Over the weekend, we celebrated my mother's birthday! It was great fun. Family and friends came from all over, up and down the Eastern seaboard to celebrate with my mom. My dad, Bill, took care of the food. He made sure it had a Southern theme since my mom originally hails from Georgia. There were ribs, collards, mac and cheese, grilled chicken, cornbread, and all kinds of delectable appetizers. I for one had never tried watermelon and feta mousse. I highly recommend it.
I worked on the invitations. They went through several and I mean several permutations. I finally ended up with a simple bouquet of hollyhocks. My mother loves hollyhocks and other flowers that can thrive in rocky soil and other tough places. It's incredibly symbolic of the beauty and strength that can come from hardship. My brother Walker set up the playlist. It was music from the 1960's. We enjoyed Smokey Robinson, Ray Charles, Aretha, and James Brown to name a few. The food was delicious, and the weather was perfect, although our dear friend Murphy said it was a little chilly for his Southern constitution. I was amazed by all of the people she had a special connection with over the years. I'll let the pictures do the talking ~ well most of the talking. ;-)
Bill ~ waiting for the celebration to begin. . . .
You know I couldn't resist the hydrangeas in my mom's backyard.
There's my brother in the black shirt.
There's my mom!
My great aunt ~ one of the matriarchs of the family
Mema ~ a matriarch ~ we are lucky to have several in our family.
Pop Pop ~ a family patriarch.
I love shiny silver urns.
Our dear friend Murphy, well he is more of a family member. . . . There will be more about him tomorrow.
Doran got into my mom's makeup and promptly painted his toes. He did it very quickly. Doran can be quite fast when he is motivated.
And so the party moved to the front yard and the street.
It's Jazz!
Party favors ~ since we were having a BBQ I thought it would be fun (and symbolic) to have some bottles of her special spice mixture for the guests to take home with them.
Toast time ~ my mother has touched her family and friends in amazing ways. Her birthday celebration was inspiring and beautiful, like her. Happy Birthday Mom!
