The Don is 59!

Saturday was Don's birthday- and for the next 10 days I am married to an older man- a very good looking older man- I married him for his looks- older man. You'd think this whole town was celebrating Don's b-day- the fireworks started on Thursday the 7th. But alas it's not Don at all- but rather Chinese New Year- and that is a celebration. This is the Chinese Year of the Rat- not our year- but next year will be our year- the Year of the Ox (hello to all 1949 born oxen- Steve, Gay, Ellen and Mary Ezra- next year is our year!) Appropriately we celebrated Don's b-day with another Ox-our high school friend Steve- and had Chinese Dim Sum along with a packed restaurant of Chinese families celebrating the New Year. Dim Sum is rather like Spanish Tapas- small plates to share- So it really did feel like a party.

After lunch we went to the Berkley Botanical Garden- now, that is a fantastic afternoon any day but that particular day was absolutely gorgeous, and we were in for a real treat. Steve suggested we take the docent led tour- and our docent had been volunteering at the garden for 26 years. She was a real EXPERT. And of course our Don quickly impressed her with his superior knowledge of plants, especially trees so she began to modify the generic Saturday afternoon "what will grow in my yard" tour and show us the many splendors of this 37 acre garden. We spent over 2 hours finding interesting trees and flowers- We all had a grand time! And we will be back- I can't wait to follow the garden through the seasons here in the Bay Area.
And Don is spending more time with his photography- and that is good news- especially for me- I love his pictures!

These are some shots I took with my new macro lens. I probably needed my tripod for these, but here are a few that came out fairly well.


We still had some time after the garden- so Steve took us on a tour of the UC Berkley campus- a tour that only an insider could lead. Steve actually went to UC Berkley in the 70s for a PhD in BioChem- and is back now managing their UNIX computer system (you'll have to ask Don or Steve exactly what that is- I'm still just a bit fuzzy). The campus is beautiful- not too small, not too large- but just right! We did find another "OLD MAN" to celebrate with Don-

And the "old man" with Don was found in Montana!

And finally- to anyone wondering what I got Don for his birthday- Well I know how to please!

Just what he wanted- A new (we have one though not so nice in Cincinnati) counter top large capicity Kitchen Aid mixer!

I'm not sure I have a whole lot to add to this post. I do want to mention that 59 is a prime number, so this should be a prime year for all of us Oxen who were b0rn in 1949. It's also appropriate to say that Max, in her great generous approach to birthdays, saved me the need to buy her a present, and instead got herself an ice cream maker attachment to my new mixer as well as some new cookware that I'm sure we seriously needed.