A Mellow Birthday

Thank you to everybody who sent me e-mails, text messages, and left comments on Facebook wishing me a happy birthday. There were way too many for me to possibly answer individually, but please know that I read each one and cherish them, and I cherish all of you. Now, if someone could just tell me how the hell I made it to 69 when I was just 19 last week and where all the other years went in the meantime, I would appreciate it.

It was a very mellow, laid-back birthday, which is just the way I like it. After snuggling in bed with Terry for a while after we woke up, we had a light breakfast of strawberry smoothies and English muffins. Our friend Jennifer stopped in to visit for a little bit, and both of my kids called from out of state and I talked to them. Later I made some changes to the last couple of chapters of my new book after Miss Terry finished editing and proofreading them and sent them off to Roberta to proofread.

Terry asked if I wanted to go someplace for dinner, but with Biketoberfest gong on and 125,000 bikers in the area, I figured most places would be even busier than on a normal Friday night, so we stayed home and had grilled ham and cheese sandwiches on Terry’s homemade rye bread. Then we watched a few episodes of the new season of Shameless on Netflix. And that was it for the day. Like I said, laid back and mellow.

We all know that Terry loves cooking and baking, and she had asked me what kind of birthday cake I wanted. I decided to go non-traditional and told her that I would love the cheesecake she had been talking about making for a month now. So that’s what she did! It still had to cool down and chill last night, so that will be a treat for today. And you can bet I’m looking forward to it!

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. We really need to get the supply chain moving. Things are getting desperate again.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an audiobook of The Driving Lesson by my friend Ben Rehder. While Ben writes some excellent mysteries, including the wildly popular Blanco County series, this tale of a boy and his grandfather on an unplanned road trip across the country is a coming of age story that will tug at your heartstrings. To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

Thought For The Day – I changed the voice on my GPS to a man’s. Now it just says, “It’s around here somewhere. Keep driving.”