Tim, me, and several friends.



Ray of course. He can't stay in the sun long so we brought him his dinner.

The monkey in the back is wearing a San Francisco Giants uniform with #1 on the back of his shirt. That's the number of catcher and my current hero Benjie Molina and my birthday gift from Tim & Juan. The monkey is sporting a fielder's glove intead of a catcher's mitt but that's okay.

My friends brought me batches of flowers, knickknacks for my shelves, a stuffed animal assortment, a lightweight quilt, and a lovely lavender candle. I may never light it - it's too pretty.

We had a wonderful time. I made a bunch of baked chicken drumsticks which just needed a short time on the bbq, potato salad, deviled eggs, baked beans (from a can with a little cooked bacon) and cole slaw. Took a loaf of my banana bread out of the freezer and cut it in small slices. Did most of the work the day before (with Ray helping) so on Sunday morning all I had to do was the chicken and cupcakes (see next paragraph).

Dawn was in charge of the grill. We did hamburgers, hot dogs, the baked chicken, and boneless country ribs. We'd started off planning a small party for Dawn and her family, Ray and me. It expanded rapidly and we counted at least 20 and I think we had a couple of drop-ins (kids) I've forgotten. I kept thinking of people I didn't want to leave out so we ended up with my extended family, Dawn's extended family (plus the extra kids), and my friends John (my computer savior), his wife, Michelle, David (my coffee drinking buddy), and card playing friend Reno as well. Wish Jim could have been here but maybe we can do the whole thing again for Memorial Day. He should be home long before then. Or maybe we'll throw a party before then in his honor. I'm usually flexible.

Oh, and birthday cake naturally. Dawn baked a chocolate cake and I made a small batch of vanilla cupcakes for anyone who didn't do chocolate. (It boggles my mind that there is anyone who doesn't do chocolate but that's okay you know who, I love you anyhow.) I was joking to some on-line friends that if they heard about a fire in Merced, CA it would be the result of me trying to blow out 71 candles at once. We settled for 9 on the cake.

Does anyone except me frost cupcakes by dipping them into the frosting? Ray had never seen it done before. Color me lazy but it works. When I try to frost them the "right" way, they end up a mess.

It was a little warm, but otherwise a wonderful day. The kids played in the small pool, the rest of us pigged out. Other than the cooking I'd already done, I didn't have to lift a finger, even to take the pictures. I handed Rochelle the camera. I think the only person she missed was David who arrived after Rochelle had put the camera away. My fault; I forgot to get the camera back out. I didn't get all the pictures on the blog. A few turned out a little dark, even with some editing on my part. It's enough of a cross section though so you can get the idea.

Leave it to me to write nothing since Christmas and then cover you up with words.

Take care, all you wonderful folks.