Happy birthday Gail

We celebrated Gail's 40th birthday today. And it turned out to be quite a party with lots of food. The action didn't get out of hand, of course. But we all had our fill of fine fare. It was also good to see so many friends and family gathered together. There must have been about two dozen of us huddled into Julius's house. The statement, "the more, the merrier," couldn't have been more true.

Our day got off to an early start. I don't think either Dolly or I meant to rise as early as we did, but waking up early didn't pose too much of a problem. Both of us were up and out of bed by about 8:30 this morning. I likely would have spent more time in bed, but Ross needed a lift to school. When I first saw the car this morning, I thought I would need to let the car run and warm up for a bit. But there was only a dusting of frost on the car's windows and I was able to clean it off with the car's windshield washers. Ross needed to be at school by 8:55 and he made it on time.

When I returned to Dolly's place, I found she had fixed some coffee for herself and was working on a video gift for Gail. As Dolly worked, I poured myself a couple of bowls of Special K and chowed down. All the while I helped Dolly pick out some songs for the video. Dolly first thought a 50 Cent tune would be appropriate. But Dolly changed her mind once she heard some of the language used in the song. In the meantime, Dolly also listened to the second disc of the Led Zeppelin box set I gave her for Christmas. Dolly seems to really enjoy the gift, and seeing her enjoyment makes me very happy.

Dolly was kind enough to do some laundry for me in the interim. I took a shower while most of my clothes were still drying, so I hung out around the house in my sleep clothes until the laundry was finished. We were ready to run some of Dolly's errands by about 1:30. The first errand was to head to the W.H.O. so Dolly could turn in her timesheet and return her laptop. We then headed to Andy's to pick up some supplies for this evening's feast. There wasn't much we needed to pick up and we added our new purchases to the supplies we already had. Our final step before plunging into cooking was heading up the hill to Rabbit Island. Gail was supposed to be home from work around 5; Dolly and I began cooking around 3:30. We didn't start eating until around 6 because Gail had to stay late at work.

The first dish I prepared was my tator tot casserole. There were a few ingredients, such as corn and green beans, I forgot to add. But my forgetfulness didn't seem to detract from everyone's enjoyment of the dish. Once the casserole was in the oven I began working on spaghetti with meat sauce drawn from the chili I fixed last night. Dolly baked a delicious blueberry cake in the meantime. I can't recall if I've had Dolly's blueberry cake before. I know she's made blueberry pancakes for me before, but I'm not sure I've had her cake.

While Dolly and Jason and others were busy in the kitchen and I had some free time, I set out to photograph as many people at the party as I could and chronicle the party's events. I was successful for the most part, but there were some people I photographed more than others. I did the best I could, and the important thing is I was able to take a picture of everyone at least once. I'm still getting used to camera Dolly gave me for Christmas, but I can already tell that it will serve me well in the present and the future.

Dolly, Sarah, and a few others expressed interest in prize bingo tonight, so they headed out for that a little before 7. In the meantime, a few others like Gail, Jason, Alec, and I hung out in Julius's house. We mostly visited and watched TV, but we also spent some time downstairs looking at some Army figurines Gail had gifted Alec. Alec and I also tossed a ball around.

Since returning to Dolly's house, I've spent the remainder of the evening checking the American and foreign stock markets and catching up on messages. I've also taken some time to watch some TV and rest and relax before the trip to Sudbury. Dolly should be home soon, and I hope she's having fun. And I hope she wins lot of great prizes tonight. I guess I'll find out within the next hour.