HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME . . .

Okay, I know this is the post you've all been waiting for.  Catalyst/Bruce celebrating his #%rd birthday.  Today was the day so here we go.

SWMBO and I were accompanied by the irrepressible BRD to a nice restaurant where we were seated far away from the other patrons. I don't know why.  Well, maybe I do.  It was because of the antics of the BRD.

Y' can't take her anywhere.  And if it's your birthday she insists on singing.  Badly.

She insists on applause.

Or, at least, dessert.

That red velvet cupcake in the center was supposed to be my birthday cake but she devoured most of it.  But never mind.  The lemon cake on the left and the "loaded" carrot cake on the right were equally delicious.

SWMBO, in the meantime, was ordering wine . . . a very good Pinot Noir by Mirassou.

And, in spite of what I said earlier about the BRD, we all had a very good time.

So, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, I'm only seventy-three, so happy birthday to me!  

And surrounded by much younger ladies that I love dearly!

NEPHEWS AND WIVES

As I said yesterday, two of my nephews and their wives were coming to visit.  Just a day after a four-day hiking and camping trek into the Grand Canyon.  The organizers were Amy and Barry from St. Paul, Minnesota.

Amy is an excellent and pretty competitive cross country skier.  Barry is the cook extraordinaire and planner.  They go somewhere nearly every weekend to hike, camp, fish, ski or whatever.  They're a very active couple.

They had gone into the Canyon a year ago.  This time they brought Barry's older brother, Larry and his wife Debbie, from Minot, North Dakota.

I was just talking with SWMBO and noted it was interesting that all three men in that family do a bulk of the cooking.  Barry, Larry and their younger brother, Tim, all cook very capably.

By the way, I found that Larry likes his white wine!

Barry and Amy had to catch a plane back for the snowy north.  Here's a picture Barry sent of what greeted them at home.

Larry and Deb stayed over a night.  Great to see them after way too many years.

MONDAY, MONDAY

Happy Earth Day!

Two of my nephews and their wives are enroute to our house for a visit.  Here's where they've been for a few days.

This year Deb and Larry joined Amy and Barry for a backpacking trek into the Grand Canyon.  After several days camping in the depths, they emerged at the top yesterday.  Brave and sturdy folks!

SILLY SATURDAY STUFF

Phoenix television anchor team, Lin Sue Cooney and Mark Curtis,  at Pat's Run in Tempe this morning.

Back in the day, I worked with both of these people.  What I want to know is how come Mark and I got older and grayer and plumper and Lin Sue has remained her same gorgeous self.

Maybe it's because of this.

Some other stuff I swiped from the Internets today.

And one for, like me, the gentle cat lovers among you.

RANDOMICITY

HA!  I just made up a word.  To explain, here are some random shots around my neighborhood.

If you've got really good vision or a good monitor you might have seen a sliver of moon up there.  I call it a moonlet.  (WOW!  I just made up another word!)  If not, here . . I'll blow it up for you.

Have a GREAT weekend!

KITTY WISDOM

A SURPRISE!

I had a big surprise yesterday.  I was sitting out on my patio in the morning when the phone rang.  It was my cousin, Bonnie, from Billings, Montana.  I said "where are you?"  She replied that they were about 20 miles out of Flagstaff, heading for Prescott.  She said "why don't you drive up and have lunch with us at the Palace Saloon."  

Now that's a little over a hundred miles from where I live now but, since they had come from Montana, I said "fine" and we agreed to meet at noon.

When I got there she was standing out front with a young woman I didn't recognize but was quickly introduced to Linda, her sister, another cousin of mine.

Then the doors to a car parked right in front opened and more people emerged.  This is Linda's husband, D.J.

Here is Bonnie and her husband, LaVerne.

But the biggest surprise was yet to come.  One more woman stepped out of the car and I asked Bonnie in wonder, "Is that your mother?"

It was.  Lil was married to my mother's brother.  I asked Bonnie how old she was and was told she is 91.  Now I ask you . . is this the face of a 91 year old woman?

It certainly doesn't look like it to me.  She is full of pep and ready to go.

The group had been through Wyoming and Colorado, taking in the sights, and were on their way to the Grand Canyon and then Monument Valley before going on to Bryce Canyon in Utah and then back to Montana.

They are great adventurers, those Montanans, and it was wonderful to see them all again, especially my ever-young Aunt Lil.

Oh, and Bonnie brought me some of those famous chocolate frosted chocolate cookies that I remembered from my mother's oven when I was a wee tot.

Oh, yes, I was.  Once upon a time.