You're too nice

And I don't deserve any of you! Thanks for the support and understanding.

This has been a very busy weekend. Al's birthday was Saturday, and he turned the big 4-0. I was loving and supportive because I had already been there done that. Ah hell, no I wasn't. I think my first words to him that day were something like, "So, do you feel old?" I almost commented on all the gray hair, but I had already told him I find that sexy, so it wouldn't have worked to tease him with that. However, the groaning voices when he gets out of the recliner were fair game. When did that start? When did we have to grunt and sigh as we got out of a comfy chair?

It's not really a birth"day" for Al, it's more like an extended celebration. Last Thursday we went to a "mega scotch tasting" at our favorite pub, The Dell, and this coming weekend we're having his actual birthday party. I had been trying to plan a surprise party for him at the Dell, but the guys at work told Al they were ready for another scotch tasting party at the house, so Al came home and announced we were having a party. Apparently, in addition to wanting to try some of the various alcohol offerings, they also requested their favorite foods from previous gatherings. Cheeky bastards. But of course, it's a compliment, and that works for me.

Here are a few pictures from the last few days.

We've had so much rain; we get heavy thunderstorms every couple of days.






The Mega Tasting at the Dell is a yearly party they have where for $100 you can taste the expensive stuff they hide in the back. It's very generous because there wasn't a bottle there that cost less than $200, and several were rare or really really really hard to get. Al tasted 12 single malts that night (I'm the designated driver, so I was swimming in Diet Coke). I think his favorite was the 35-year-old Glenfarclass, but I don't remember for sure. Plus, they have a new chef, so the "cleansing palate" platters were full of really good olives, chocolates, and cheese. Eating is a good thing at a tasting. I took a couple of pictures to give you an idea what it's like.





In the meantime, I'm reading Poltergeist by Kat Richardson. It's pretty good, good enough that I don't want to put it down. It's the second in the series, but I didn't read the first one and I think it would have helped a little. The book is about a private detective who died for 2 minutes and when she came back she was able to see "the grey" or that area between life and death, so it took me a little bit to understand what was going on since all of that was set up and created in the first book. In this one she is investigating a research group who has created a ghost, but when one of the team members dies, she has to find out if it was the ghost or a human being. Oh, and it's set in Seattle, so I'm enjoying descriptions of the area.