Celebrating Mom's 92nd - Just about everyone is there! - Poem: 92 Kisses for Mom

You've heard of fruit platters. Lynn made a Candy Platter. The central licorice candies are the same as we had in our childhood, over fifty years ago.

I did not touch a single candy or dessert until the end of the evening when my blood sugar was extremely low. Then, the first thing I did was grab one of Mom's brownies and then one of Lynn's licorice candies. Then an Almond Joy that Lynn "The Candy Man" had brought.

Although this looks like a globe of the world, n'est-ce pas? it's really my two slices of our pizza. Instead of using our usual spag sauce, we used red-ripe garden tomatoes growing at REMS Automotive.

Here's Lynn. We're happy she moved back to the bosom of the family from Bonita Springs FL. She just bought a high-mileage white KIA at a great price.

The birthday girl. She cooked all the family favorites, as long as they were desserts.

 Ellen made outstanding: Watermelon-Cucumber Soup and a new Lemon Basil Drink.

 Two teachers talk on porch.

Below: Softball on the backyard lawn.

When Patrick and Quinn got a hit, their wiffle bats made a huge crackling sound.

Grace enjoyed all the action, as did Max, who was taken into the house b/c the gnats were having their way with him.

If I weren't so tired, I'd tell you some cute happenings with Grace n Max. 

Is that my boy behind the counter?

Patrick's fave cookie is this Swedish Wedding Cookie covered with powdered sugar.

The reason Blondie looks so nice is cuz she's wearing sister Donna's dress. Also the New Yorker necklace that Robin Franklin made for her.... instrux on Etsy.

 Quinn, 12, looks very different than before. Donna and Patrick agreed that his face has changed. Said Patrick above about himself: You can look at pix of me from when I was little and my face always looks the same.

Olive and creamcheese, always a childhood favorite.

After the party, Scott and I drove in his new white Honda to the very last concert at Masons Mill Park. We sat on our beach chairs which he had loaded into his back seat. I borrowed a jacket from Ellen so my arms wouldn't get bit by mosquitos. Where does the Ebola virus that's raging thru Africa come from?

I've leave that to YOU to find out.

The jazz band was quite good. The leader is 80 yo and is a five-year cancer survivor. Put your hands together for the Barbone Street Band.

I liked this woman sitting on a blanket on the grass.

My bruised knee is healing.

92 KISSES FOR MOM

Let the memories roll

like cars on the Turnpike

rolling toward our mama’s home.

May I go first?
Camp Lejeune NC

Thanks for birthing me

on Christmas Day

a birthday few can forget

A ragtag crew came tumbling

out – see them now flying overhead

like a Chagall painting?

Donna with her black hair floating

behind her, back fixed by Dr Reardon

then broken again

nothing can stop this

Brave Barista

Is that Ellen tumbling across the sky

pockets filled with gluten-free goodies

those award-winning white meringue

kisses studded with chocolate chips

Black-haired Lynnie sails in tow

thumbs up with a peace sign on

her T-shirt, smelling of the patchouli

and incense sold at the legendary

iconic once-famous Now and Then

that melted into a soap store on the

banks of the Delaware

Search the skies for The Ame! A balloon

brings her in from Oregon. The only one

to escape the snows of the East Coast

and The Family.

David, thanks for dropping in at the end

of the table. See you’ve adjusted to the digital

age with your new Canon camera. Yes, we’ve

all growed up, all those children you loved and

taped on your recorder whose tape has frayed

the way our aging bodies are giving way but

not giving up the ghost.

What’s that thunderous noise on the roof?
Santa Claus?

Rudolph?

Aunt Ethel?

DAD!

Don’t be shy.

Lookin good, Dad, after

that cancer scare where we

thought we’d lose you.

He looks great in his Marine Corps

uniform, don’t he?

Go ahead, Dad,

go over and kiss your lovely wife,

she won’t mind,

will you Mom?

Who’s that barking outside?

Ellen, go let him in. He keeps

running away, fathering baby

Trissies.

Kisses, 92 kisses for

our beloved mother

Bernice Begis Greenwold.

What a name! Bernice.

I promise to name my

next child, Bernice,

in your honor.