Yesterday

My birthday was yesterday. It was a nice day from start to finish. The latter half of March is always beautiful in this part of the world. I took the following picture in my backyard early yesterday morning as I was leaving for work. I love the early morning light and the dogwood flowers.

The principal at school always mentions student and staff birthdays during morning announcements, so I had lots of kids and coworkers wishing me a happy birthday all through the day. And at lunchtime, Mr. Hyman (the music teacher) brought a group of his beginning guitar students into the office to serenade me! I was so surprised! They played "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd, and then they all wished me a happy day as they were leaving. How cool was that?! I love our school.

One of the teachers has an aunt who bakes cakes and goodies for a little post-retirement income. She comes very highly recommended, so two weeks ago when I was still on my gluten-free diet, I ordered a chocolate cake from her to be delivered on my birthday. After having a slice, I see why she's so highly recommended. I haven't had a cake of that quality in years. It's delicious.

Chocolate on chocolate. Incredibly moist and delicious!

Gregg gave me two new birdfeeders for my birthday. I love feeding the birds in our backyard, and all of our feeders were getting old and falling apart. He also bought me a giant bag of birdseed to go along with them. The little sparrows and the cardinals have already found the new feeders this morning....that didn't take long!

Tonight my friends Marla and Martina are coming over to help me celebrate some more, and then on Sunday I'm going out for Mexican food with some of my friends from book club. It's shaping up to be a very nice birthday weekend!