"The Morning After...The Sounds of Laughter..."

 "The morning after, the sounds of laughter..." That line from an old Everly Brothers song is the only part that sticks in my head.  The rest of the song isn't very happy, so I won't bother to quote it.  I was just thinking about how the morning after having a happy gathering in our home the sounds of laughter still echo in my mind.  I walk around the house picking up this or that and putting things away and moving the tables and chairs back into their usual places, and in some ways it can be a little melancholy, but to me today it is a happy memory.  Yesterday our house was full with many of our most beloved people, and we had such a fun time celebrating birthdays and just being together again.  If you are a Facebook friend, you probably have already seen these pictures, but for the rest of you, as I always say, "a picture is worth a thousand words"... (and a video is even better!)

There we are, singing Happy Birthday to four of our family members on both sides of our family....

Left to right is my niece Debby (my sister Doris' daughter), our son Benton, our nephew Nicholaus, who was born on our son Benton's birthday 31 years later, and his father, my husband's brother, Billy.  Yes, they all have August birthdays, and this was the first time we've all been together in quite a while, so it was so much fun.  If you can't get the video to work above, then here are some still photos to help you appreciate the moment:

My sister in law Peggy brought three of those luscious cakes, and also my sweet daughter in law Rose baked the pan of brownies, so it turned out that everyone had their own cake and candles!

There, we turned the cakes around so you could see the numbers while we sang to them.

And this was after the big blowout! so much fun and laughter! I love family times!

And here's the whole gang sitting down and enjoying a piece of cake and ice-cream.

L to R:  (on end of table:)hubby John, then on back of table: son Scott, son Benton, DIL Rose, niece Debbie, nephew Nick, (who is camera shy, LOL), brother in law Billy, SIL Peggy, sister Doris, her hubby Art...

And again from the other end of the table so you can see some faces better, except for Nick...LOL.

And finally I got to sit down and eat my cake and ice cream before it melted...

L to R, Doris, Art, me, and John

And finally the elusive Nick, with almost a smile. It's a game we play every time we are together. I keep trying to outsmart him and sneak a picture when he is not on guard. He's a very handsome and sweet young man...just camera shy...LOL.

So there you have the pictures from our day. After we finished eating, (which before the cake and ice cream we had eaten Pulled Pork, Fried Chicken, Baked Beans, Potato Salad, Coleslaw, fruit and vegie tray items and deviled eggs...so we were quite well fed and stuffed)...so after the festivities we all loaded up and drove over to Dixie Cottage so the family could see the new store. I didn't take any pictures there, but you've already seen quite a few anyway.  They enjoyed the tour and then they all headed back to their homes about two hours away!

It was a great day.

Meanwhile, back at Still Waters Pond, the saga of the squirrel and the new sapphire blue bird feeder had continued on...  (and thank you all for your fun comments on that post! I am slowly trying to get around to catching up with all of you, but it will take awhile as today I'll be gone all day at Dixie Cottage),   anyway, back to the bird feeder...

After we tried to hang it closer in on the porch, hoping the squirrel would find it more difficult to reach, this happened:

And so, I decided in order to preserve the bird feeder from being knocked down to the ground and broken, I would have to give up on making it a bird feeder for now, and so this is what I did:

I moved it down to the yard and just filled the bowl part with water for now, to be a little bitty bird bath.  I also hung that tea pot on the other side to create a kind of interesting birdhouse for wrens or whomever. It was a teapot that had a broken lid, and I've been saving it for just such an occasion.  Meanwhile, I plan to purchase some Safflower Seeds to put in the birdfeeder because squirrels do not like safflower seed and hopefully that will make the squirrel leave it alone so the birds can enjoy it. We shall see how that goes, so stay tuned in for further developments!

Now I better get a move on if we are going to get to Dixie Cottage on time today. It's going to be an "all-day" stint so Benton can get caught up on doing some painting of more items to put in the store. They've just about sold out of all their nice furniture pieces, which is a nice problem to have, but they've got to get some new things in there quickly!!

Here are some verses from our morning devotions today...and they go along with my festive mood this morning carried over from yesterday's celebration!  It is good to rejoice and sing and celebrate together. Even though yesterday was not exactly a "spiritual" gathering, it was in a sense still a holy time...and we did give thanks to the Lord for our family and gift of life that God has given us so that we can celebrate. Friends, life is short...we need to take time to enjoy those we love while we have the opportunity to do so. Amen?

Psalm 149:1-4

1 "Praise the Lord!

Sing to the Lord a new song,

And His praise in the assembly of saints.

2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;

Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

3 Let them praise His name with the dance;

Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.

4 For the Lord takes pleasure in His people;

He will beautify the humble with salvation."