Birthday gifts

Gifts one and two and three...

Gift four...

And Gift five.

My birthday was this past weekend and it was just lovely.  I had lots of lovin' and lots of gifts.

Gifts one and two are our dear friends, Edgar and Dora.  They took the RD (gift three) and me out for dinner to an institution in Denver, The Buckhorn Exchange.  The restaurant was established in 1893 and proudly displays liquor license Number One in Denver, CO.  Theodore Roosevelt's train stopped there and the walls are lined with memorabilia from the famous who have come through the doors, as well as a very large number of game heads from back in the day.  The Buckhorn specializes in exotic meat and so for my dinner I selected grilled Yak at the suggestion of Edgar.  Edgar, who is a chef at the establishment, has a beautiful way of describing food and by the time he was finished, I was sold!  It was great to have him guide me through the differences in the various types of meat.  But I did have to laugh when he said some people come in and ask for a vegetarian platter.  No offense to vegetarians, but the Buckhorn is the very last place on the planet you would go for veggies-:). 

Dora and Edgar are two gifts brought to us through the network of our boys.  They play, go to school, go to religious ed. and do scouts together.  So we are all TOGETHER a lot.  It's so nice to find people you enjoy being with, especially when your kids like each other.

Gift four is my new puppy!!!!  His name is Mercer, named after Johnny Mercer, lyricist extraordinaire.  He is part Dachschund and part Shepherd or Collie.  Just beeeutiful and sweet as can be.  At five months old he is such a tiny puppy who sleeps a lot.  Gershwin (that would be our 13 lb. Doxie/Chihuahua) just wants to play with him.  But I must admit, Gersh.  is just a tad jealous of the little one.  Today they had some sort of break through while we were away.  Must have had a conversation in the mud room and agreed to be pals, because Mercer happily trotted after Gershwin most of the afternoon.  Ella (our 9 yr. old Shepherd/Collie) is still young at heart and enjoys running after them.  So I'm quite happy that they all get along!

And of course, my best and last present was the CO Boy.  He did his best on Saturday to honor the idea of my birthday and kept telling me that we could do whatever I wanted to do because today was my special day.  It's so funny to watch him be deliberate about stuff like that.

Now I'm off to bed - that is if I can find room in the bed with three dogs, one boy and the RD!