...

DEAR READER, I'M GOING TO HAVE TO adopt you into my family of origin for a brief time. It'll be just long enough for me to tell you about the family reunion that you missed over the past weekend. It is such a pity you were unable to attend! Um, yes--that includes all of you who already carry the family name but didn't show up-- as well as the ones grafted in just to hear the tale!

We congregated at the home of my older brother--the master gardener, mushroom grower, nurseryman, creative architect of additions to his lovely home and various other endeavors too numerous to mention. He and his wife and two young daughters were generous with the space, the beds and couches, the food, the hot tub...and various other amenities too numerous to mention.

In addition to myself and you (You're not forgetting your place in the family so soon, are you now, Dear Reader-slash-Kindred of Mine?) and this older brother, there are three more siblings in the family--two of whom showed up with other kinsfolk in tow. Rest assured that the sixteen of us filled the house to the brim--which you see, Dear Reader, gives me perfectly plausible justification for not squeezing you into the family sooner!

So now, I'll give you a run-down of the (relatively warm) and sunny Saturday and the (downright cool) and cloudy Sunday morning that the family spent in North Garden, Virginia. (After which you may feel free to linger as long as you wish, before scurrying back to your own).

You may be tempted to gripe about the 'run-down's suspicious similarity to a fast compilation of photos slapped onto the site with quick explanation. But...ahem,...how long have you been in this family?


Our two young nieces play soccer.

Boy, did they have a cheering squad on the sidelines at this Saturday's games!

We also had a tour of the trees. (You know--the trees). I already told you our brother's a nurseryman. He grows all kinds of other things, too:

(I wish I could show you the mushrooms while they were still growing on the logs--how could I have missed recording such a thing?)




Okay, so then there was the hot tub.
The hammock.



And various other activities.













Before we knew it, it was time to gather ourselves together and set off for the restaurant--a local brewery--where our brother had made reservations for dinner. (The assembling took no short span of time, I should let you know, Dear Recent Member, as we scrambled to cram an impromptu photo session into the limited minutes. You see, if the college guy wasn't joining us again tomorrow morning and was leaving directly from the restaurant for home, we had to take a photo now! Then someone asked: Who'll take the photo? Hmmm. We'll use my camera's ten-second timer. Where shall we stand? The sun's so bright, and it's right in our faces! And someone said, Where's the Little Actor? Wait, wait, we're not all here! But someone said, Take it, just take it! We're going to be late!

I wish I had time to tell you more, Dear One of Us, but it is getting late! If you stick around for tomorrow, I'll cart you off to the restaurant and show you the pulled-pork sandwich that tops all the charts. (My raving will likely get you running off to Virginia yourself. If you're still a member of the family, you're in luck!)









...