Birthday, on the eve of Earth Day

Hello, world! I am celebrating all your bright spots, your green landscapes, your hope, your beautiful interplay of life and shape and form. I am celebrating the fact that for 69 years, I have been part of it all. So many sublime moments... So many breathtaking experiences! A few close calls, quite a number of challenging adventures. Life, rich and beautiful.

And yes, I'm going to call it a daffodil day at last. This counts, don't you think?

I do have to start the day with a visit to my eye doc for a post-op checkup. She has her usual gravitas about her, but proclaims the surgery to be a total success (so far). (Ed comments -- do they ever say "it went just okay?")

But I can't read! -- I protest.

You should not be reading. You should not be bending, You should not be doing anything after surgery. Just rest, okay?

No, not okay. That's instructions for old people. 70 years plus. I am 69 and I have been waiting for spring for a long time. Spring is here. I am done resting.

Well okay, she continues. But remember that gardening is dirty work. Keep those hands out of your eye!

Personally, I think working in a clinic with sick people can be called "dirty work," but hey, I get it. Farmette fields are basically a mixture of clay, compost and animal waste.  Though how I'm supposed to plant and weed without bending over is beyond me. Oh, the challenges of life!

 

Ed and I go out for breakfast to Paul's Cafe. How great it feels to sit here again, yes, with computers, but with some human exchange as well (we know and like the owners, Kim and Paul, and they put up with us... I'm lookin' at you, Ed!). Life, regained.

 

A visit then to Natalie's Garden Center. Another friend of long duration. I can't yet buy all the annuals because we're to have a hard frost this coming week. But I buy a little. To get us started.

It's a stunning day. All sunshine and blue skies. No jackets, just a sweatshirt. T-shirt for Ed.

And here's the thing -- my eye doc said I had had unusually cloudy lenses. Indeed. With my new one in the right eye, the world is as bright as lemon meringue pie! With the left eye? It's all mustard brown. I have to wonder -- which is the true color of our big beautiful planet? Is it really lemon meringue? Who knew!

Another stop to another flower greenhouse (Kopke's). I like to support Natalie, but there's stuff here that you cannot find anywhere else. Again, I buy carefully, with an eye toward the weather. Anything I put out today will have to come in next week as the Arctic air will chill us once again.

In the afternoon, I pick up Snowdrop. She asks -- can we go to Bernie's Beach? Can I swim in the lake?

Oh, little girl! The lake waters have just melted! Yes, it does feel relatively warm. We touch 64F (18C) this afternoon. But the winds are strong and they'll be bringing the water's cold onto the shore. 

But I'm so warm!

She takes off her sweater. Her socks. I smile at her Wisconsin enthusiasm. Okay, little one. Let's go to Bernie's Beach. 

(Determined!)

(Cold? Maybe. But so fun!)

(A few minutes on the play structure, remembering previous games of "ice cream shop!")

At the farmhouse, I ask her if I can try out a pony tail with her hair. She hates pulling it all back, but it's my birthday and she wants to please. So, just for a few minutes!

And when I return her home, we all pause for celebratory champagne. With presents! 

We can't resist a photo. My girl's husband plays photographer!

Such a beautiful day...

But wait! Not done yet! Late, late in the evening, Ed and I go out to Sardine - a favorite restaurant by Lake Monona. We've gone there on countless family occasions, big and small. Memories abound. But it's been a while. A first for Ed and me since the pandemic. (We are in a golden moment where both have had the second booster quite recently, so eat-outs are less of a worry.)

People have very different attitudes toward birthdays. They love them, they hate them, they party through them, they get together in large packs and dance the night away. Me, I like to fill the day with small favorites: a special breakfast, a trip to the plant store. A bunch of flowers, a small pile of cards. 

A toast, a dinner. It can be at home or out, but something out of the standard repertoire. A cake? Yes, we'll do that later, on the weekend. A special drink with the younger family? That will come next week. It's this whole varied package of delights that makes me smile a big happy grin. Not one thing is exceptional or big or loud. (As Ed's card reads -- "There's just one difference between how much you're loved on your birthday and how much you're loved every day. Today you get the card.") But all of it, card included, concentrated in the proximity of April 21st, is just over the top wonderful.

To all who have reached out, or simply read along today -- thank you.

With so much love.