Mountain Musings

90th Birthday Celebration ~ 2nd Party!

A huge thank you to everyone who made Granny's second 90th Birthday Party a great success. She sure loved everyone being here and is still enjoying looking at all her birthday cards and reading the sweet notes from everyone.

Local friends came over, as well as folks who traveled from the Lynchburg area, northern Virginia, Maryland; and some came from South Carolina and Georgia to be here to honor Granny. What a special day it was!

The Birthday Candles flag was flying, and my Luckett's Store Welcome sign was by the deck steps...

A table displayed garden flowers, a celebration welcome sign, and a family heirloom vintage suitcase ready for cards: Granny is friends with all the little children at church...here's one little guy who came over to say hello (Hi Henry!) as she sports her 90th birthday badge:

I appreciated all the help from our dear friends who came from Georgia a day prior to the party to help with preparations.  Thank you, Emma and Abby, for your willingness to do a lot of the kitchen work while you were here: Long-time friends came to visit and celebrate with us for the afternoon: And can you guess who some of our favorite little guests were who arrived?  Hi, Andrew and Matthew!! They were a surprise for their Great-Granny....we tried to keep the secret, but we think she'd figured out they were coming:

We thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship and conversations with folks we'd last seen at Eric and Sarah's wedding: Girls from our church talking with girls from Georgia: Men getting acquainted:  Here are our Lynchburg friends...hello, Samuel and Micah!! So glad you came!

My friend Victoria holding her and our grandson, Matthew:

More conversing and enjoying pizza and veggies with a friend from church, my sister, Bet, and daughter-in-law, Kerri, at the picnic table:

Eric, our son-in-law, and his brother Alex holding Andrew and Matthew:

Just as Tom told about Granny's life and the unusual circumstance of her two birth dates at her first Birthday Party, he did the same for this group: And then everyone joined together to sing Amazing Grace, which you can hear by clicking below-- takes several minutes to load:

  Video

We sang Happy Birthday to Granny and cut the two Costco cakes and served ice cream. They did a wonderful job as you can see below:

And the other cake:

After the meal, several folks took a garden tour with Hannah before leaving for the night:

Our visiting family and the Georgia contingent stayed overnight, and we enjoyed their company and visited with them the next day...enjoying those two grandsons while we could!

Our family picture:

We had an absolutely wonderful time celebrating Granny's birthday!!

Prayer Request:  Unfortunately, Granny is suffering now from another compression fracture in her back. She saw the spine surgeon today, and it was determined that surgery will be on Friday, August 3rd, at 8 a.m. Please pray for her as she's in much pain.

Thanks for stopping by the blog and joining us for the celebration!

~Deb

90th Birthday Celebration ~ 1st Party!

When you turn 90, you deserve two parties, right? Especially if you celebrate two different birth dates!

My sister in South Carolina and our family here in Virginia coordinated the first of Granny's 90th birthday celebrations which took place in Granny's hometown of South Boston, Virginia.

Two weekends ago we hit the road loaded down with punch bowls, two large frozen Costco birthday cakes, and various other paraphernalia. The celebration took place at the church Granny attended when she lived there.

Here's Hannah pinning on the birthday girl's corsage, while my sister looks on: We were thrilled with all the folks who turned out to honor my mom...church folks we've known for years, close family and friends, and relatives who drove long distances to attend.

Here's my mom, aka "Granny" here on the blog, greeting folks as they arrive...in this case the pastor and his wife: Tom, below left, welcomed everyone and told a bit of background of my mom's life growing up. She was one of 12 children and is the only one remaining--she's had lots of joys along the way: two daughters, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. But, of course, there have also been hardships along the way.

Here's where Tom told the story of my mom always celebrating her birthday on a certain date because that's what she'd been told! Her birth certificate told a different story when it was checked a few years ago. Nope, she was really born on another date, of all things! To this day, she still thinks of her birthday as the one she celebrated for 80 years before finding out that it was wrong!

Here are more folks gathered to visit and recall memories from long ago: My mom thoroughly enjoyed herself meeting and greeting everyone...here she is with my cousin Jimmy and his wife, whom I met for the first time! And the little lady sitting next to Mama will be 92 in September! Here are more relatives that I last saw years and years ago at a family reunion....my mom was so glad they all came. This actually was almost like a family reunion for everyone to meet again!

A photo of the welcoming table with photos of her great-grandchildren:

A dear cousin and her husband greet my mom. We enjoyed visiting Carolyn and Bud at their home a few years ago, which I wrote about here: Tom and I below with long-time friends Donna and Allen who traveled from Chesapeake to be here. They came to visit us in our home a few years ago, and I wrote about it here. They were in our wedding 38 years ago! As you can see, it was so good to see lots of folks again: My mom with a dear niece and nephew, whom I grew up with and went on vacations with through the years:

Punch server extraordinaire, Jonathan, helped out at the party: As you can see, I could go on and on posting pictures of our wonderful celebration back in our hometown! I'll close with a couple more.

Here I am with Carolyn, a dear friend whom you've seen here on the blog before when she's visited us. She volunteered to bring the beautiful flowers from her garden that you've seen in some of the pictures:

And another dear friend, Carolyn's sister Doris....they're both long-time blog readers!

My sister, Betty, and I have been blessed to have our mom with us for these 90 years! So very thankful for her!

"And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you."  ~ Isaiah 46:4

I hope you've enjoyed reading about Birthday Party #1.  Stay tuned for Birthday Party #2 which took place this past weekend here at our home.

~Deb

Garden 2018 Update - Part 1

Some of you have been asking for a garden update, so here are some snapshots from over the past month! The thing about not posting the pictures right away is they quickly become outdated, in terms of growth. But this will give you an idea of what we've been cultivating and harvesting here at Mountain Musings.

Below are some of the tomato plants tied up with the Florida weave method of support which I'm trying this year. They've since doubled in size and I've tied them up twice more.

Here are the tomatos from another angle after being mulched with grass clippings. You can see newly planted hills of pumpkins in the background, along with young purple-hull pea plants:

After a wind storm, the corn was flattened, but 5 days later it was back growing strong and upright again.

Summer squash producing abundantly:

A few of the myriad of flowers around the perimeter of our vegetable gardens:

I've been picking and freezing gallons of wonderful blueberries:

The green beans, peppers, and cucumbers have been producing very well:

We've been enjoying loads of fresh veggies. It's been a very productive season!

Mom's recent birthday called for a large bouquet of flowers picked just for the special occasion:

I hope to show you more photos soon! What's your favorite summer vegetable or flower?

~Hannah

Soapmaking Classes

Gathered supplies, such as safety equipment, stirring implements, and a varied array of bottled scents await on the kitchen counter:

A set of kitchen scales, jugs of natural conditioning oils, and luxurious additives such as shea butter are musts for our recipes:

It's time for class to begin! First, some foundational background on creating handmade soaps:

This expectant mother requested a private lesson only days before her baby was due, and she was an eager student:

The aftermath of a crafty day:

Sink full of soaping dishes:

Almost finished!

My next class was the following week, with a lady who hoped to utilize her goats' milk with a new skill. Thankful for the opportunity to teach the art and science of soap-making to these two local ladies. Who's next? Contact me at my website Pleasant View Soaps.com!

~Hannah