Our celebrations began yesterday at the lake cottage, from which his brother, nieces and nephew were departing after their annual week in NH.
I came separately, with the dogs, transporting the Birthday Cake. Said cake was a very big deal. I've been baking from chidhood and consider myself fairly adept. But never have I attempted a) the Chap's Aunt Ginnie's legendary lemon coconut pound cake, or b) to bake any sort of cake in a bundt pan. Yesterday, with much trepidation, I combined both a) and b). Much to my amazement--and relief--I was successful in both efforts.
Our Friend From the North Country joined us at the lake, bearing many gifts with alcohol content from Ireland and Belgium.
Also our friend the Reverend Canon, bearing homemade baba ganoush. (It was his hens' holy and miraculous fresh-laid eggs that went into the birthday cake, and were surely responsible for the excellent outcome.)
After nibbles...
...and gurl time on the dock...
...and libations (and sampling the still-warm birthday cake), we took the Chap to a favourite seasonal Asian restaurant. Some of us returned to the cottage for more birthday cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.
A beautiful, clear, not-too-hot birthday allowed the Chap and his (somewhat) younger spouse to spend a day by the water. He went for an early morning swim while I walked the girls. We ate breakfast on the screen porch and he opened more presents. (Lots were opened yesterday, at the Lodge and with our friends.)
At mid-morning we all went down to the dock to watch the Big White Boat pass up and down the Bay. And we watched an eagle soaring cloud-high. And I had fun with Ruth, teaching her to run back and forth from me at the end of the dock to the Chap and Jewel sitting at the opposite end. (She went swimming to cool off.)
Afer lunch the rest of us went swimming (except Jewel, who isn't terribly keen.) Then came a period of reading and computing on the screened porch. I returned to the dock to photograph the loon.
In the late afternoon we walked the dogs--a deer loped across the road in front of us, but I was the only one looking in the right place at the right time. On our return, the Chap took a congratulatory call from my parents. We had an early cocktail hour--the birthday person sets the rules. He did some dinnertime grilling.
Now we're awaiting a "golden pond" sunset.
So often we're in Montreal at this time, for Canada Day and the International Festival de Jazz, and the Chap gets fireworks on his birthday. But this year I couldn't be happier being togther on our beautiful Bay. Where he's been swimming for practically all of his life:
In addition to celebrating the nativity of my dear husband, I'm absorbing and cherishing the calm and peaceful atmosphere of this place. I will soon depart for a vast convention center compelex in a Midwestern city, which will be my home for ten days and nine nights. It's so difficult to pry myself away from New Hampshire at this time of year. To detach myself from spouse and dogs and the big house on the little lake and the cottage on the Big Lake and the thrilling and exacting effort to create digital editions of my backlist books. But I was elected by my diocese to undertake an important task in big-C Church governance...so off I go.
In case I don't make it back here to do so, I wish all my US blog readers a happy Fourth of July. I won't have a holiday, but I'll manage to be festive anyway.
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