Happy Birthday Aunt Kathy

 Today would have been my Aunt Kathy's 63rd birthday.  It is the second birthday that she's been gone.  It is still so very hard and I miss her so very much.  Time is passing and I was thinking today, that I have so much I'd want to update her on...if we could catch up.

 On her last birthday in 2010 we did this.  Aunt Jeanne wrote her this poem.  And Graham made her this mandala.   It also started to bother me that I didn't know more about her birthdays.  Did she have a favorite?  What years stood out for her?  Which was her favorite?  Was it 2009 when we all mobbed the blog with poems, portraits and played the piano.  There were so many that I don't know anything about.

So how to pass the day?  We had to make art.  For this, Heath and I packed up and drove to Wren Cottage at Sam's Point in Canadian, Oklahoma.  Mom started us off with a basic lentil soup and bread with aioli.  Then we jumped right into some art.

RaeLynn, Heath, Marsha & Jeremy

There were finger paints, acrylics, pastels, colored pencils and charcoal mediums.

There were landscapes...

Oklahoma road by Rachael 

Jacob with his landscape

Portraits...

Carolyn Heasley by Heath

Rachael Rymel by Heath

Yours truly by RaeLynn  (I had to pose being very still for a good 5 minutes.)

And abstracts....

By RaeLynn

By Jeremy

And still lifes....

Bird's nest under glass by RaeLynn

Bird's nest under glass by Rachel

And botanicals...

I'm working on a book of flowers, I plan to add poems later...

It also really bothers me that I don't know what AK's favorite flower was.
But I know she loved and often bought  alstroemerias.  

Marsha did complete this piece, which she was happy with because she was busy hosting and facilitating everyone else's art.  

And then we concluded with a wonderful paella dish that had something for everyone...

The Paella had chicken, shrimp, mussels, peas, rice, green beans and green peppers.  Some people picked out the things they loved the most.  

 And we ended with a simple but fresh whip cream, strawberries and coffee...

Strawberries, as much fresh whip cream as we wanted and Rachael made me an Americano.

Happy Birthday Aunt Kathy.  Your loss remains so difficult.  I love you so much.  Thank you for creating this blog that allows us to continue your legacy.  -Arena