My sweet daddy turned 87 on the 14th of July. We had a party last year, but this year it was more low key and mom fixed a nice meal of his favorite fresh veggies from the garden and my sister and I came over to celebrate with them. I had just finished Haven, my sister went to the beach last week and my parents had been up at their mountain house, so we all hadn’t seen each other in a week or so.
The fresh vegetables are all pouring in now, especially the tomatoes, so I knew you all would love to see an update on my dad and mom. When I go too long without sharing about them, I always have someone ask about them. Y’all are so good to be concerned about them, I so appreciate that.
Last year, I shared a long post about my dad’s birthday and shared a sweet video of him at the end, so if you missed that, go back and check it out. He’s a funny guy!
Dad at 87, still going strong. He’s still out tending his 2 gardens.  This is the look I get when I tell him to pose for a pic.
Mom is always by his side, doing what needs to be done. I am so blessed to still have them.  She is a sweet mama!
Dad’s garden here in Marietta is doing good, he’s bringing in lots of tomatoes and other things.
The tomatoes are abundant and I brought home a nice sized bag of them. I’ll be eating tomato sandwiches a lot this week.
The Silver Queen corn is in too and I forgot to get some. I’ll just have to go back, won’t I?
Eggplant is ready too.
This bucket of tomatoes is less ripe than the big bunch they have inside. They have a ton of tomatoes right now. Of course, we all enjoy them.
Lunch was delish, as usual with stuffed peppers.
Cream corn with fresh tomatoes and cucumbers.
Update:Â For those who wanted to know how my mom makes her creamed corn, this is straight from her:
Creamed Corn, Iris Style
Cut off corn from cob and scrape into a bowl that can go in microwave. Enough for a meal.
Add salt to taste and cook in microwave for 3 minutes.
Remove, add butter and cook 2 more minutes. Stir and add a little milk and cook for 1 more minute.
That’s it! That’s how she makes cream corn. Of course, it’s wonderful right out of the garden. She said that when she tries to cook it on the stovetop that it sticks so bad, so she figured out how to do it in the microwave.
Fried eggplant and green tomatoes, field peas, steamed okra rounded out the table. It was yummy, of course!
The tomatoes are rolling in and we will be gorging ourselves for a few weeks. They don’t last long enough so you have to take advantage while they’re here.
You can bet I’ll be eating LOTS of tomato sandwiches the next few weeks. Love this special summer treat!
Thank you for sharing in the beauty of my parents. They are special people and I love that my readers have fallen in love with them too. I so wanted to get them down to the Haven Conference this year, but it didn’t work out. My sister was at the beach and I didn’t have anyone that I could ask to bring them down, but next year, I’m going to make sure they come down and see it in person. My dad always asks me about it and how it all went. I was happy to tell him all about it and what a great success it was again this year!
HAPPY BRITHDAY TO YOUR DADDY! MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS HIM IN YOU MOM.
SORRY, MEANT TO SAY GOD BLESS HIM AND YOUR MOM
My dad will be 90 in September. Does your dad know how popular he is?? I will bet he shrugs that off! ha ha He sure is cute!
My sincerest best wishes to your father on his birthday. Also, your mother is so beautiful. May God bless them both.
Happy birthday to your dad. Both your parents are amazing! All the food looks delicious, and the tomatoes are gorgeous.
Happy birthday to your dad (belated), so pleased to see both your parents still in good health and enjoying the fruits of life. It is so lovely they have been able to get to see new babies in the family too. I was looking at my great niece on Facebook yesterday and thinking how beautiful she is and wishing my mum was here to see her great grandchild growing into such a beautiful woman…I am getting sentimental now. I love how you share your family and parents, we all love to hear about them.
The vegetable garden looks amazing as usual, I am wondering what that is growing to the right of the garden beds. It looks like they are trailing over wire, grapes?
Every time I see your parents garden I want to hurry up to get my piece of land and build. It doesn’t look like we will be doing that until we retire now as land has gone up so much around Auckland. It will mean moving out of Auckland as it is so much cheaper to move further out. To buy a piece of land and build around here is around $1,000,000 but to do this about 2 hours away (still near the coast) is half the amount. Sometimes I wish we lived in the country in the USA. Always wishing….not good.
I tried to plant some veggies a few weeks ago in my small planters in the garden. We had continual storms for a week and I have only just started to go outside and tidy up the garden and low and behold my vegetables have been eaten down to the roots by some hungry critters…possibly snails or slugs. I will have to start again and look for something to protect the vulnerable baby plants.
