Ready, Set, March

I call him the ShamGnome on the shelf

And we are back.

January and February were chock-full of activities and experiences for us, and March is shaping up to be eventful too.

So I figure I should get you all caught up before this year melts away like the last one did.

Audrey brought the devotion at the first bridal shower

In addition to having about a tablespoonful of snowflakes hit the ground in January, we had wedding celebrations all month.

The actual nuptials took place on the last day of the month -- Friday, January 31st.

But we had bridal showers on the 11th, the 16th, and the 28th of the month.

There was an abundance of delicious food

The bride and groom and their families are all close and dear friends, so one of the showers was thrown by Audrey, Erica, and me.

But the first party was on January eleventh, and it was a proper big wedding shower with the gifts being for the setting-up of the couple's new home.

It was held at the home of our friend Debbie, who is a relative of the groom, and many ladies attended.

The lovely bride-to-be posed with her equally lovely mother

There was so much beautiful food and lots of excited chatter as is is to be expected when a bunch of girls get together.

Our Audrey was asked to bring a brief devotional message as the party got started.

Being a newlywed herself, she admitted that she had no advice to give on that score. But she did emphasize the necessity of gratitude being an essential component of any marriage.

I made these chicken salad sandwiches from a recipe that I wish you had

It was good. Anything having to do with gratitude is always worth hearing.

Several of us ladies were given scripture verses to read aloud from cards, which we all did before prayer and then the refreshments.

Later the bride-to-be opened her many presents and it was fun to see her delight at unearthing each new domestic treasure.

Our petit-fours were from the incomparable Tiffany's

Her second shower -- the one planned and given by my girls and me -- took place on the following Thursday. 

For our menu we had Lit'l Smokies in the crock pot with grape jelly and barbecue sauce, delectable homemade chicken salad sandwiches, Nancy's petite quiches hot from the oven, deviled eggs, cranberry-pistachio mini goat cheese balls (which I made and will never make again), orange fluff, petit-fours from Tiffany's, and a vanilla strawberry trifle made by our Erica.

Everyone gathered at Audrey's house, which had been lovingly prepared by Mike, Audrey, and Dagny, for everyone's comfort.

The petit-fours we served at our bath luxuries shower

Our party's theme was bath luxuries. The bride-to-be was showered with fragrance, lotions, bubbles, cosmetics, and beauty aids of all kinds. She will not have to buy soap for a long time. She was so happy and the event was a great success.

There was one more shower for her, but our next party was for TG's birthday.

We opted for a baked potato bar for our meal, and a Costco cheesecake with fresh strawberries for our dessert.

Erica's cream-and-fruit trifle is her specialty

The baked potatoes were the football-sized kind, and I baked them in the oven without foil jackets. They were rubbed with olive oil and studded with coarse Kosher salt, and they were perfection.

For toppings we had the usual butter, sour cream, shredded cheese, and real bacon. We also had chili and for a cold winter evening, it was a hearty and comforting meal.

TG had gone to the store for me and found beautiful strawberries, and lots of them, and they were heavenly spooned generously atop the plain but rich, creamy cheesecake.

There was pink and gold decor for the lingerie shower

For his gift, our children had bought their dad his own AirPods Pro. He needed them because he enjoys watching news shows and videos on his iPad at night, and I noticed he was having to turn the volume up to the point that it was too loud. For me.

Now he can pop in his AirPods and crank up the sound as loud as he likes without bothering anyone. It's a win all around.

A few days later was the final bridal shower, which was a smaller event and involved lingerie.

These baked potatoes were huge

Enough said except, it was a charming evening.

Then a mere three days later it was time for the wedding, held at a rural venue with a rustic chapel for the ceremony, and a capacious hall for the dinner reception.

Audrey, Erica, and I all served at the dinner. We arrived at the location in the early afternoon and were busy all the way up to time to change for the wedding, with preparations for serving the meal.

TG requested chili as a baked-potato topping

The dress code was black for all guests, which was no problem for us as we all have several black dresses. You might say that black is my dress code seventy-five percent of the time. Pirate!

The bride was gorgeous and everyone so happy, although towards the end of the evening there was torrential rain. We got home late and were pretty worn out, but the next day was Saturday which afforded time to rest.

