Monday, September 29, 2014

How do birthdays roll around so quickly?

My week started with a bunch of flowers from a friend of mine sitting on my doorstep, which may be how all birthday weeks should start.
On Saturday night, I got taken out to dinner.  We went first to a rooftop bar I'd wanted to go to, for a glass of wine before dinner.  The tables were tiled with beer lids.  The atmosphere was a little on the hipster side, but I was glad to be there.  And enjoyed the moment when my friend pulled a necklace out of his pocket that he'd picked up for me in Africa.
We had dinner at an outdoor table.  Pita bread with crawdad dip as an appetizer and a bottle of pinot grigio. I had salmon as my entree.
That evening was the neighborhood block party.  I am just loving this neighborhood - it's incredibly friendly. I asked the landscape architect who organized the party to let me know if he saw me doing anything stupid with my yard and he looked pained. I could see he was debating whether to say anything. I promised him I wouldn't be offended and he finally told me he'd seen me putting black plastic down...  I quickly assured him it had been down temporarily to kill off grass but that I'd pulled it up before layering cardboard, compost and mulch and would never leave plastic on the ground. He was mightily relieved to hear that and apparently had been fretting about it! He liked my inclination toward a great variety in plants and we talked some about gardening in general.
I'd also invited my friend who lives in a different part of the neighborhood, the one I walk with and who'd brought me flowers, to the block. She made these cute (and delicious) mini chocolate cheesecakes and today I invited my younger son to come over and join us for dessert. And then they both reluctantly sang me the birthday song when I said, "Okay, y'all have to sing 'Happy Birthday' to me." Later, yet another friend came by to have a glass of wine and talk for a while. All in all, I feel like I'm off to a good start with this year.

No comments:

Post a Comment