That's One Fat Bird

Last week I bought a pad of cold-pressed, heavyweight watercolor paper that was half the size of my last pad. It's the perfect size for my watercolor art journal, and at the time it was 50% off at Michael's. So of course I had to christen it with my paints.
I found a painting of a bird on Pinterest that I loved, so I set out to make one myself. I started with the beak and carried on from there. Obviously I carried on a little too much and the little bird I started out to paint became one very fat bird! Doesn't matter, I used my fave color combo on the page and had some fun.
My fat bird reminds me of a stupid joke my dad used to tell. I like to be reminded of the things he used to say and the stories he used to tel me and my sisters, since he's no longer with us to tell them.
Here's the joke:
What does a 500 pound chicken say?
C-H-E-E-P, C-H-E-E-P 
(said in a deep bass voice).
I told you it was stupid, but when we were little, we would giggle our heads off.

What I Did on My Dad's Birthday

Last Sunday would have been my dad's birthday. My dad died in 1994, my grampa in 1997.   Seems the women of the family are longer-lived than the men.  So we women went to the cemetery to pay our respects, shed a few tears and laugh over fondest memories.  The weather was perfect, not too cold, and the rain had stopped.  In fact, the ground was perfect for adding a couple flowers and butterflies near the headstones.

Afterwards, we went across the street to a little German restaurant and again shared our favorite memories as we drank a toast to both my dad and my grampa.  Here we are, the women in the family, all but my granddaughter.

My mom is seated on the left (she'll be 80 this year).  My gram is on the right--she's 102 years old.  My daughter is on the right behind Gram, and my youngest sister (in red) will be 50 this year.  Although I miss my dad still (and Grampa), I am blessed to still have my mom and gram, and I really believe that God gifted me (and my mom) with a daughter to take dad's place.