Sunday

Did a wash, showered and dressed, then made up my darling daughter's birthday basket:

Those kitties are soft kitchen towels and behind them is a card from her actual kitties (they dropped it off), a card from her lucky Mama, and a little kitty puzzle book with an appropriate amount of tens here and there in the pages. 

Access van came about 12:30 and got me to Ellen's in Ojai in good time. We then sat down to white wine and nibbles, as well as good talk and laughs. Greg's mother, Rory, called from Minnesota with birthday wishes and when Greg returned from work a bit after three, we hung out together until it was time to leave for an early dinner. El had selected a place on the main drag called "The Duchess" for dinner and that's where we went. 

It's one of those fancy ones where there's only a limited menu and some of the entrees are mysterious; prices are pretty fancy, too. We discussed quite a bit what we would have and finally settled on various salads, nan, and tandoori chicken; El also had a cocktail and I a local beer. She and I more or less shared most of it and it was good, if not that different from anywhere else. 

Back at El's, she blew out the candles on her cake--and here's the peculiar picture I got of that--looks as if Greg is wearing a dress: 

After the cake, she opened her presents, starting with my kitty-oriented one, described above:

She got a kick out of it, opened all, including cards, one from the kitties. She also got flowers, cash, and a bottle of Skinny Girl Margarita, sent from afar. The three of us then had ice cream and cake, and played a few hands of gin rummy until the Access Van came to take me away. It was so darn good to be with my girl and how lucky I am to have her!