On This Day In History

And that is the birthday letter August wrote to Levon and gave to him this morning. 
It almost broke me. What eleven-year old writes, or even thinks about characteristics like these in his younger brother? And he's not wrong. Levon is all those things but as Glen and I agreed this morning, the letter said even more about August than it did Levon. It has always seemed to me that the two boys have a remarkable relationship. They generally get along very well. If they fight, I've never seen them although I imagine they have had their disagreements. I can't even really imagine one of them saying, "But it's not FAIR!" about the other one. Again, perhaps they do, but mostly they enjoy being around each other, they talk, they discuss things, they support each other. When they're together for a picture they generally have their arms around each other. 
They are friends. Good friends. 
They do indeed love each other. 
And my Lord, they are sweet. 

As always on either my own children's birthdays or on my grandchildren's birthdays, I think of the days they were born. With each child there was a different story, a different setting, a different sort of labor. And I remember them all as the best days of my entire life. 
If you want Levon's birth story, you can go HERE. 
For those of you who are NOT huge birth story fans, here are a few pictures of that sweetest of days.

Just barely born. 

I think that last one says it all, don't you? I could look at that picture for hours.

A thing we do in this family is to wish the birthday person Happy Birthday and the mama, Happy Birth Day. I think that the person who gave birth is not as recognized as she should be and I will be honest with you- there were times when I was rushing and working so hard to get one of my children's birthday celebrations together with the food and the decorations and the presents, I would think, "Hold on. I went through labor and still have to do all this?"
As we all know by now, parties, whether I am going to them or throwing them, are not my favorite things. 
But we do what we must do and our babies have to have birthday parties. Even if they mostly consist of blankets on the ground for kids to sit on, grilled hot dogs, and the ultimate treat of JUICY JUICE! 
And of course a homemade cake with ice cream. 
My children seem to have survived the lack of bouncy houses and pony rides at their parties. Thank goodness. 

And if all of that were not enough, today is also the second anniversary of Hank and Rachel's wedding. Dang. And if you weren't around for that, please go HERE to get a little of the joy that day was. 
For the second part of that story, you can visit HERE.

Here's the first dance. 

Update: They're still so very much in love. 
Happy anniversary, Hank and Rachel! 

Lots of links here today and that's because there are lots of memories of two of the most important days in our family's history. 

And for me today- well, I took a walk which was the first walk I've taken since the last time I took a real walk. I have been debating the benefits of these walks, ranging from "they're good for me" to "I get to see things I would never see otherwise," versus what I know is going to happen which is that my joints and hips, especially, are going to be screaming at me all day every day and quite possibly the kidney stone situation will rear its demonic head as walking, without a doubt, jostles those things around. 

Well, fuck. I'm going to try. 

The Jefferson County, Leon County line is almost exactly one mile from my house.

The church next door to us. The oak tree behind it is on our property though. It's a very odd shaped lot. 

Beauty berries, of course. 

I also did some work in the garden, fertilizing, doing a small bit of weeding, and planting more greens seeds in grow bags. These were the seeds at the bottom of a plastic baggie I'd put my seed packets in and so these will be a surprise. Collards? Mustards? Turnips? Kale? I need to plant more lettuces because the mixed lettuce seeds I planted have produced exactly four plants. 
Four. 
As always, the arugula is thriving. The basils are still having at it and I noticed there was an abundance of bees around their buds today. So overall, I guess we're okay. The marigolds sure are having a fall festival. 

You can bet I'm not pulling those up until I get the message they're done. Since our temperatures are supposed to get down into the upper thirties this weekend, they may decide that the dance is over for this year. 
I'm going to die of cold. 

All right. Off to make a salad with arugula and basil in it. 
And by the way- that pumpkin bread was decadent. 
Moan-worthy. Better-than-cake. 
Let's hear it for Seminole pumpkins. 

Love...Ms. Moon