Born in the USA: 2009

As some of you gentle readers may remember, my birthday is July 4th. This year, I came to Kansas to celebrate with my family and it became an all day extravaganza. On Friday, Mother of Ken and I set the table for my birthday dinner and did a lot of cooking and baking. Here is the table, all ready to go:

Mother of Ken's Kitchen Aid mixer is a beast. My Papaw bought this mixer probably 25 years ago for $15 at a restaurant auction. It was covered in grease, but he knew that it was worth way more than $15. Last Friday, it mixed a double batch of icebox cookies for us:

We also made ginger cookies:

I don't really like cake that much, so my birthday dessert was icebox and ginger cookies and homemade vanilla ice cream. Here are the nicely arranged cookies:

On Saturday, we had a big breakfast of blueberry coffee cake and then headed out to have lunch with Grambi and Papaw and Cousin of Ken and Boyfriend of Cousin of Ken. Since we were gone for most of the day, we did a lot of preparation on Friday for Saturday night's dinner. Dinner began with Mother of Ken's bruschetta with a drizzle of balsamic reduction, served with hard lemonade because it was so hot outside. Grandmother and Uncle of Ken had never tried hard lemonade before and they really liked it. Uncle of Ken knocked back two before dinner.



For dinner, we had grilled Kansas City strip steaks, potato salad, and corn roasted on the grill. Mmmmmm.....

After dinner, we had to rush outside to try this hot air balloon that Father of Ken bought at the fireworks stand where he volunteered (providing us with many hilarious stories). Here I am with him trying to get this thing to work:

We tried for about five minutes, but we were never able to get it going. My favorite part was when Father of Ken was using a candle to try to heat up the inside of the balloon and he spilled wax on his leg, started screaming "Sh*%, sh*%!" I started laughing at him, and the dog came bounding off of the porch toward us going as fast as he could. Chaos ensued. Finally, we gave up on it and went inside for dessert.

Once it got a little darker, Uncle of Ken and I went out to light the snakes, which are some of my favorites. I also like snap pops. Father of Ken will not allow me to light snakes on the sidewalk "because they leave black spots that look like crap." So, Uncle of Ken dug a brick out of the garden border and I used that so that Father of Ken's precious sidewalk was not marred.

Mother and Father of Ken pondering the box of fireworks:

Father of Ken lighting the first one:

Father of Ken posing with one of the really good ones:

A fountain:

Father of Ken shooting a Roman Candle that we got for free with our purchase. These things freak me out and I can't believe that people shoot them at each other.

More of Father of Ken's excellent fireworks display:

Grandmother of Ken--this was her 91st Fourth of July celebration!

More fountains:

And on that note, the extravaganza was over. I had lots of birthday wishes via telephone, text message, and Facebook in addition to being able to see most of my family on my birthday, which hasn't happened in at least five years, so it was a great day. Thanks everyone!

She's Strange, Volume I

Occasionally (okay, often) in our travels, McKenna and I come upon strange things. Some of these things are funny and some are just plain weird. This is the first installment of what I plan to make a regular feature on this blog and I hope you gentle readers enjoy it as much as I did. With that, I bring you "She's Strange, Volume I."

On the Thursday before July 4th, I celebrated happy hour with several of my friends in downtown Frederick, Maryland. One thing lead to another and happy hour became happy four hours of indulging in the culinary and beverage offerings of several Market Street establishments. Taking a break between establishments and in an attempt to get some fresh air, we found ourselves joining a crowd of people who were gathered for a "concert" near the creek.

When we arrived, this is what we saw:

Okay, we thought, this must just be some people dressed patriotically and singing songs to get the July 4th weekend started. Bear in mind that some of us were slightly fuzzy on reality as a result of enjoying a few glasses of fine wine. Then we figured out that they were impersonating people: Reba McIntyre front and center and Bette Midler (?), Tina Turner, and Liza Minelli from left to right in the back. Even in my slightly altered state, I quietly pointed out that the person wearing the white fringed pants on the right of the group of three in the above photo appeared to have a little more going on in the crotch area than Liza Minelli.

Some of us were pretty sure that these impersonators were actually men, but others were not so sure. We continued to discuss and debate the issue as "Reba" continued singing some song I don't know or remember.

Then I thought I was losing it when I turned around and saw a boat full of disembodied heads coming our way, but I think we eventually figured out that it was a promotion for a hair salon. I won't be going there. They cut your head off and put it on a boat for marketing purposes. You can click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Next up: "Tina Turner" singing Proud Mary (my mom loves this song ;-). If I were "Bette (?)," I think I would have insisted on some pants or a skirt rather than the one piece number you see on the far left. That's just unfortunate.

By this time, some people were really grooving to the music:

And just so that you gentle readers can enjoy a slice of what it was like to be there, I offer this short video for your viewing pleasure. Be sure to turn up the volume:

"Bette (?)" kind of peters out toward the end, but "Liza" and "Reba" kept right on rollin'...

The grand finale, which I didn't capture on video, was all four of them standing together and ripping off their wigs. Definitely men.

This was done for a good cause, although I don't remember what that was and I can't find the newspaper article that we saw the next day explaining it. Regardless, we had a good time for a while and then we continued eating and drinking our way through downtown.