I guess I actually had 2 birthdays this year.  My daughter and
her husband arrived on Friday with a new garden sit/kneel
bench and a smoke/carbon monoxide detector to replace
the one in the cellar.  Both things I could use.  My daughter
did some paper work for me and then took me shopping at
Hannaford and the Pet Shop.  While we were gone her husband
hardwired the detector in with battery backup, put the screens
in both front and porch doors and started the attack on the
horrible invasive vine that is threatening the north side of my
house!!
     We went out for a late dinner at the New Socials.  I had a
Hawaiian Punch, sirloin steak with mustard sauce, mashed
potato with sauce and cherry tomatoes.  The usual veg medley
included 2 kinds of squash which I hate hence the tomato for
me.  Could not possibly have forced dessert down!!  Yes I
had steak and a drink 2 nights in a row!!
Got home about 9:30 and they collected their groceries and
their dog Iggy and left.  I read and wached the 11pm news,
went online and did my mail, played a few card games and
went to bed about 12:50am to read for half an hour like I
always do.   Another very good day.
    The only bad thing was that I had forgotten my daughter's
wedding anniversary...feel really badly about it but can't rectify
the fact that I forgot..... If I am still alive and compos mentis
next year I shall have to do something special.

Should also tell you that my grandaughter sent me a raspberry
cheesecake from Jimmy's in Brooklyn and my son and his
friend also called me.  Got cards from my other sister and friends.
Just discovered that $84 has been given to me as gift certificate
from Amazon from my son and his friend.  Very good day.

My birthday is almost over but I had a good day.  My daughter
called me this morning to wish me a happy bday. She is coming
tomorrow.  My house aide came today so I have a clean bed,
laundry is all done, floors have been vacuumed and washed and
 trash is out.
     Tonite I was taken out to dinner by my sister and her friend.
Had strawberry daquiri, steak, mashed potato,broccoli and
raspberry/peach pie with ice cream!  All very good. Then we
came back to my house and played cards on my screened porch
until about 11pm.   So...  enjoyable day and still feeling stuffed! 

     Started a blog earlier but must have hit something as it just disappeared.  Hard rain last night and showers off and on today....I don't have to water my plants, always a good thing.  I thought my first begonia blossoms were going to be orange but they are salmon...very nice color.  There seem to be about twice as many chipmunks this year and they are digging tiny holes everywhere in my containers but have not harmed the plants so far.
     Finished reading my first Kindle library book...very dry so unless you want to know a whole lot more about how your subconscious runs your body ...... Am still reading the Falco novel which I like.  Have 2 books from my own library on hand so will not be ordering any more kindle books for a while.
     From Netflix I am watching "Nurse Jackie"...not my usual fare ..rather raunchy but interesting story.  I've known addicts and as a retired RN I doubt that Jackie could really function as well as she seems to in real life but it's only a story so.........  My favorite series was  "Rome"...of course it did not last too long ...it seems the ones I like are all doomed.  Also liked "The Tudors", "The House of Elliott", "Pie in the Sky", also short lived and "MI-5".  Have watched some older series that I had seen a long time ago and enjoyed them...too many to name but "Cadfael" and "Nero Wolfe" come to mind.

     Saturday was still quite warm .. 89 and humid but Sunday has been just a beauty..82 degrees, humidity down and sunny.  Do have one tiny cucumber about 2 inches long!!  Am not having much luck on a special project I am working on and it is very frustrating.
    Still reading the same two books.  Love the mosaic staircase I found on my facebook pages. It's in San Francisco...called the Barr Crutcher Stairway...just lovely.  If I knew how I would put it on here but it can be found on Google....like everything else  lol.
     Talked to my sister last night ...really miss her not coming this summer.  She usually spends 3 weeks here.   Sunday I watch a lot of political talk shows so don't do much until after 1pm..........and sometimes not much then!!

