What better excuse to eat and photograph? I seem to have done a lot of each...
The festivities
began the night before the day before the day after my birthday with a salad
and a box from Chez Alice
as Jane was online
Benjamin was playing chess
and Suzanne was getting ready
for the treat to come. My attempts at self portraits worked badly
and then even worse
so someone else had to try to capture me
|
|
|
|
|
|
to look better
but it took a few tries
to get to this
as my birthday was toasted
and the tortillas
were flashed
into view.
The main event, as always, was when the cake appeared
and we took family pictures
to go with the birthday pictures
and one last look at the cake
before we devoured it.
The next morning, the celebration continued at Small World
where Sarah ate granola
Suzanne had skim decaf latte
and I had chai tea with skim milk
while posing for a birthday photo
on my not really my birthday birthday.
Then I met Michele
for lunch at Triumph. She took my picture
and then prepared her iced tea
as her portobello
and mine
arrived to keep us nourished.
I was surprised in the afternoon when the gang at work
appeared at my door with this cake
large enough so that cake was left for
Ken
and Kai
who arrived later. Ken
took this picture of me
as Kai finished the cake
in time for me to think about the next meal.
Seva and Suzanne both reached for the bottle of pinot grigio
Michele had given me but this did not rouse Benjamin from the couch
when it was time for us to leave. The table at Acacia
was set well as Peter Kramer
arrived dressed just like me. Suzanne
Seva
and I
had our champagne
and then studied the menu
to get our first courses
before the main course came
and filled us enough that we were not totally tempted by the dessert
menu
though we had an espresso
a coffee (decaf)
and a tea
before looking at the flowers
and deciding to split these two -- for the women
and for the men
before the gift giving began. My gift was this book
which Peter and Seva posed with
before I opened it
and cited a few unexpected phrases
tied to our past. After capturing this sign
for my collection, the meal was over.
Back at home, the chess board
called to Peter
who worked Ben into this position
before Ben tricked him into a stalemate. Peter then took pictures of me
Ben
and Suzanne
as we played Clue.
It was the next day and the celebrations seemed to continue. We drove
to Philadelphia where Judy studied the photos
I had brought and then explained them to Suzanne
before we headed off to the Blue Angel
and made our way in
for dinner. The bread
accompanied my wine
and got us ready for our salads
and main courses
before taking the bus girl's
picture and pictures of the ceiling
floor
and walls
of the restaurant. The dessert menu
reminded me to capture this photo
for my collection as I also noted the elegant ceiling
in this bath room where they try to teach you French. The
restaurant's card
did not take well to the flash so we headed through the historic district
pausing at the plaque for Richard Stockton
who lived around the corner from us. At the Curtis building
we captured the glass mosaic
that Steve Wynn tried to buy and got directions to the
historic sites as we went looking for dessert. We stopped at Buddakan
and recorded people who ate there
and people
who will never eat there.
We made our way to Serrano where they had crayons on the table
and a menu
that did better with the flash as I tried to record sketchings
and finally got this picture of Judy's cake
with more than 100 candles
though I couldn't get my drawing
of hands and feet. The desserts
caused Lenny and Judy
to convince me to take a picture of the bar
before checking out the mirror
and getting this picture
for the collection before leaving
and heading back towards the car. Along the way, we got a bad
picture of the girl
in the bridal veil and even worse pictures
of the Liberty Bell.