Low-Key Mothers' Day ...

Yup, we had ribs. The weather was wonky yesterday. Warmer than forecasted! Sunny! Then cloudy. Then sunny again! Then the wind picked up and the temperature began to drop. Eventually, some rain showed up but just for a few minutes. So it would have been cooler by the lake. Because it's always cooler by the lake. Not the day to dine outside. I suggested that perhaps we can execute the lake plan on Fathers' Day, as a little memorial for Dad.

So I threw a couple of slabs of ribs in the oven, really gorgeous slabs of ribs; the butcher Mom goes to "makes" its own ribs when it cuts pork roasts, so they're meatier than what most folks conjure when they think of ribs and this pig must have been pretty big because I joked that these were the brontosaurus ribs that Fred Flintstone gets delivered to his car.

And I made mashed potatoes and a salad. And that was dinner. Simple. Yummy.

My oldest brother joined us and brought over two rather enormous plants for Mom's yard. They're really lovely. And I gave Mom a pound of her favorite dark-chocolate-covered raisins and, as a gag more than a gift, a broom from the dollar store onto which I tied a generous curling-ribbon bow made from our favorite colors. I told her that I think she should leave the bow on it to make sweeping more fun. She loves her dollar-store brooms. She's very (not at all) extravagant.