jmcquown
Jill!!! I am so thrilled! Well I'm laughing out loud at least. Is it because I remembered Barb's birthday? If so, the china is a suitable gift, because I remember no one else's. But I felt so ashamed last year of not being on top of her birthday, after she'd sent me jam and everything when I got married in 1998, that I plugged it into Yahoo. One year later (minus about 3 days) I get the reminder. And now I'm getting the china? Glory! Glory!
However I really don't know if it'll do me any good when I'm 106...Maybe if I remember somebody else's birthday next year, you'll break down and send it to me. Postage due, even...
Ob Dinner tonight: my parents' house in Alameda, with my brother and his brood plus a neighbor's kid, and my own two. Mom roasted a leg of lamb, Dad made tabbouli. HOwever they didn't account for the appetites of step-grandson (19, going into Army National Guard next month) step-granddaughter (just graduated college, healthy appetite) and their own 12-year-old grandson. The eleven of us (hubbie had a guys' thing to do) demolished all the food and my brother pulled out bread from a grocery bag to fill in the corners. Mom'll know to make twice as much food next time she invites all the grands and step-grands over... My brother, my father and I all eat less than we used to, but the offspring are making up for us.
Happy Birthday Barb + recipeLOL!! Thanks. Did you notice that I didn't promote it myself this year? It's still not too late for some serious online shopping for me, though. :-) Celebrate? Hmmm. That was last year - big...
Then the party continued after dinner - we went on to my brother's new place on the former Navy base, Alameda. Drove past enormous docked battleship, a tank, and the ferry landing to get there. He's renting an officer's house, four bedrooms, tidy and shipshape, with a leafy oak in the back yard, and quiet streets. If anybody at RFC ever lived on this base, tell us all about it. The developers are going to tear down the housing sometime and build luxury mansions, but meanwhile it's sort of like Mayberry RFD but with a Bay Area flavor. The neighbors came over, marine-related Bay Area job; I listened to tales of bagpipes and ships and life on the decommissioned Navy base. The weather has cooled off again and we huddled in our leather jackets by the light of tiki torches and citronella buckets. Viva la Bay Area!
Fond regards to Jill and the rest of RFC Leila
