And a Good Day Was Had By All . . .

Here's the postscript on birthday celebration #61:

I picked up Boston and Ridley at 9:00. Nobody in their house remembered it was my birthday. (Lesson One: Learn to be less subtle.) We headed to the Cleveland Zoo, stopping first at the Panera on Richmond in Warrensville Heights for morning pastries to tide us over. I splurged for the calories on a chocolate pastry, my absolute fave.

When we got to the zoo, the parking lot was packed. Who knew it was safety day and tons of day camp and day care kids would be there?! The good part was that there were lots of giveaways for the kids, which they proudly showed to the Jazzman and their parents when we got home.

Although rain was predicted, it turned out to be a lovely day, alternating between overcast and sunny. No sunburns—yea! The kids loved every animal they saw, especially the chipmunks running along the sidewalks and every songbird that wasn't in a cage and would land nearby! We even saw two wild deer eating 15 feet away from the sidewalk. They fed fish to the sea lions and nectar to the tropical birds. Boston looked at the zebra, standing about eight feet away and said, "They look so random." Where do these kids come up with their vocabulary?!

A trip through the gift shop on our way out yielded stuffed toys: a meerkat for Boston and a wolf for Ridley.

We stopped at Mavis Winkle's in Twinsburg for lunch at 3:00, then followed that with a quick trip into Dairy Queen.

We stopped by my house, where they showed the Jazzman all their treasures and we picked up the "Phantom of the Opera" DVD for them to watch at home. I ran them home, then headed back to my house.

The phone rang—my older son calling to wish me Happy Birthday. While talking to him, I prepared a pants pattern to be cut out today. Then I went upstairs to shower and change for dinner. My phone rang again and showed my NC cousin's caller ID. When I answered, it was my mother, calling to wish me a Happy Birthday! As she is in a nursing home/rehab facility right now, it's very difficult to get ahold of her. I told her I'd be down Monday afternoon to visit her, and she immediately turned to my cousin and repeated this news. Nice.

The Jazzman and I went to Lowe's to look at ceiling fans for the bedroom and the family room, then to Caffe Capri, where we like to sit at the bar and enjoy great Italian food. For me - a big salad and a glass of Pinot Grigio.

And all day long, as I walked through each activity, my phone would ping every fifteen minutes with at least three new birthday greetings. This is one of the things I love about Facebook, the way friends old and new, near and far, can keep in touch with each other's lives.

I had a fabulous day, thank you very much.