Then it was February.

We had toppings galore for those potatoes

During the first week of the month, my sister, Kay, traveled to Cleveland to be with her youngest daughter, Joanna, for the birth of Joanna's fourth child. 

You may recall that TG and I visited Joanna and her husband, Jacob, in Cleveland last summer. We combined our visit with seeing our beloved Cubs play the Cleveland Guardians Indians at Progressive Field.

Joanna and Jacob have one son in heaven, and now three little sons around them.

You could have all the butter you wanted

They named their newborn son Arthur. Baby Arthur, born on 2/5/2025, is my sister and brother-in-law's 25th grandchild.

I sent Baby Arthur a soft and spacious blue blanket and wrote him a note so that he can get used to the idea of having a pirate for a great-aunt.

Speaking of boys born in February, the weekend before last we all went to Lenoir, North Carolina, for our grandson Andrew's birthday.

My January decor tends to be minimal

He turned thirteen on February twenty-second.

And here is that numbers thing again: Andrew was born on 2/22/2012, at 2:13 in the afternoon.

The dour lady doctor who delivered both Allissa in 2008 and Andrew four years later, never really took to me. I have no idea why.

But we did have the softly-lit bare-branch trees

But I didn't let that stop me from asking whether she could see her way clear to making Andrew's time of birth one minute earlier so that we could say he was born on 2/22/12 at 2:12 in the afternoon. A reasonable request, in my estimation.

She just shook her head no. Classic killjoy.

So on 2/22/2025, he turned thirteen and we were all on hand to celebrate.

The girls and I posed up just before things got busy

Stephanie had planned a meal of burgers and we also had hot dogs and chips and baked beans and coleslaw and all of the requisite condiments and trimmings, plus a big birthday cake.

The family moved into a new-to-them house last September, and none of us had seen it yet in person, so it was nice to admire their new place and share in their happiness at having more room and a bigger yard.

We attended their church the next day, where our son-in-law Joel is the pastor, and it was a great blessing.

TG and I managed an epic shot too

Before TG and I and the Chericas and Audag (Audrey and Dagny only; our Mike was in Thailand) got on the road and headed for home, Stephanie and her family treated us all to lunch at Dairi-O.

Now, if you are like me, you have never heard of Dairi-O. They are only to be found in North Carolina.

But if you are ever in North Carolina and are hungry and see a Dairi-O sign? Trust me: pull over and drive up and go inside and have a hamburger.

The happy newlyweds

Truly great. I can't say enough about how good it was. Just excellent. I hope you get to experience Dairi-O someday just as much as I hope I get to experience it again someday.

Then it was back home, and the following Friday (last day of February) I had Rhett and Elliot with me for much of the day as Erica had some business to attend to.

We had such a good time. Elliot was sitting up on the counter as I made them some lunch, and he availed himself of several cooking utensils that he found nearby.

Baby Arthur, cozy in the blanket I sent him

(He is seventeen months old and has just begun to walk. No, he's fine; he was just enjoying being carried around by his mother. And he apparently was really into crawling.)

The next day --  last Saturday -- Dagny came over in the afternoon and spent the night with us. She helped me to change my table and kitchen and front-door decorations from February hearts and red things to March shamrocks and green things.

And so here we are in the first week of the third month of the new year which is not so new anymore.

Me with six of my grands, unfortunately in shadow

It's my birthday week! On Thursday, TG and I are setting out for three days and two nights in Charleston.

The girls plus Dagny, Rhett, and Elliot will join us there on Friday and spend one night.

Our plan is to take the ferry to Fort Sumter, something which, despite having lived in South Carolina for twenty-three years, I have never done.

Elliot a/k/a Skippy was helping out in the kitchen

We've got some special eating-out places chosen too, and I promise to take pictures and tell you all about it next week.

We have two more important birthdays coming up in March: Audrey's and Andrew's (our son), which are one week apart. I'll have lots of news about those events too.

Until then, I hope you're doing well and I promise I'll be around to visit your blog -- if you have one. If you don't, I wish you did.

And that is all for now.

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Happy Tuesday