Happy Birthday Barb
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.
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,
******* couple, one of them ex-Coast Guard now working high up in a
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
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