Birthday

Today was Lillian's birthday. My granddaughter is now 8 years old.

For the evening meal, I made my homemade macaroni and cheese, one of her favorites. And because it was her birthday, no one chided her for having three large servings. (Especially since her mother and I did the same!)

For a birthday present, we bought her a huge new box of sidewalk chalk. Our driveway is three cars wide, so it makes a bodacious canvas for summer drawing.

For a way to remember this birthday, fortune and freak weather sent a wave of maritime fog from the Bay Area over the western mountain and into the Valley -- something I have not seen in all the years we've lived in California. Fog? In May? Here? Ranunculus!

The alstromeria in the garden are working overtime to produce cascades of blossoms, the geraniums brilliantly growing by leaps and bounds. The cherries on our tree are ripe, and delicious.

Finally, at the end of the day, just at dusk, in the Eastern sky, a rainbow appeared.

Now that's a birthday.