Rare Moment to Catch Up

Where to start where to start? Parents arrived Friday night, bearing gifts. For my birthday, my mother painted me the most beautiful, and I mean the MOST beautiful pastel portrait of my boy N. It's from a photo she took at Christmas of him eating oatmeal at their dining table, a large cloth napkin tied as a bib around his neck. I remember that morning well. His back is to the plate glass windows letting in the morning sun. My mother is infinitely talented. Unfortunately, her eyes have been troubling her lately. It has been a mixed bag to have her as a role model, since there is basically nothing she can't do and do well.

Then there were the presents for AC, whose birthday was Sunday. Many fun and pretty things for the one-year-old girl. We spent Friday and Saturday getting ready for Sunday's big party, then, Sunday morning, my father woke up very ill. So ill, in fact, that none of us wanted to risk inviting people into the house to meet his germs. After I called the guests and delivered the bad news, Mimi, Daddy, big brother N, and I gave AC a small celebration with cake and ice cream.

In other news, my dog W walked on all four feet today for the first time in, oh, seven or eight months. I took him very slowly about twenty yards. He had his left rear patella repaired two weeks ago, and I took his stitches out Tuesday. His incision looks great. We go back to the ortho vet the first week in April. Here's hoping he'll be healed soon.

D and I are off to see Pilots--wait--that's Pirates of Penzance tonight. Should be loads of fun.