medicare birthday, 65

today i am an official geezer, medicare and all. last year's picture will have to do. i look much the same. the usual birthday at chez bums starts with a birthday card, then maybe a hike in some forest or along the shore, or maybe a day at home working in the garden. we end with a finer bottle of wine than we usually have and a meal at home. we don't do presents. well, whimsy is good.

imagine my surprise two days ago when robin spilled the beans that something, unnamed, was due in the mail for my birthday. she was concerned that it would not arrive by today. she asked if i really wanted to know what surprise she had arranged. i said no. surprise me. yesterday i picked up the mail. there was a package. i recognized the distinctive handwriting of a dear old friend even before i saw the name, and i knew what must be inside, because the package came from far australia .... down under. we were friends and lovers back in hippie days in the 70's in humboldt county, california, and have remained friends all these years. she moved to australia sometime in the 80's, and visited robin and me in california with her husband in the early 90's. time does roll on. i suppose this is a thing of the 00's.

mmmmmmmmmm ginger-lemon-lime marmalade !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i first got this at trader joe's and then at a local store in santa cruz called shopper's corner. when we moved north robin found an online distributor who would have a case delivered to our door. i have been eating this on toast in the morning almost every day for maybe ten years. two months ago when she tried to order more the distributor informed us that they are no longer importing it from buderim, australia. moving on, we found other ginger spreads, but none that were quite so tasty. so my wonderful robin, who even found a jar of crushed ginger to add to orange marmalade to replace my favorite morning spread, and it is pretty good, e-mailed my friend and conspired with her to give me a lovely present.

so i have a reprieve. three jars of reprieve. gift wrapped.

the image on the card is most assuredly not my friend. the text in the card says "so much for aging gracefully." she adds "was it really ever an option?"


here's another present. datil peppers. our internet pal florida cracker sent us seeds two years ago. i got them started too late last year for them to bear fruit. this year i was on it. i am proud to have the first datil peppers west of the mississippi. okay, i don't know that for sure.

the best present of all though is waking each morning and having tea and toast with my honey.

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UPDATE.... 7 AM .........

robin's homemade bread with our respective spreads. raspberry jam for her. imported marmalade for me.

the update is actually today, august third. the main post was written yesterday evening. i had to change all the "tomorrows" to "todays" after i had written it, because of course it was intended for consumption today, as is the toast.