Friday, May 3, 2013

cakes and cards

So it was my birthday last week. I had a really nice day. This year I made sure I had absolutely no expectations, so of course it went really well.

They brought me a cake and lovely card in school, and I brought in lemon cupcakes to share with the students and teachers just in case (you don't want to take these things for granted). Thanks to the chocolate cake, there were enough cupcakes left over to bring home and share with the friends and their kids who came to visit. Man, I got all the flowers - beautiful tulips that Bodhi picked out (and my friend Anne taught me that if you push a pin through the stop of the stem they don't droop!), a wildly coloured assortment from Ramona and the beautiful white roses and lilies I've long lusted after from Anne. She even arranged them nicely for me - I is not good at that. I was a bit gutted I was going away from them for the weekend, but they were still holding strong when I got back. A kitchen full of flowers.

I went to visit my friend, writer Janine Ashbless. When I arrived in her lovely home, there was this waiting for me:


Lemon sponge with ginger  curd and cream! It was so springful and delicious. Two cakes! Two cakes!! So nice to have a birthday cake made for me, it's something I appreciate so massively.

Possibly the sweetest thing about it was Janine's greyhounds reaction on getting a rare taste - they looked at her like she was their goddess fully incarnate and couldn't wait for More. It was so funny. Greyhounds are clearly bun hounds, that's what those noses are for.

I had such a lovely weekend, and didn't get snowed in, though it did hail and snow on me just a tiny bit. Not enough to be worrisome though.

I have a few nice pictures that I'm still too tired to try and get off my phone. I've had a great week in the sun here, feeling bizarrely... happy. Happy like a normal person feels, perhaps, though I'm super over tired today and a family birthday party at a Drogheda playzone that felt like a 'Nam flashback and one child being miserable and scared and the other being hyper sensitive (not that I blame her, it was a screamy circle of hell) and bitchy has kind of dropped me into an exhausted pit of defeated misery again, but no doubt it won't last. I can't wait to stay in bed tomorrow morning. Am looking forward to it so much.

Anyway - look at that cake. Look at it! 

3 comments:

Ms. Moon said...

That is a beautiful cake, no doubt about it and I can almost taste it's lemony spring goodness.
I am glad to read this good report, Jo. Happy belated and many, many more.

Anonymous said...

Belated Happy Birthday Jo, I have been reading for a while but my phone never allows me to comment. I found you through the very wonderful Ms Moon who I adore, and had to comment when I read you were in Drogheda... Where I live...small world. And yes those play areas are a germ filled screaming nightmare, happiest moment for me when my kids grew out of the every bloody weekend birthday party at the same places !!

Jo said...

A Ms Moon reader in Drogheda? Cool! Who would have guessed? Thanks for the comment, lovely to meet you :)