Birthdays, Celebrations and Life Lately



over the weekend we had two birthdays to celebrate!


first off, a little sunset picnic up at lava cap winery, where jorden works, to celebrate that crazy man's 27th!


i love the mingles. who doesn't? here are all jorden's siblings: kara, jared, and jacob. 

elsie's family owns the winery. her grandfather was a geologist and discovered that the volcanic soil of this hillside was perfect for growing fine grapes.
elsie is the dearest soul; she is the perfect combination of frisky, wild, sweet and down-to-earth. and she is the best little mama! we've become really close in the last year or so.
here she is wearing her own irish mama's pink sweater and gorgeously appliqued dress from the late 70s.

this is her man, justin, an incredible drummer, and their adorable baby, zillion.


the whole scene.

reading to oliver and zillion. these boys are besties.

for a spontaneous picnic, we had the best food: two different types of veggie burgers with all the fixings and lots of crunchy, yummy side dishes. becky prepares the goods....
 

with a plastic knife!

 

this is happiness: friends, food, family, bikes, wine, avocados, babies, daffodils, beer, lemonade, laughter...

and a patio heater for when the sun goes down! we stayed till the moon rose and named every constellation we could find. it was a gorgeous evening.

next morning we got ready to head down to the bay area for darin's grandma's 80th!
we got to hang out with his brothers, dave came up from LA (missing his new baby son terribly!) and that's sinjin on the far left.

darin's uncle had a popular 1960's garage band called The Just Six. 
they've been getting back together for years now to rock all different sorts of crowds.
Grandma DeeDee loves them, and it was her only wish that they play for her 80th birthday, which made it a pretty rockin party for an 80 year old.
here's darin and his grandma watching the music.


i got my groove on for a while


then went out back to play with darin's little cousin mackie, who was making camellia stew.


she's the smartest and most creative little girl; here she is making me a lei and telling me all about hawaiian folklore.

she made me bouquets, "baby toys," and....

a giant peace sign. (poor DeeDee's garden!)


DeeDee and the boys. 
her very favorite is when they cover john lee hooker's "boom boom." she goes wild.

the fam: 
dave, mackie, uncle mike, aunt annette, grandma deedee, matthew, sinjin, debby, darin and i.



so glad the sun was out and we got to enjoy a couple of celebratory march days.
hope you all had some fun too!
here in my town, now the rains have finally come and we're all cozy.

Comments

what a lovely big hug of a weekend from a beautiful circle of friends and family!
your braids are divine! you are glowing.
Teeny said…
boom boom boom boom! I'm not surprised it's DeeDee's favourite, I'd be jumping up to dance myself. I'm happy you got to have such a celebratory weekend....I need to have one such time myself. We have a wedding to go to this weekend, and I looooooooooooooooove me a wedding. take care proud mama. xx
Cel said…
Best 80th birthday party evah. I loev that white dress with the green flowers! And your braided hair is lovely.
Nicky said…
Cute braided girl!! Sounds like a fun celebration- too cool that the bands still jammin' after all these years! :D
mo marie said…
i just love posts about placerville friends! miss all the lovely souls of that magical place. Hoping to come for a visit in the next few weeks. I love little cousin mackie and all her beautiful earth creations. SO cute! love your braided locks!
Violet Folklore said…
OMG, fun explosion!

Okay, I think I'm evolving as a person, because instead of feeling my usual envy at your friend-and-family-and-gathering-filled life this post left me glowing with happiness that all of these people exist and that I get to meet them through you and your posts.

So cool seeing Darin's bros! And Jorden's family too. Zillion is adorable and I WANT ELSIE'S ENTIRE OUTFIT.

How fun is that band playing for Grandma's birthday? That must be a blast for the guys, being back together after all those years.

You look darling; the braids are amazing!!
Missa said…
Elsie's dress! That's the exact same dress Anne gave me for my birthday! You even have a picture of me holding it up in your post :)

I have a pink cardigan too, I think I will have to recreate Elsie's entire outfit!

Family, friends, and FUN... a quintessential Moonshine Junkyard post! love it!

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