I’ve procrastinated enough, time for a report on my birthday. Let’s start with breakfast. I wasn’t sure of what treat to make myself then Becky Bliss sent me birthday wishes that included a peanut butter omelet. That’s what I ate. Becky didn’t give me the omelet; she gave me the idea. I haven’t had that in ages. I could have had a peanut butter matzoh brei. I’m due for that too. Later this week it will be on the menu. Let’s get all the food out of the way. It was not just my birthday it was National Ice Cream Day; I made a hot fudge sundae with chocolate Moose Tracks ice cream. I topped it with whipped cream because I’m not holding back anything on my celebration. I didn’t eat dinner until after 11 PM but it was just what I said I’d eat, poutine. My day was hardly vegan, but it was vegetarian; that’s unusual for me. It was also totally indulgent.
The other ways I celebrated were all about music and friends. The music was my usual Sunday Kennedys Sunday afternoon stream. They have been pully requests out of a drum. There was no birthday miracle and they didn’t choose my song. They did wish me a happy birthday.
I spent more time on the phone yesterday than I do most weeks. I got calls from River, Sue, Carey, and Alison. That was 2:02 minutes on the phone. I thought it was more. I then had an hour and a half Zoom birthday party. I loved that; friends from many walks of my life got to meet, though many already knew each other. Let’s see if I can find a reasonable way to divide them into subgroups.
- Family
- Alison -Sister – New Paltz
Sue – Sister – Texas
Max, Caila, and Joanie (Joannie?) – Nephew, Niece-in-law, Grandniece – Los Angeles - Mya – Bay Area
Katherine – Brooklyn
Mark & Carolann – Brooklyn
Gen & Ethan – Mass Bay - Joe, Maggie, Cate – Greater Boston
Ellen – NYC
Carter – Westchester
Erika – Brooklyn
Kathryn – NYC
Emily, Emi, Genevieve aka Little G – Greater Boston - Jim & Alice – NYC
- Joy & Echidna (spiny anteater) – Melbourne AU
Musicians
Music Community
WFUV (could go under music community)
Fruhead (could go under music but it’s a totally different community)
They are all music related but my sisters and Alison will now insist I say that she introduced me to folk music so without her I wouldn’t know any of these people. Jim, Joy, and my sisters are the only ones I met in the previous century.
I love the random connections. We discovered that Sue’s friends from high school live in the same building as Ellen and she knows them. Mya and Erika worked together; we knew that before last night. Joy and Gen both lived in Australia. Mya, Katherine, Carter, and Erika work in some aspect of publishing. Alison and Ellen are Doctors of Psychology. I’m sure I’m missing others. We spent most of the time playing getting to know you. I already knew everyone, but I loved it. One more. Mya wrote me a birthday song to the tune of song from Mary Poppins which Alison took me to see when it came out when I was seven. We waited on line at Radio City for four hours to get in, so that was a memorable experience.
A COVID-19 birthday party does not have to suck. I’ve had many worse. This was pretty great. Either Katherine or Gen has been at my birthday celebration every year for the last seven, maybe eight. Katherine’s band played on my birthday three years in a row. That was pure coincidence. Oh, right, there were three friends here whose names are variations of the original Greek Katerina, Katherine, Katherine, and Cate. There could have been more confusion if Katrina, Allison & Joe could have made it. I guess I need to explain the echidna. The Echidna is my spirit animal, it’s a long story, Joy knows this and lives in Melbourne and has fed echidnae. I have no idea of that’s the proper plural, but it should be. She had a stuffed echidna and when he connected all we could see was the echidna. I told everyone that had to be Joy. You can see why I love my friends. This is why you should celebrate your birthday, to remind yourself of that. No man is a failure who has friends. Thank you Clarence.
A miracle; Spellcheck accepted echidnae. No man that knows the plural of echidna is a failure. Thanks again Clarence.
Wise Madness 