Birthday Month {And a Winner}

The last bouquet of the summer from our flower garden

Hello Famrgirl Friends!!!

It’s October and guess what? This is my birthday month!  My daughter and my grand-girls took me to lunch on my birthday and out for a little shopping on our local square.  It was just the perfect thing for a birthday celebration!  But here’s the thing.  I had a hard time leading up to my birthday last week.  A really hard time.

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Biking at Rosemary Beach, Florida in August

I don’t think that growing old bothers me… I’m actually a very young 61 year old.  I run, go to fitness classes, eat relatively healthy, do all the things to make my body feel better, I find time for myself doing things I enjoy, my husband and I do things together that we both enjoy, I have close girlfriends that I love, I have family that means everything to me, I have grand-girls that want to be with me…  there is no reason to dread a birthday.

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Sitting on our porch, watching the cows as the sun set

But for some reason, every day felt heavy.  Finally my birthday came.  And it was a good day.  But that evening I sat on the porch with a cup of coffee, battling tears… and suddenly, within minutes, the sun began to set and the most glorious colors arose in the sky.  It felt like it was a sunset just for me.  I sat there and soaked it up as little by little the heaviness I felt all week lifted and I was so very thankful and so very happy.

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This blog post was actually due on my birthday (the 11th) and I couldn’t manage to get it written… so here I am now today, four days late!  And in a much better frame of mind to simply tell you all the things that have been making me happy this summer!

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The first thing I want to talk about is the Monarch Butterfly.  We have milk weed that grows wild in a few places on our farm and every year when its time for the last hay cutting and my grand-girls know there is a good chance the milkweed will get cut down they begin “saving the monarch”.  They harvest the milkweed and save every little tiny caterpillar they can find.  (We have discovered that milkweed leaves can be kept in a damp paper towel in the refrigerator so that we have a the necessary source of food.). This year the girls saved about 15 caterpillars and all but two of them survived to butterfly stage.  It’s such a fun thing to do that I decided to bring one home for myself.  The entire stage is so incredibly to watch and every day for two weeks my husband and I had l conversations about “our” monarch!

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The Chrysalis stage is so incredible.  Do you see the line of gold beads across the top?  They literally twinkle in the sunlight.

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And then suddenly there she was… we released her to the flower garden and she was so gorgeous and honestly it is the sweetest thing to experience.  The slow process of letting go and then she was off!  One thing I learned this year is the Monarch butterfly from eggs laid in  September / October will actually live about 8 months (previous Monarchs in the summer only live long enough to lay eggs for the next generation).  So it was pretty incredible to think that we really did save something special… this generation of butterflies would likely head to Mexico.

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My grand-daughter Jillian, my daughter, my granddaughter Rosetta, and my daughter in law (grand-baby Eleanor not pictured as we keep her photo off of social media for now)

My husband and I and our two adult kids and their families take a yearly vacation to Florida together.  I realize how lucky we are to be able to do that.  This year we went to Rosemary Beach and had such a fun time.  I took the above picture of my gorgeous girls on a shopping outing!

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Jillian and Rosetta at Shaker Village, KY

My husband and I surprised our two oldest grand-girls with a trip to Kentucky Horse Country!  We stayed at an Air B&B in the country on a horse farm where the girls enjoyed some nice horseback trail rides!  After years of riding lessons and all the riding they want to do on our farm, it never seems to get old for them!  We had such a special trip together and I’m so thankful for teenage girls that still want to be with us!  Smile!

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My husband and I at Kenneland Race Track, KY

Aging together… in all the right ways!

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So many good things and no reason whatsoever to dread a birthday!  I needed to be reminded I think!

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I knew a lady once when I was a young woman that believed in celebrating her birthday each year by delivering little gifts to her close friends.  She passed away with cancer not too many years after that and her adult daughter continued the tradition.  I’ve thought about that a lot through the years and honestly today it really came over me that I’d like to do that next year.  What would bring more joy on a birthday than giving little gifts to others??? I was thinking about the people that I would love to show up at their door with a little hand made gift and a hug.  I think that would bring me the greatest joy when I turn 62!  Please remind of this… because I might forget!  Smile!  

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And now finally it’s time to announce the winner of this sweet little needle book from my giveaway last month.

The randomly chosen winner is:

Karin Bara

(I’ve sent you an email Karin!!)

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Thank you so much to all of you who commented and entered my giveaway!  I always love doing little giveaways on my blog and I hope to have a fun one again in a few months!

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Until our gravel roads cross again… so long.

Dori