Sandrock Acres on a September Saturday

Just spent the day with part of the Robeson clan celebrating Mama's 85th birthday. A fun day. A tiring day. My brother Lindsay was the gracious host. We had a cookout and, with my brother in law George's help, Lindsay cooked the hamburgers and hot dogs. Seth picked up the KFC:) Cameron brought drinks. My sister Christy and her daughter Michelle and I made the potato salad, deviled eggs and cole slaw:) My nephew Jake and his wife, Krystal, had made a beautiful white two-tiered birthday cake topped with a young photo of Mama--it was so pretty and delicious!

Christy's twin daughters came for a while, Amy & Michelle. And cutest of all, Christy's twin granddaughters Harley & Kendyll (8) and Chrissy (5), all who kept darting in and out and around and about:)

From the time Keith and I drove into Lindsay's driveway with Mama, she didn't recognize where she had lived for 50 years. She wondered if we knew the folks who lived there?
She refused to believe it was her birthday. She was frustrated when we gave her cake and presents. Actually, she was agitated most of the day:( We think there was too much going on, and she didn't understand why she wasn't in Lobelia, her childhood home, with her Mama..? (That monster Alzheimer's always rears it's head somehow:( )

After Mama opened her gifts and while Christy and Keith kept her company, the rest of the McFarland crew, Amy, George and Lindsay hiked to the creek and up the back rise along my property lines. It was a beautiful day for it:) Plenty of spider webs everywhere though, so Lindsay and George took turns leading the group waving a stick back and forth to remove the invisible clingy nuisances. Thankfully Lindsay had used the bushhog to mow a wide path throughout the brush and weeds which made our walking easy. The wide meadow, my favorite place on the farm, was freshly mowed also. It looked tempting enough to draw us over to play ball or tag or catch fireflies--which is what we did as kids:)

Cameron, Seth, Christy, and Lindsay played horseshoes for a while when we returned from our walk (Seth was the champion:)). Then it was time to go. Mama couldn't be put off any longer. She had been ready for an hour or two and was getting antsy. These days she's not content anywhere long.

So a nice day came to an end.
It was meant for Mama, but, in the end, she was only with us in spirit.
Today was a day for the rest of us:) I will remember it fondly as time shared eating, hiking, visiting, playing, laughing together on the farm:)