Happy Birthday to Me! I'm Not Fifty-Three!

 

Today I slept in, then Travalon gave me some gifts: a Becky Badger keychain (yes, Bucky had a girlfriend back in the 70's), a Drogheda Drogues pin, and a gift card to Ishnala so that we can go there for my half-birthday, since they aren't open in the winter.

I don't actually follow the Drogheda Drogues, but when I asked Travalon if Northern Ireland soccer teams were in the Irish League or some other league, he looked it up and found they were in the Irish League, and we were fascinated to see that Drogheda (I can't believe it's been almost a decade since we were there) has their own team. Plus, it's just fun to say "Drogheda Drogues." 

Travalon also gave me a plush musk ox, which was a donation to the World Wildlife Fund.

It came in its own "Happy Birthday" tote bag.

Then we drove out to Sauk to see eagles. And did we ever! There were about a dozen on and around the island, including sitting on a sandbar and in the trees across the river.

We didn't see any from the VFW Park, but we did see more across the river at the dam.

The bakery we like to go to out there was closed for the holiday season through today, so no birthday shortbread for me. I remembered that the coffee shop in Waunakee once gave me a free scoop of ice cream on my birthday, so we went there, but they no longer have ice cream. They said they could give me a free latte... but when I looked at our receipt, they had in fact charged us for it. Oh well, I didn't say anything. We also had chicken pesto sandwiches there for lunch.

After Travalon left for work, I went on a very brisk walk to get my active minutes, and I ran into my neighbor with the cute little dog Lucy, so I joined her on her beautiful sun porch for a margarita and some nuts. Lucy was VERY excited that I had come to visit, and she hardly left me alone. We eventually went on another walk, so I feel like I spent a lot of time walking, yet I am still short of steps for the day. Soon I will have to leave to meet Travalon for dinner at the new restaurant that used to be Liliana's, but maybe after dinner I can walk around the house.

I forgot to mention that the other day when we went to Picnic Point to see swans but didn't see any, we did see a mallard drake land on the ice and then slide. I couldn't tell if he did it on purpose or if he were surprised, but I laughed really hard, and I swear he did too.

Here are a couple of photos I forgot to post earlier. Travalon got yet another Dino the Sinclair Dinosaur, this one in action.

My longtime readers may remember that last Advent I got a crystal Advent calendar, but it was a bit of a letdown because the three most valuable crystals were missing: fluorite, jade, and amethyst. I finally called them not long before Christmas and said, "I was told it would be a while before I get the missing crystals, but it's been almost a year." They were surprised and said they had actually been sent right after I called, but they would send them again. So here they are.

The weird thing is that they arrived in a simple envelope with no explanation, and the return address was "Fulfillment Center" and not "National Geographic Toys" or anything that might explain what they were. Then I had a vague memory that I had, in fact, gotten some crystals in the mail at one point, but I couldn't figure out where they had come from because of the unhelpful return address, and I guess I'd forgotten about the Advent calendar. I thought, "Why would someone send me crystals randomly?" That's my old brain, I guess - without anything to explain them, I forgot why they came.

Famous Hat