Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Happy Birthday Son!

Joseph, if my love for you had a color, it would be the whole rainbow.

I called Joe first thing! Hard for me to believe he was born a half-century ago.  He is one of the “good guys,” and I am very proud of him and his lovely family.  If one ever has a son, pray they are like Joe!  I told Joe, “It’s always a good idea to make friends with babies. That’s free cake once a year for a lifetime.”

OK, back to work!  Mary went to work, and I remained at the house, awaiting the agent and photographer’s arrival.  I worked for several hours, and things are looking pretty good.

I moved slower this morning as I was still tired from the past two days!

Too pooped to pop!

I took a couple of photos and the place looks pretty good after thirty-five years.  The new owners should like the figs (2) , apples,(2) oranges(4), tangerines (2), grapefruit, lemons, pomegranates, grapes (12), kumquats, and plums, and the six-hundred square feet of garden.

Whoever gets the place I wish for them the same kind of love that was shared in this house with Sue, family, and friends.

After 35 years, I will miss the old place, but it was time to move on.

According to Sydney, the inside is ready to show, pretty Spartan for my taste, but that’s what was needed. It took Mary and I two full days, twelve boxes, and a thousand square feet of bubble wrap to get the place looking spartan.  When I moved, I’m called movers.

The three pictures are from Aunt Opal’s house, and they must be 70 years old!

Scout likes the front yard as he can survey the entire street and warn away the elephants.

Scout on patrol

I met Mary at her house as she got off work at 3:00 PM.  We were ready to go at 5:15 PM, and we headed to the Summit House in Fullerton. Amy called and invited us to share Joe’s birthday.  We thought there would be a cast of thousands, but it was just the four of us.  We had a magnificent time dining outside and watching the city lights come on below us. I reminded Joe, “Why are birthdays good for you? Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest!”

A hidden jewel with magnificent food and service.

Amy and I did the Dory, which I had never had.  It was terrific, my new favorite fish.

Did You Know? The common name dory (from the Middle English dorre, from the Middle French doree, lit. “gilded one”) is shared (officially and colloquially) by members of several different families of large-eyed, silvery, deep-bodied, laterally compressed, and roughly discoid marine fish. As well as resembling each other, dories are also similar inhabit: most are deep-sea and demersal. Additionally, many species support commercial fisheries and are considered excellent food fish.

Fresh Dory was served this evening!

The dory was served with Peruvian potatoes (or regular potatoes with purple food coloring?).  Amy and I also did Brussel sprouts.

Dory, something new, and Amy was right… delicious!

Miss Mary opted for the portobello stack, which looked delicious.

Mushroom stack

The man of the hour was in rare form tonight.  We cracked jokes all evening, much to the dismay of the ladies, but they were troopers.

Happy 50th birthday, son!

Amy, an amazing daughter-in-law!

Amy and Joe make such a cute couple; we enjoy their company a lot!  We wished Collen and Robin could have been here to share the joys of family.

Cute, just plain and simple cute!!

Mary was enjoying herself, and I promised NOT to post those pictures today. I am, however, keeping them for future reference and potential blackmail. (They are cute, not bad!)

Mary loves the family.

Not that I think of it, we are a cute couple also!

Just us

So we departed about 8:00 PM, and the city lights were coming on.  We jumped on the 57 to the 91 to the 55, and as we passed Katella, the car all of a sudden swerved uncontrollably.  The onboard computer says, “YOU MAY NOT PASS JAN’S HOUSE WITHOUT STOPPING.”

We stopped and visited Jan for two hours, leaving her place about 10:15 PM.  We talked and remembered and shared old stories and laughed and cried and polished off a bottle of wine between the three of us.

Remembering and sharing.

Sisters… Sisters… There is nothing like Sisters!

We finally got to Mary’s about 10:30 PM and crashed.  Scout, the Wonder Dog, was happy to see us.

About Paul

Just an old retired guy trying to finish out my last years on this planet. I lost my best friend and wife in early 2020. I was blessed again by reconnecting with Dr. Mary Côté, a long-time friend. Mary and I got married July 28th, 2021, and are enjoying life together and plan to spend the rest of our lives being a blessing to our friends and family.
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