Last night, my mom passes through and mentions that my aunt and uncle will be stopping in to spend the night on their way to points south to take care of some business.

No problem. They do this from time to time, spending the night here, taking care of their business a bit south of here, then driving straight through back to Atlanta.

Not this time. We have a load of birthdays in September, including my mom and one of my aunts. My aunt and uncle (and cousin, who came with them), decided to stop back and spend the night Saturday night, then return to Atlanta Sunday instead so they could visit a bit with the fam.

Which means, of course, that everyone gathered here tonight. Which means food.

Unfortunately, I got no pictures of the food. After cooking, slicing, and plating, people loaded up their plates and went off to chow down.

The menu:

Roasted chicken (two roasted chickens, actually)
Mashed yukon potatoes
Peas
Baked beans
Sliced tomatoes
Pan gravy
Baked apples with a brown sugar-apricot reduction
Cake and ice cream, and a boisterous rendition of “Happy Birthday to You”

As I type this, most of the fam is crowded into the dining room, yakking at one another. Some of us are in the living room watching OSU take care of business with Iowa. Some of us are also cursing the pain in their back and wondering if tomorrow will offer the opportunity to drive out about 30 minutes west of here to look at properties, or if that will have to wait until our return from San Antonio. Twenty acres…