Happy 70th Birthday To My Dear Wife Evie

The Birthday Girl, Wife, Cook, Mom, Granny, And Friend   (photo by Ellen)

7:45

Well, we slept in till about 7:45, probably because our darn new fire alarms went off last night at 3:00, seemingly for no reason.  We finally got it off for good when Evie turned off the breaker.  Not sure what set it off.  When I got down stairs this morning, the fog was rising from the lake, the wind blowing it rapidly down the lake, on a damp, cool morning of 41º.  And when I stepped out side, the lake flies swarmed around me for a moment, and they covered most of the white surfaces on our porch...gross.  I thought the lake fly season was over three weeks ago when they first appeared.

It's Evie and our son Tom's birthday today.  Evie is already getting texts from our kids, even our grandchildren wishing her a happy birthday.  How cool even though all of us celebrated her birthday in August when the entire family was here.

Yesterday was a busy day, mega busy for Evie, sort of busy for me.  As usual, I started with yoga, a different class in which we concentrated on our feet and ankles, stretching and massaging them. Interesting.  When I got home, our neighbor Joe Deault came by, picked up my car, to go get my boat trailer because I decided to take our boat in before our trip to KC next week.  Of course, when I went to start my motor, it wouldn't start, not sure why.  I waited a few minutes, and it started up, so I was able to cruise to Snug Harbor, where I dropped the boat off to be serviced, power washed, new plugs, and winterized, not an inexpensive procedure but hey, why live on the lake without a boat pit to throw your money into, something people don't realize until after they get a boat.

While I was taking my boat in, Evie was getting the house and dinner ready because we were have our neighbors, the Scholtz's and Mary Ann Miller over for dinner.  So in between the vacuuming, straightening the house, she was browning, then roasting the pork tenderloins, as well as making a cabbage strudel of phyllo dough, cabbage, cheese and spices, one of my many favorite dishes she makes.  Getting dinner and the house ready took a good part of the afternoon, but she topped it off with an early birthday present to herself, cutting the lawn, then going for a swim on a chilly, 50º later afternoon, before the company arrived.  The water was warm, the wind bone chilling, so she stayed in for quite awhile, the water clear enough so she could wash her hair.  She's looking forward, in fact, to the Polar Bear Swim at the Viking Club next February.

Dinner with the Neighbors

Cabbage Strudel, Not Baklava

At 6:30, we got a call from our neighbor, Mary Ann, saying she could not come to dinner because her son Tom had just arrived, so we said, or course, bring him along because we had plenty of food and we know him well.  So we had four for dinner, enjoying appetizers and wine, as Evie showed the Scholtz's the summer photo album she had made of our kids visit, Summer, 2013.  They loved it, could not believe how professional the book looked, a result of many hours of her work.  Dinner was great, the pork tender and juicy, the cabbage strudel flaking and yet moist,  homemade applesauce, salad, and everyone had a tin roof for dessert, vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and Spanish peanuts.  They stayed till about 9:30.  Evie and I then thought we would just let the dishes sit, but our better sides took over, so we spent twenty minutes, washing and drying them, making sure we would wake up this morning to a clean kitchen.

Mary Ann with Son Tom

Ken and Margorie Scholtz

We had a nice birthday dinner planned for tonight but friends, the Redington's, invited us over for dinner, so we decided to put off Evie's birthday dinner till a later time.  We had just been out to dinner on Tuesday, had friends over last night, and are going out tonight, so we have been busy.