Finished "Two for the Lions" Wed.   Started the next book in the series, "One Virgin Too Many" on Thurs.,  because it picks up right where number 10 leaves off.  Wanted more of Rome!!  This series gets better as it goes along. 
    Very hot again today.  Deer in the yard again this morning.   Looked like they were eating the grass which was just cut yesterday!!  Euonymous appears to be untouched today.  Hard to tell with the hosta as some of it is eaten and some not.

     Monday bridge was cancelled but I played yesterday...had mediocre cards...scored at 6 out of 12 players.  Very hot yesterday and today .. 96 degrees pretty hot for NH...  going to continue thru tomorrow.
     I asked guy who does my lawn to do it every 3 weeks...imagine, he had the nerve to tell me that if he could not mow every 2 weeks he could not do it!  Started to look for someone else but he called today and asked me if I wanted him to mow and I said ok....last mowing was 3 weeks ago tomorrow! Except for the first couple years of my nursing career I was a "boss" and I don't take kindly to ultimatums. 'Nough said!

     Many years ago before my mother was born her father had the first car in his little town...I think it was about 1904.  I often thought about my grandfather as I was cruising along at 70.  How he would have marveled at the speed of my lovely Saab and also the fact that I, a woman was driving all over creation alone!
     Now I am excited over my Kindle and my first library book....am 25% through it.  I have had a computer (several) for a long time and I thought it was wonderful as it enabled me to see the museums of the world, some of which I had visited in person.  Also have about 5 newspapers that come every day.  Then I started to play Bridge and Pinochle online with people from all over the world!   Amazing!!     I have a cell phone which I dearly love but this small tablet which enables me to get any book from my state's library in the blink of an eye is truly a wonder!!
     My CA begonias are starting to bloom...first 2 are orange ones...planted in containers.. about 60 total!! as well as 4 containers of CA callas.  These begonias are really gorgeous flowers. They get bigger flowers as they mature and the range of colors is great. Only the frost finishes them off.

    Am very excited .... got my first library book on my kindle!!   Had requested it a few days ago and was told they would notify me by email.  Checked my mail last night before going to bed and there it was...checked it out but it did not immediately appear... so put Kindle on charge and went to bed about 1am.  It was there this am so started it as it is only for 2 weeks.  It is a book about how the brain works, "Incognito".  Not a medical tome but interesting so far.
     My daughter came on Sat...did a few errands and she put my last two flower plants in the ground for me...so hard for me to do this....guess this will be the last year I plant anything in the ground..will have to stick to container gardening!!  She also put extra drainage holes in a few of my containers.  All my other plants are doing fine.  Have one tiny tomato and cucumbers have Quite a few flowers!!

     I did finish "The Innocent" on Thurs.  Enjoyed the fast pace.    Did not start another book until Friday nite bedtime as I had relatives visiting.  My nephew and his wife have been here since  Tues 6/5 .    We ate out as a family group that nite at Three Tomatoes then to my daughter's house.   We have played cards frequently since then.  They have also taken me to various places including the Vermont Country Store and grocery shopping!  They left Wed 6/13 and are headed to Indiana to visit his sisters then back to Iowa for Father's Day with his dad and mom.  Then they will head to CA to visit my son before they fly out of San Francisco back to their home in Korea. 
     About  ?ten years ago I came across a paperback in a used book place which I bought.  It was called "The Silver Pig".   As I often do I put in one of my many bookcases and resurected  it one day when I was out of library books.  I realized that it was part of a series and have been trying to find them all ever since. I am reading them in order of publication and still missimg 3 of them. I am out of library books so I am reading book number 10.  I like stories about other time periods and this takes place in Roman Times...this one specifically in AD73 and 74.  It is the story of Didius Falco an informer and amateur detective, his adventures and home life.  Not a fast read as it is full of details re  Roman life, dress, eating, fighting, traveling etc., but I like it.  The author is Lindsey Davis.

