family weekend

 Be still, my heart! This brown-eyed beauty is my second cousin, whom I met for the first time this weekend. Most of the people in my family are fair-haired and blue-eyed, so what a wonder to behold those dark eyes. Eyes just like her daddy. 

We celebrated the baby's first birthday at my aunt's house. Baby Cousin's birthday technically isn't until July 21st (which is also my deceased son, Philip's birthday, so how special is that?) but since they live out-of-state and were in town for the weekend, we had an early celebration. My mom made a delicious carrot cake, which was totally vegan. We don't have any vegans in our family, but we have several who are lactose-intolerant, so there was no dairy in this cake. The cream cheese is made from almond milk. The cake was absolutely delicious. My normal, healthy, everyday eating doesn't include sugar, but I made an exception for this cake. 

Baby Cousin obviously loved her birthday cake, too. Her mama told me she's never had sweets or sugar before, so this was a first. 

Of course, Sunday was Father's Day. My dad passed away 17-1/2 years ago. He wasn't a hands-on dad (I know not many were "back in the day"), was very strict, and wasn't the huggy-lovey type, but I knew that he loved us in his own way. He was a very intelligent, well-read and well-spoken man, with a quick temper and a dry wit. That's me on the left and my sister on the right. Don't you love our Farrah Fawcett-type hairdos? This was around 1979.

Tim came home for Father's Day and we grilled marinated chicken breasts, ribeye burgers, and potato-onion foil packets. We also had an Israeli couscous veggie salad, fruit salad, and homemade baked beans - all leftover from my cousin's party. Tim gifted Brian with a veggie grill pan, which will really come in handy next time we barbeque.

We were teasing Tim and saying Happy Father's Day to him, as Zippo is his baby...Tim was the one who found Zippo on our property as a stray, almost 17 years ago. Yes, Zippo is 17! He was about three months old when he showed up at our house. As you can tell by the photo, Zippo is a very relaxed kitty and loves to be held like a baby. He certainly doesn't look 17, does he? He's very healthy except for a little arthritis in his back legs and one eye being dilated all the time due to some sinus pressure in his head. My cats see a holistic vet and Zippo has homeopathic drops that are custom-made for his conditions.

And today ~ the first day of summer for those of us in the Northern hemisphere. It's been very hot and humid here, but I won't complain. It certainly beats our winter weather. You don't have to shovel sunshine! :-)