Wow! What a birthday!
My day begin as usual, making breakfast; cleaning house; washing peeling and freezing a bushel of cling peaches from our one lone fruit tree. There were lots of birthday wishes from friends and family throughout the day and then, and then a surprise party at the Jefferson Street Social!
Now you tell me just how much luckier could a girl get?
This was a big birthday for me, for anybody really, and I feel so blessed that God has given me this many years on this beautiful earth. So many of my friends have already gone home and I surely consider myself blessed.
Inside, I still feel like the young girl I once was but on the outside I see some needed repairs. Perhaps a new knee or two, a trip to the “blonding store,” maybe a visit to someone to “iron out” some wrinkles, a few pep pills might be needed, but all in all I am in fine fettle.
Every time I look into the mirror I see a little old lady, not quite 5 feet in stature, pleasantly “soft” and lots of memory marks on her face. But I also see a little old lady who has lived a full busting at the seams life and is ready to live the next era of age.
As I have said, age is just a number, so I just live each day as if it is a gift that lots of folks don’t get. I have been given this gift and I will not squander the endowment. I will continue to rise at 6 and carry on the provision I have been given.
My husband and I have talked about this forever and a day. We always say “the more active you can be, the more active you will be.” That’s the truth. We have no plans to retire, whatever that means, and we do plan to carry on with our lives as usual until we are called Home.
He still climbs into big John Deere tractors and puffs smoke as he enters a hayfield. He raises a garden every year, yielding more bounty than I can handle. Most couples our age are sitting in rocking chairs or traveling the world, but we are happy and satisfied to live here on Circle S Farms and to “carry on.” (Of course, I am not going to tell you that a short little nap midday might keep us perked up.)
As I looked around the room at my birthday party, I saw all of my grandchildren, just beginning their lives, and I was carried back to the 17-year-olds we once were on the precipice of life and, with feelings of maybe sorrow, as I realize that they will have a harder time in their “busting at the seams” lives.
There are so many the differences in our world today compared to what it was when we were beginning our lives, but I realize that they are from good stock and will make huge differences in today’s world and that, too, makes my heart happy.
I am not a big fan of chicken, but sometimes I like a leg quarter. My husband prefers a breast, but sometimes I do all the cooking.
Baked Chicken Leg Quarter
Wash and dry the leg quarter. Rub with olive oil and sprinkle with Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder and smoked paprika. Salt and pepper to taste.
Place on a rack over a baking sheet. (Be sure to line your pan as it makes a cooked-on mess.) Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes and then let rest for 10 minutes. It has a very crunchy skin.