     I finished reading "Catherine the Great" yesterday before going to bed.  She died on Nov 6, 1796 at the age of 67, probably of a stroke.  She was active right to the last and most of the land she acquired thru war and annexation remained under Russian influence until WW2.   I enjoyed the many side stories re Europe and its rulers as well as her story.  A cousin visited me last Sat and said her husband had just finished reading it and had liked it also.
     Today, a complete change of pace.  Read 340 pages of David Baldacci's  "The Innocent".   I have the large print edition which is 641 pages long.  He is one of my favorite authors.  He is an excellent  story teller and his books keep those pages turning.  Font changed on me again!!

     I am still reading "Catherine the Great".... on page 498.   She was an amazing woman for her time.  She worried  about the plight of the serfs and tried to help them but realized that they were an integral part of her country at just the level they were already in.  Freeing the serfs would have broken down her monarchy.  She had 3 children,  none of whom was fathered by her husband!  She had constant lovers throughout her whole life, changing them when she got bored.  She was very generous to her lovers and their families giving them thousands of rubles and often pensions when they left!  She fought wars and annexed land just as any man would have.  Potemkin was the most important man in her life he assured that her rule was as smooth as it could be and was instrumental in annexing the Crimea. Very interesting side issues re the Royals of Europe are also included in this book.
     Have slowed in my reading as I have been fortunate in having the company of relatives this week and enjoyed it very much.  I looks as if everything I planted has survived so far.  Unluckily the excessive rain has not helped my tomatoes....the are very leggy in spite of having been "pinched" back.  They are in containers and some are as tall as I am!! 
     The GOP continues its lies against Obama.   I wish more people would pay attention to the awful way they are tearing away at OUR president.  More Democrats need to speak up.  I often add comments when I read the Washington Post.  There is certainly a need to cut back on our spending but we aslo need to raise revenues.  As I wrote in the Washington Post....I would like to see proof that the congress means business when it comes to cutting spending by starting with .... doing away with  the tax cut for the wealthy and the cutting back on the pensions that the congress has so generously given itself!!

I did read a lot on Sun... about another 100 pages plus of Catherine the Great.  She became Empress of Russia on June 28, 1762....this a meaningful date to me...I don't mean 1762!!  If you know me you will know what I am referring to.  Today I am on page 343 and reading about her correspondence with Voltaire among others.
      Played Bridge this afternoon and won for the 3rd week in a row...will have to lose soon or no one will want to play with me!
     In the news today was a feature story about a mother in Phoenix, Arizona, who left her 5 week old baby on the roof of her car in its(? gender) carrier and never stopped when it fell off.  It was reported that she had been smoking pot!  I have been on the fence about marijuana but this incident definitely puts me against it.  I do think it should be approved for medical use if this can be done in a responsible way.  Marijuana will just add to the number of road accidents.  We alreadyhave enough caused by alcoholic drivers.  The baby luckily is OK.
    After reading this article I was watching MSNBC and they were having a discussion on marijuana one person for and one against.  Obviously none of them had read the paper I did.  Sent along a few words to inform them.

     I'm still reading Catherine the Great ... on page 151.  If you do not like history you will not like this book because it is full of side issues re different characters.  I am enjoying it but not reading as fast as I usually do. I intend to read a lot today as I am very sore and tired from all the outside work I have done in the past 2 days.
     This morning on the Melissa Harris-Perry show on MSNBC the group was talking about Obama's kill list. Everyone was talking about openness and what did this list mean.  Did it mean that the government now intended to kill people instead of taking them prisoners?  The people on this list have sworn to kill as many Americans as possible. What is the problem?? The Government should be after them.   It seems to me that this is one item that is not on my "need to know" list or any one else's either. 

One of the articles I read in the paper online said Romney was doing well with Republican women.  I thought women were smart enough to see through Romney's fake "I want to help the middle class".   How is it helping the middle class and especially women when he says nothing about all the "against women's rights" legislation being passed in all the states where the Gop holds a majority???  If you all want to hold on to your birth control pills, wake up and vote for the Dems who will keep "Roe v Wade" as the law of the land. Romney is so pro business that he will not insist on the regs so needed to keep big companies on the straight and narrow!!   We'll end up right where we are just getting out of, where 8 years of Idiot Bush's policies put us.