spring to see them play our Cubs at PNC Park, and the day turned so cold that I had to buy a jacket.

They don't sell Cubs merch in Pittsburgh.

Another view of the tiny lighthouse that has seen 150 winters

(And yes I have Cubs merch -- several t-shirts and a player jersey and even a sweatshirt that's on the thinner side -- but I haven't yet found the right Cubs jacket. I'm still shopping.)

I had also forgot my jacket two days earlier when we were in Chicago for the Cubs game at Wrigley Field. When we set out from our hotel to walk the half-mile to the ballpark, the sun was shining and it was warm.

Propeller on the grounds of the White River Light

But TG and I sit in upper-deck seats because we love the view, and I'd forgotten about the shadows up there, and the fact that night was coming, and then there's the wind whipping off the lake.

And yes I've been there before, and I know all about the fickle Chicago weather, and I still got it wrong.

My friend Marsha gave me a new deviled egg platter

And yes I would wear a Pirates jacket to a Cubs game. Because I'm a pirate.

For a few weeks prior to our trip to Chicago, we hosted Sybil Ann at our house. Who, you may be thinking, is Sybil Ann? 

That's the Chericas' dog, better known as Sibi. She's a tiny hybrid of Chihuahua and something else that I never can remember.

Our Easter table at Audrey's house

Since Erica was going to be keeping my Rizzo while we were gone, I'd been eager to have Sibi stay for a few weeks because I like having her around and Rizzo likes her too.

They play and carry on like siblings, and since Chad's dog Jonah went away over the Rainbow Bridge last fall, Sibi has been lonely.

We had the cross and also bunnies

And before that, it was Easter.

Our church had a sunrise service and breakfast, but it was too early for me so I went at regular church time.

The day before, I'd spent some time at Audrey's preparing for Easter dinner.

And there were cookies and fritters for Easter too

It all came off without a hitch. We had a succulent spiral-cut brown-sugar-glazed ham, funeral potatoes, pineapple casserole, broccoli casserole, deviled eggs, rolls with butter, and I don't know what all else, except I do recall that Erica made her famous fruit trifle.

It was a scrumptious meal and the weather was pretty that day, and now it's a happy memory.

TG and me together in Chicago

That brings me to where I left you a few weeks ago, because it was on Good Friday that we'd gone to Culver's on the North Carolina-South Carolina line, for the party celebrating our Allissa's seventeenth birthday.

I hope you're not confused. Perhaps another read-through? Or leave your questions in the comments.

TG and me on Easter Sunday

Speaking of Allissa and all of the family in North Carolina, they'll be here as usual for Memorial Day a week from Monday. 

Our daughter-in-law Brittany is going on a trip, but Andrew and Ember and Guy will be with us for that holiday. I'll share all about it at the appropriate time. 

It's also the day that we traditionally celebrate our Erica's birthday, although that is not officially until May thirtieth.

Another birthday party. Can you believe?

And that is all for now.

=0=0=0=

Happy Thursday