Royalty

We've had a steady stream of visitors this summer, pausing here on their epic journey from one tip of the continent to the other . . .

. . . I don't know how they do it, those Monarchs . . .

. . . but I will tell you this. We make it easy for the to love it here. Of course milkweed. (That's where they lay their eggs. You can read all about it in every Monarch website on the planet.)

But they also love all the other things growing in our Field, and we like to sit in the shade and watch them frolic.

They love the yellow flowers . . .

. . . and they love the raspberries . . .

. . . and they love the Roses of Sharon . . .

. . . or is it Rose of Sharons? . . . 

. . . they really like all types of yellow flowers . . .

. . . oh, and they love the purple thistle puffballs.

And grapes! Not only do they love grapes, but we have grapes!

(I cultivated the grapevines for the grapeleaves. I will have to get back to you about the grapes.)

But wait. What kind of beautiful butterfly is this, alit in the Field this weekend?

The very best kind.

Monarchs may be the King of Butterflies, but I've got the Queen of Friends.

SunBursts

Now that is what I call a self-respecting summer weekend.

Good morning.

Good afternoon.

Good night.

Stay chill, friends.

Visitors

We had visits from some pretty awesome human creatures this past weekend . . .

This small human creature visited . . .

Isn't she cute?

She does this thing where she sucks in her lower lip and her eyes tear up like a grown-up and and we think it's not because she's sad -- because what does she have to be sad about? -- we think it's because she's so moved. She's a very sensitive friend.

Plus?

Cuteness.


Oh wait, here's her beautiful mom. She was a visitor too. We have some cool neighbors.

Wait, did somebody day something about cool neighbors? About the Coolest Neighbors in All The Land? 

Yep, we've got those.


We also have cool bartender friends we visited . . .


. . . and cool waitstaff friends we visited . . .

. . . and perhaps the coolest visitors of all, to this fair city of ours . . .

The world famous -- World Famous -- Harlem Gospel Choir.

Talk about cool.

Come back, gorgeous people. Come back and visit us again.

We love visitors.

Auntie Monica, The After-Party

Our amazing cousins sent their amazing mom -- our beloved Auntie Moni -- off in beautiful and elegant style. You want to get it right, you want to give your parent the respect and love and honor they deserve, and the McIntyres did just that. It was gorgeous and heartfelt and moving and crowded and loud and memorable and absolutely perfect. We applaud you, our lovely cousins. We thank you, and we love you.

And after the beautiful funeral and emotional internment and delicious and celebratory luncheon? We retired to the Lake House.

Well, I mean, it's Uncle Kevin and Aunt Cheri's house house, but it's on the lake, and it's beautiful, and we retired there.

Being with several of my sisters is soul-satisfying . . .

. . . We all crave it, but it doesn't happen very often . . .

. . . and even in the midst of a sad occasion, God, so many sad occasions . . .

. . . belly laughs always always ensue.

Hey look, there's Mom!

Get over here, Mom!

Jacquie crossed the country to be with our Mom for the loss of Mom's sister, and there was so much love and emotion and heartache for Jacquie, too. I'm so glad she came. Everybody is so glad she came.

Meghan is so glad she came. So are the fruits and veggies . . .

. . . and so are (some of) the best cousins.

. . . and so are Mom and our Aunties. Oh, our wonderful aunties. How they'll miss their sister. Auntie Moni was nice to everyone -- that was the prevailing theme of her services -- and we'll all miss the specific spotlight of love she shone on each of us. It was quite a talent, really.

Jacquie told Mistah she doesn't like this lens so I'm forbidden to use this photo. Plus it fogged up between the inside A/C and the outside torrential rain and steamy weather. So please don't tell her I'm defying her.

We had such a wonderful evening celebrating Aunt Moni, and celebrating eachother, and basking in the glory of belonging to this ridiculously awesome family . . .

. . . I mean, everybody in this photo is related . . .

. . . And Julie? Aunt Moni's beloved goddaughter? Her Jewel? Who got up at 3:30 in the morning to fly from Asheville? The thing about her?

She never ever stops muddling, photo shoot or not.

I'm so thankful for my muddling, gorgeous, funny, beautiful, smart sisters and cousins and aunts and uncles and Mom. I'm so thankful for this enormous Irish family I get to be part of. I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to actually have a conversation with Aunt Moni last week -- that so many of us did -- and that she brought us all together again, although we never expected it would be so soon, and so suddenly. I'm so thankful that even with so much heartbreak, and so much stinking crying, we can still make room for belly laughs.

I'm so thankful for these wondrous peoples of mine . . .

. . . and I am so especially thankful for these glorious hosts of ours. The generosity, the hospitality, the openheartedness they provide, and the grace and ease and aplomb with which they do so, well, don't tell Uncle Kevin I said so, but they're the best. (Auntie Cheri knows -- I already told her).

We love you. We thank you. We adore you.

And we're sorry about all the empties.

*     *     *     *     *     *      *     *     *     *     *     *      *     *     *     *     *  

Rest in Peace, Aunt Moni.

Aunties and Uncles

I talk abut my sisters a lot, I talk about my nieces and nephews a lot, I talk about my cousins a lot . . . but those aunties and uncles of mine? Well, they're what it's all about. They and my Mom and Dad started this whole thing . . .

We celebrated the life of our Uncle Frank Pomer this past week, and it was quite a celebration of life. Of his life well lived, of his life deeply loved, and as Uncle Brian so eloquently spoke of it, of his faithfulness as a friend.

A faithful friend.

And now we have discovered that our beloved and cherished Auntie Monica has also died. My Mom's younger sister. #8 to Mom's #7. Mother to six, grandmother to a million, wife to our beloved Uncle Jim McIntyre.

I don't mean to combine these two deaths and these two lives together. They are so different and so separate and so unique and separately are so important and so crucial to the families they have themselves created . . .

. . . but they are both ours. Ours. And we will miss them both so deeply.

Aunt Monica of the New Knees and New Hips, and Uncle Frank of the Smile and the Eyebrows. Which is approximately 1/1000 of what they mean to us.

We will celebrate our beloved Auntie Moni soon. We celebrated our beloved Uncle Frank last week, and here's a tiny sample of what he wrought . . .

His granddaughters Lauren and Kate and Jacquelyn and Cal were trying to get their cousin baby Henry to smile . . .

. . . and it worked!

. . . and man, was it entertaining . . .

. . . especially the whole Lauren's finger part . . .

. . .  yummy.

Love you guys. Heart, soul, strength, etc. The sendoff for Uncle Frank was off the charts.

And oh our collective hearts . . .

Rest in Peace, our beautiful and beloved Auntie Moni.