Jacob's Birthday

Sunday, June 17, was Jacob's first birthday... for the second time.  I know, it's complicated, so read on.

On Sunday my friends John and Susan arrived from Detroit, along with daughter Clare, son-in-law Mike, and grandson Jacob.  The latter three had flown in a couple days earlier from New Zealand, Mike's native country, where he and Clare were married and Jacob was born.  This week the Scotts are staying at my home, while John and Susan have a cottage at Camp Chickagami, a short walk through the woods to the north.

Jacob is the first child to shelter under my roof, and gave the bathtub in the master bathroom its very first slosh (my dermatologist frowns on baths... bad for the skin).

Clare, Mike, and Jacob arrived at Presque Isle in mid-afternoon to give his Youngness a chance to get used to a strange house.  John and Susan followed about 6:00 and we had dinner at my place.  Dessert was a gluten-free and quite delicious birthday cake for Jacob, who was born on June 17, 2011.  Here's where it gets a little complicated.  June 17 here in Michigan is (almost) yesterday in New Zealand, so Jacob's Kiwi grandparents and kin celebrated his natal day on (for us) the 16th, and then we celebrated again on the 17th, on the downhill side of the international date line.  Hey, what's wrong with two birthdays?!  More presents!  More cake!

Clare and Mike get ready to sing "Happy Birthday" to
son Jacob, who loves to point at people.

Mother Clare dishes up a few strawberries for Jacob.
The young man's interest is evident!

Strawberries with Nutella is an interesting culinary treat,
fun to eat and fun to wear!

Jacob's cake, created by Clare, was decorated with strawberries given me that morning by Ginger, my organist at Grace Episcopal Church in Long Rapids.  By general agreement among local folk, Alpena strawberries are the very best produced in the U.S.  Those strawberry-type things they sell in the food stores — imported from California, bred for shipping, with a vague strawberry taste and the "mouth feel" granite pebbles — cannot hold a candle.  Alpena berries are plump and juicy, with a remarkable depth of flavor and sweetness.  You can pick them yourself at farms in the region, or buy them from farm folk selling berries off the back of their pickup trucks in the Walmart parking lot.  Yum!

On Sunday we served these berries with a nice drizzle of warm Nutella, the hazelnut-chocolate spread beloved of Italians as a breakfast treat.  Double yum!  Jacob did not object.  In fact, all the food seemed to have a calming effect on this happy one-year-old, who fell asleep promptly at 9:30 and didn't stir (literally, not a peep) until after 7:00 the next morning!

Yesterday and last night a series of thunderstorms moved through Presque Isle.  These were a treat for Mike, who reports that his region of New Zealand gets rather few boomers.  In the guest room upstairs he and Clare could relax in bed and watch the light show out their window.  They've taken walks, Mike spent some time yesterday splitting firewood, and John and Mike helped me put together a new TV stand for the living room.  (Actually, Mike and John put it together while I mostly watched.)  This morning, as I left to do this blog post, Clare and Mike were planning to take Jacob canoeing on Lake Esau.

More thunderstorms are expected this afternoon and tonight.  No complaint here — Northern Michigan has been very dry for many weeks, and even with the rain the fire danger remains high.  However, if tomorrow's weather cooperates I plan to introduce John to my electric log splitter.  A couple hours as a lumberjack will do him good! •••