Bloomington Birthday

On my 39th birthday, David and I went to the IU art museum and had a fun day looking at art from Europe, the U.S., Africa, and Polynesia.

We visited the art museum gift shop and cafe, where I used to hold office hours when I was a grad student. David bought me a birthday present.

It was this amazing necklace with the head of Achelous, the Greek river god.

 Later I got to spend some time with Granddad.

 And even later, we had dinner with Will, Brenda, Mimi, and Mimi's friend Susan.

Mom made a dairy-free birthday cake for me: a delicious almond cake iced with whipped coconut cream.

And filled with fresh peaches.

 There were many flavors of ice cream, two of them coconut-milk ice cream.

And then I got to play music with my family, which is one of my favorite things ever.

The Very Belated Birthday

You know what the best way is to surprise someone with birthday presents? It's to wait almost two months after the actual birthday.

That's how David and I surprised his mother for her birthday. We had such a fun time getting together all of the presents, and David did a great job of wrapping them all.

Here are some of them, including a picture of us that Jennifer took at the beach. Happy belated birthday, Ann!

Cakeless Cake

This year for my birthday I made this cake. It's a lot like a cheesecake, except that it doesn't have any cheese ... or any cake, really. I stopped eating dairy (mostly) back in January, because I found out that it was making me feel bad. And I wanted a gluten-free birthday cake so that David could eat it too. So this cake has a crust made of almonds and dates, and the filling is pureed cashews, coconut oil, honey, vanilla seeds, and lemon juice. The top layer has blueberries in it.

Instead of baking the cake, you mix everything up in a food processor, put it in a pan, and stick it in the freezer. It tastes cold, creamy, and delicious, like a cross between an ice cream cake and a cheesecake. YUM.

The Hills Are Alive

With the sound of me celebrating my 37th birthday.

David's birthday present to me was a day exploring the Blue Ridge Parkway. We went to Mabry Mill, which is a neat old mill built around 1910.

Now it's the most photographed spot on the Parkway. It's so picturesque that other states have stolen its image for their postcards.

You can go inside and see the massive millwheel turning under the force of the water.

It's a lovely cool place to spend a warm summer day.

We drove over Groundhog Mountain -- where I saw two groundhogs! -- and then to Rocky Knob.

It was a perfect day with a cloudless sky, and the view went on forever.

I love the Blue Ridge Mountains.

We walked around in the mountain meadows.

Which were full of wildflowers.

And butterflies.

My birthday celebration lasted several days, and we did lots of other things besides the drive on the Parkway. Ann took me and David to this mountaintop garden shop, for example.

We admired their gardens.

And took more pictures.

And then we had lunch at a little deli nearby.

And we sat outside in their garden, which was covered with these butterflies.

And it was gloriously sunny, but not too hot, and a refreshing breeze was blowing the whole time, because that's what it's like up in the mountains.

Then Ann made me this delicious blackberry pie for my birthday dessert.

Happy Birthday, Ann!

We love you, we hope you have a wonderful birthday, and we can't wait to see you soon!

Birthday Lunch

Can you believe David is 44?

For his birthday lunch, he asked for some of the things he normally doesn't eat (because they have gluten). So I made a spinach-cheddar quiche with my favorite gluten-free pie crust. I don't know why this recipe works; it feels really strange to put cottage cheese in a pie crust. But for some reason it's delicious.

I also tried making egg rolls again. This time, they tasted slightly more like real egg rolls.

And for dessert, we had berries. Served with love.

Happy birthday, David!

Morris' 80th Birthday

Last week was Morris' 80th birthday, and we went to Hillsville to celebrate it with him.

On the way we drove through some amazing scenery.

A snow-covered peak.

Looking over the Blue Ridge mountains.

And once we were in Hillsville, we got to see something we haven't seen all year: snow!

We got to spend some time with the family.

And we had a wonderful long weekend.

Granddad's Birthday: The Slideshow

Here are a few of the many wonderful moments from Granddad's birthday -- at least from the first half of it, before all of our cameras simultaneously ran out of battery power. We also had some incredible belly-dancing, a cake, and spectacular fireworks. Happy birthday, Granddad!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today's your day.
You're the one.
Your table is set
For birthday fun.

For all you do
We're very grateful:
Of all the best
We wish you a plateful.

Love,
Elizabeth and David

PS: We each wrote one stanza of this poem. Can you guess whose is which?

My 35th Year

Year 35 ended with wonderful birthday presents from friends and family, including a manatee ...

... a lovely bracelet ....

... and a whole Magic City of treasures from David.

We went to the fancy movie theater ...

... to see Away We Go, which was really good.

And then I had some delicious coconut-caramel pie ...

... while David had a staring contest with some of the restaurant's artwork.

Later, I took my first kayak trip as a 35-year-old.

I hung out with a baby manatee.

And dreamed about all the things that might happen in year 36.