BIRTHDAY GIRL

 As I noted yesterday, the Beautiful Artistic Daughter celebrated her 70th birthday with us recently.

I Waterlogued a picture of her just for fun.

We invited her over to enjoy a special dinner prepared by her mother, aka She Who Must Be Obeyed.

And it was special!

Shrimp Scampi, Pasta Shells in an Alfredo Sauce topped with grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, Snow Peas, a Chopped Salad and Dinner Rolls.

And, of course, Judy's showcase.

A plate of artfully arranged thinly sliced lemons for squeezing over the shrimp.

All accompanied by a nice bottle of Prosecco.

Not shown was the dessert, Gayle's favorite: carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

And SPRINKLES!

The meal was deemed a huge success and the honoree was pleased, indeed.

All that was left was the cleanup, undertaken by Yours Truly.

If it wasn't for the wonderful culinary sensations, I think I would say that I'm glad these events only come around once a year.

And speaking of culinary sensations, Judy and I watched the French movie "The Taste of Things" yesterday.

It is very tasty and I recommend it.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 So this was the week the Sun went "out".

Well, just for a few minutes.

And just for part of the world.

But if you were where the total eclipse was visible, it was quite a show.

Oh and yesterday the Beautiful Artistic Daughter had a birthday.

A BIG one.

I'm not revealing any secrets here.

She turned 70!

And she's not hiding it.

Well, except for her appearance as she looks much, much younger.

Maybe 70 is the new 40.

I saw a new cardiologist a couple of days ago and I must be doing okay because we laughed and laughed through the appointment.

And that's what I hope you all will do as I launch us into a new fit of frivolity to finalize the week.

The first one is for Gayle and anyone who had a birthday this week.

Seems like there was a lot of food fetishness going on this week.

I guess that might tell you something about me.

Well at any rate, eat and drink well this weekend and make it a fine fete-filled feast for the senses.

And ALWAYS remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . oh, and she's brought a friend . . )

CHO-CO-LATE

The Taylor Family Bakery was humming yesterday.

This could be SWMBO.

AN EARLIER ECLIPSE

Judy and I watched the total solar eclipse on television.

It was only supposed to be about 60 percent where we live and the day was partly cloudy so not much to see.

But seeing the light go out of the sky across the country and the excitement of people in all those locations was fun to see.

And the first place to have the thrill in North America was Mazatlan, Mexico.

That was the first place we visited in our neighbor to the south, 45 years ago in 1979.

But some time later, in 1991, we were living in San Antonio Tlayacapan, on the shore of Lake Chapala south of Guadalajara.

And on July 11th of that year the last total solar eclipse to be seen in Mexico occurred.

This is a photo of me with one of our fellow expatriates at the time, Hugh.

Following instructions, we were safely viewing the reflected eclipse in a bowl of water.

You can see how dark it is around us as the birds roosted in trees, thinking it was nighttime.

Here is our dear friend Lori, who was married to Hugh at the time.

We have our home-made safety glasses in our hands and it's a bit lighter either before or after totality.

We came back to the Estados Unidos the next year.

Hugh has passed on now and Lori lives in Seattle.

We have many memories of our years living in Mexico.

I recall our yard boy coming the day before the eclipse to tie red cloths to all of our fruit trees.

He said it was to prevent the fruit from falling during the eclipse.

We laughed and called it superstition but I had to admit, not one piece of fruit fell.

BEWARE

 

Uh . . .

 

53!

That number up there signifies the number of years that Judy (aka SWMBO) and I (aka some names you don't want to see) have been married.

Yes, today is our 53rd wedding anniversary.

Back in those early days we looked like this.

It seems like only yesterday that we were celebrating our 20th anniversary in our home in San Antonio Tlayacapan, Mexico.

But time marches on and now we look like this.

So 53 years have passed and we're still in love with each other.

We will celebrate the day quietly.