Birthday Thank Yous

I did indeed have a Happy Birthday not only yesterday, but on Friday too. I was treated to a birthday celebration with J.D., my children and grandchildren on Friday evening. As soon as Tersie got home from work, she and the girls joined us at Chris and Melody's. I thought it was wonderful that Britt was able to be there. She has a very busy life. Of course Seth Day is on Fridays so J.D. and I were already there. Chris got home early because they got rained out at work and even Alley Oop got there for the weekend a little earlier than usual. Melody and Chris offered to cook anything I wanted. Hmmm...... I thought of the one meal that I seldom fix, but have enjoyed since I was a child. We had Sloppy Joes, corn, and chips. That was followed by my birthday cake with a very few candles on it. I think they were afraid to use 59 candles for fear of the smoke detectors going off. Riley and T-Bear helped me blow out the candles. I opened my cards and then opened the gift that I had been teased with for weeks before from all of them. It was a digital picture frame. I loved it.

'Jo 1952'

I had an appointment with my ENT doctor on my birthday. There were signs on all of the doors to be sure to wish Dr. Cosenza a Happy Birthday. I thought that was pretty neat. For my birthday gift he told me that the medication he has me on for the acid reflux seems to be doing the job, because he couldn't see any irritation to my throat. After leaving his office J.D. treated me to lunch at the Olive Garden. It just doesn't get much better than that. From there we headed home to the mountain with a quick stop to pick up medication. It seems as if the older I get the more I enjoy the peace, quiet and comforts of home. Thank you to my husband, children and grandchildren for making my birthday special. I also thank all of you that left birthday wishes for me here. A special thank you to Pea since she is the one that let everyone know it was my birthday...... You can't get much by her. :-)

'Joe and Bertha Riley 1935'

This is a picture of my parents taken around 1935 just prior to their wedding day April 11th. It was taken along Camp Creek here in southern Ohio. Grandpa Riley ran his still down by the creek where it was nice and wooded and not very likely to be stumbled upon. If you are able to click on the picture to make it larger, you will see that my mother is holding a gun on my dad. Not two weeks after they were married, my uncle came running into the house telling Grandpa Riley that the law was on their way and they had found out where the still was. He in turn sent my uncle and my dad to tear the still apart and hide everything. It might have worked if they had done what Grandpa told them to do. Instead, as they were tearing things apart, they got into one of the jugs of moonshine. Needless to say this slowed things down quite a bit. My uncle got antsy about the law showing up and took off, leaving Dad there alone with the still. The law really did know the location of the still, they did show up and they questioned Dad about the ownership of the still. Being the loyal son that he was, he claimed ownership of it. The sheriff kept telling him that they knew it belonged to Grandpa and if he insisted on claiming that still as his it would mean he was going to do time in prison for it. So it was, that two weeks after my parents were married, my dad went to prison for six months. My Dad died in 1978 and my Mom in 2001. Tomorrow would have been their 73rd wedding anniversary.

Have a blessed day!

~Jo