Have a lovely weekend
Lee 🙂
HI, Lee, those are muscadine vines and yes they are a type of grape. Very prolific in the south.
Please tell your Dad I said Happy Birthday and because of him I planted a garden this year. I have tomatoes (large and cherry), string beans, peppers and a lot of herbs. I only have some green tomatoes but I am hoping for more. I also learned to can strawberries, peaches, and apricots. Your parents are wonderful and you are a lucky lady to have them.
~Rhoda~
As you know, you are so blessed to have both parents. I miss mine dearly both gone to soon for sure, and so much like yours very dear !
I remember mom serving orka for dinner (just once thank goodness)when I was a child and it was awful!! I never ate it again until two years ago while in Asheville a pickled orka came with my lunch and OH MY GOSH it was wonderful, I ate my daughter’s too 🙂 .
Enjoy your tomatoes, I’m so jealous !!
Paula
northern IN.
Oh my goodness, Rhoda, your dad’s garden is making my mouth water! It all looks soo good! I love tomatoes, any kind, any way! Happy Birthday to your dad! Your parents are so sweet, and I love reading bout them both. I know you know, but you are so blessed.
Rita
It is so hard to think that there is still land in Marietta for a big garden! I bet your dad makes use of every inch! Haha. We are still waiting for our first tomato. My hubby say they will start coming in next week. Your pic made my mouth water!!!
And, yes, hug your sweet parents for all of us who have had to say “See you on the other side” to our’s.
Happy summer!
Rhoda,
Many belated happy birthday wishes to your dad! I always love to see these posts about your sweet parents. They probably don’t really realize the huge fan club that they have, do they? If your dad really knew about all the ladies that love to see pics of him, he’d smile BIG! So glad your mother told us how to make good creamed corn. We didn’t plant corn this year because some farms near us grow plenty. Leo and I really missed attending Haven this year, but we’ll be there next year!
Happy Birthday to your Dad! Yes, you are blessed to have both your parents and for them to be in such good health.
Your lunch makes my mouth water and reminds me of days long ago when my parents served food very similar. Those tomatoes are beautiful.
I am so glad you share about your family. They are special.
Just love your parents, Rhoda. Happy Birthday to your Dad!!! Love your pictures…..those bright red tomatoes are to die for! I would love to sit down at that meal with you and your family and indulge in those wonderful homegrown vegies! YUM!!! Thanks again for a GREAT blog!
Happy Belated Birthday to your sweet Dad. You are Blessed! I really enjoy reading about your dear Mom and Dad. Thanks for sharing!!!
Happy belated birthday to your dad, Rhoda! He has the sweetest face ever. All those fresh veggies remind me of growing up in South Georgia and having this kind of spread daily. That’s why your parents are so healthy and vigorous! God bless you and them!
God, I miss my grandmother’s cooking!
Bring the tomatoes & pass the Duke’s … I love a good fresh tomato sandwich!
HAPPY BLESSED BIRTHDAY to your dad!!!!
Thank you for sharing your dad’s birthday with us. As a pretty regular reader, I’ve really grown to love hearing about your parents. They both look amazing! I think it’s so cool that you share them with us.
So glad you shared your Dad’s birthday celebration and dinner with us, I so enjoyed reading it and seeing the great photos! We had fresh white & purple hull peas cooked with smoked ham, wonderfully sweet fresh corn, fried squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and sweet onion slices for dinner tonight so I understand where you’re coming from enjoying your Mom’s apparently wonderful cooking! Got 1 hamper of white & 1/2 of purple hulls in the freezer this evening and our girls will have peas for Thanksgiving & Christmas dinner this year!! They tell me they’ll have more peas next week at my local farm supplier so hopefully my empty freezer will be filling up this summer, surely didn’t last year…… hope you’re enjoying some quiet time after the hectic Haven Conference! Good job on that y’all!
Oh my, imagine how pleased I was when I saw a post about your parents!! My husband even asked about them a couple weeks ago and I said that I would have to go on and check. Big Belated Birthday Greetings, Rhoda’s Dad! You are amazing! And Rhoda’s Mom, oh my goodness gracious, your food consistently makes my mouth water every.single.photo. What an awesome woman you are! So glad all is well with your parents, Rhoda. Thanks for the update 🙂
Happy Birthday Sweet Dad ! What a handsome man he is, and your sweet Mama is just beautiful ! Look at her lovely skin – peaches and cream ! I have enjoyed the posts you write about your wonderful parents so very much – please don’t stop – we have all come to love them……
Happy Birthday to your Daddy , and many, many more…..