Celebrating Family

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For a few days around Father’s Day, all of our children and grandchildren except Lise were here to celebrate. Lise lives in Denmark and usually comes once a year at Thanksgiving. There aren’t many of us, but we make up for it with loud laughter. Nathaniel volunteered to transform fake crab into crab cakes, which we all enjoyed.

061717 Chef N D JC $ K crabcakes.jpg
Nathaniel, John $, John, David, Kate

On Father’s Day, I persuaded (commanded) John to pose with our daughter and her sons for an official photo.

061817 Father's Day JC K D N.jpg

John had the day off from kitchen duties, so Nathaniel started the charcoal fire. He had slung his tie over his shoulder, reminding me of a mini-cape. He seems to have magical powers when he is around food.

061817 N tie over shoulder tending fire.jpg

I took a photo of the self-proclaimed twins after they worked out the math that John and Nathaniel were now the same age. When John turned 70, he declared that he would revert to being 21 and take a year off his age with every birthday. He teased Nathaniel that when he regressed to being a toddler, Nate would have to push him around in a stroller. Before agreeing that Grandpa/Dad is now 17, the math people talked about calculating this tricky age. Word-coiner Nathaniel said they had to include “monthage” to be more exact.

061917 Twins both 17.JPG

While David worked at Burger King, the rest of us went on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Son John $ guided us on a short detour to see the Lake Junaluska overlook. We were surprised that we could see part of Maggie Valley, the above-mentioned lake, the defunct Ghost Town ride, and the ski area in the valley. We see part of the ski run from the other side of the mountain when we take our morning walk.

061917 Lake Junaluska overlook from the BRP.JPG

Nathaniel was not here for David’s birthday a couple of weeks ago. I heard him asking his brother what kind of cake he would like, and soon a deep chocolate three-layer cake was being frosted.

061917 N icing David's cake.jpg

Can you tell that David was very pleased by the expression on his face?

061917 David with birthday cake.JPG

The cake was marvelous.  We demolished half of it at one sitting.

Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

Published

22 thoughts on “Celebrating Family”

  8. I searched high and low for a ‘love’ button, but there was only ‘like.’ Alas. 😀 Nathaniel, for your sartorial taste alone I give you an A. (Orange tie on red shirt? Only you could carry that off with such panache, I think!) But for your culinary ability? Put it this way: my birthday is October 8. Don’t hold the chocolate. 😀 😀
    Stunning pix again, Anne! Mind you, with such a photogenic family and that gorgeous area you live in… hard to miss!

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  11. Absolutely love reading about your family Anne! I am in awe of your grandson grilling and also making and frosting cakes in what looks like “church clothes”. For the life of me I could never do that. I even wear and apron when baking as I tend to make a mess.

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    1. Nathaniel wanted to look nice at school, and I think he was entering junior high when he began wearing a suit to school every day. He is a senior now and still dressing for school. Living with us for the summer, he is dressing casually — slacks and a shirt with a collar. He put on his chef’s uniform the day he cooked crab cakes for us.

      I’m glad you wear an apron. My mother always did. I tried to get in the habit, but it didn’t stick.

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  12. A screened porch with a field view outside. Ahhh. Looks like a lovely family
    Isn’t it funny how an individual may have a “special talent”? We have a girl that we call the Magic Parking Fairy as no matter how crowded the parking lot, a perfect spot close to the entrance instantly appears whenever she’s in the car.
    Enjoyed your post!

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