Birthday Gifts and Thoughts

Do you play tricks with your birthday? Probably not. Probably you receive each birthday as the gift that it is and that's all there is to it. I do something strange. Since I was thirty-seven, I have added a year to my age. Yes, I know that most people subtract a few. Not I. That year, I rolled into my thirty-seventh birthday thinking that I was thirty-six. It did such a number on me that I've never been caught like that again.

So when my grandson arrived last week saying that he wasn't sure how old I was, but perhaps I was "%^," I really had to stop to think for he had added a year before I was ready to add a year. It's shocking either way!

Yesterday I shared one of my gifts (the Downton Abbey magnets) and today I thought I'd share some more. Family is always the best gift, of course. They arrived in the early evening with supper in tow. That was lovely. And this was lovely, too.

~My son and grandsons doing the dishes together~

Could it get any sweeter?

I had done something crazy to my camera settings so all my photos of the evening are so strangely colored that I turned them all to gray scale. No amount of playing in Photoshop would straighten them out. 

See what I mean? Sometimes one just has to return to the default settings and start over.

~nice interaction between Baby Grand and his mother in this one and I have no idea to whom the Older Grand is speaking...~ 

~John's thinking that the frame idea is going to mean that someone will get hurt...possible!~

By the next morning, I had the camera back to some semblance of normal. I think this proves that one needs to anticipate events and be prepared. What a novel concept!

On to the other gifts...

My sister sent me some delicious coffee from a coffee plantation she visited in Puerto Rico. It is some good too, smooth and flavorful.

 My son and daughter-in-law brought the cake and this lovely quilt square.

My daughter brought supper and this set of dishes for storage. I don't think that she's been happy with what's been available here lately. I'm making room for this in the cupboard today.

 The sweetest birthday card ever...

 And another from my sister, in Spanish...

Sewing notions and tea towels from my son and his family and a jean-a-ma-jij from my daughter. I've talked about this *before* you may remember.

 Jets were flown and crashed...

 Jets were flown and landed safely...

Two movies. One from my daughter, which I have also discussed *before* and the other from my niece. I know little about it, but perhaps I should check to see if it won an Oscar last night.

Did you watch? The Oscars that is?