Liam is 22!

Content Warning: There's a LOT of it. Thwarted by logistics and a fabulous impending trip he's taking to see his favorite musician (Joji!), I can't be with Liam today on his 22nd birthday. So I have overcompensated by spending far too many hours, OK, days, gathering together a compendium of his spring and summer at home, as a gift to him, to look back on and keep in his memory. What higher purpose for a blogpost? Here's your little present, my love. Keep having a wonderful day. Mwah!!

You came home in the early spring, 

 in time for Easter (yes, that's a dress made of Peeps!)

 and for irises

 and for moving the orchids outside

and you stayed for the summer. This is a good place to stay for the summer. 

Just ask Rio Samba, the rose that grew taller than you. She got pondmuck

you got grilled salmon with mango/peach/cilantro/lime salsa, garden beans and coconut rice

(among many other things)

Your little cur-dog was happy to have his favorite boy home. 

So was your mama.

We took off in May to see your sister in the most heavenly part of North Carolina

and we had such a blast in the mountains, even tubing down a river!

(but not this one). Jumping giant rocks in your skivvies! Man for scale!

As always, you made me laugh until I couldn't breathe. We will return to the 

faux Bavarian village of Helen, GA. We will eat bad wienerschnitzel, drink bier, watch carpenter bees drill holes in all the gingerbread, und larf.

Nothing could be more fun than traveling with you and Poobs, world's best trip planner, logistics queen, and guide supreme.

When we got back, you went into your pupal case

and metamorphosed into something with less hair

and somewhat spicier

You were here for blackberry time 

(Oh, how I love to hear the pewee and towhee sing, and the low music of crickets--isn't it rich?) Not to mention canine ASMR.

You experienced new flower planting time (Everything has a scent in Liam's World!)

Cuddle time

and datura time.

There were July thunderstorms

and crazy close sphinx moths at the evening primrose

and a bike ride to North Bend State Park

with cool scary tunnels that tested our mettle.

You are far braver than I am. You led me through to the other side, every time!

Along the bike trail we found an antique gasoline engine that conjured my Dear Old Dad so hard....

almost as much as your face in this picture. You've got your dad's body, and my father's ice-blue eyes.

You've definitely got your dad's sense of humor, too! and it carries us through. Can't you hear him laughing--that high hooty laugh where he spins around in circles and claps? This video we made would definitely evoke that laugh. 

But it wasn't allll play. Just mostly. We cut and pulled one hella lot of wisteria, taking most of a hill that was finally conquered only this past weekend. 

I miss you every second when I'm working outdoors. Tall, strong as a very slender ox and willing--we 

git 'r dun!

Here it is now, with the sun shining through wisteria-free sugar maples! Progress! It's beginning to look like somebody actually lives here! And cares! And mows!

We are a team. #volunteen

When we weren't slaying invasive vines, we dawdled down Dean's Fork

and played on our quiet country road

That's my sweet boy, apologizing to the cow he frightened. 

Why you do dat?

We talked with some of our favorite new neighbors, big

and very small

the quiet kind, that don't fire guns or roar around on ORV's.

Live, love, MoooV

There were a couple of birthdays--Phoebe turned 25!! and got a cake and presents

(while your birthday celebration is a bit more...diffuse)

Some sycamore peeling (It's a rivertown thing)

and a memorable full-moon bike ride through sleepy Marietta.

Didn't we have fun? I poached a lot of your shots. I love your eye.

Maybe my favorite thing we did together this summer was paint our first mural!!

You look a bit apprehensive, but you're going to crush this otter!

Me demonstrating tail shading tactics

photo by Michelle Waters

then I left you to paint your otter perfectly while I messed mine up totally

We pulled it off in only four days!

With such excellent company, smooth creamy mural paint and fabulous music, I would drop everything to paint a mural with you and this team again! Thanks, Bobby Rosenstock!! What an honor to work with you for Marietta Main Street's Public Art project!

They like it! They really like it!

photo by Michelle Waters

We watched the sunset that evening, the last artists out of the tunnel of course. What a feeling of accomplishment!

Sweet Liam, if there's a picture or a video that sums up the silly fun we have when we're together, this one may be it. My favorite part is when we double up on Curtis. I hope YouTube will let the music play (copyright restrictions!) If not, we'll look even sillier than we are, which would be quite an accomplishment. 

               

Happy birthday, Stupendous Man! Phoebs, Curtis and I love you to the stars and back.