Birthday Blues

Just kidding - I'm not really blue about it; it made a good title. But it sure is hard to admit to being older than I used to be sometimes. Every year, it's the same darn thing, LOL. Mostly, I become frustrated because I am not quite back to feeling the way I used to feel before all of my health issues from the past year unfolded. The going is slow now that I'm older. But I keep plugging away, trying to be optimistic as I deal with my stresses, counting my many blessings, focusing on my family and pets as well as all of the wonderful things and people I have in my life instead of the stupid health things which do not seem to end.

My old dog and I both had cancer scares recently - he had another tumor which required surgery last week. It turned out to be benign AGAIN. He is recovering nicely but I did not sleep for a week, worrying about the biopsy results. On top of that, my recent mammogram showed a "suspicious" shadow, which of course required further investigation. That also turned out to be nothing to worry about. TMI, perhaps, some of you will say. But it was another week where I did not get much sleep or quilting done. Hopefully, things have calmed down a bit now and I will be able to get back into better shape again before my next birthday. Attitude is all, don't you think?

You saw the doll bed, mattress and pillow I gave to Julia for her birthday.  We actually share a birthday and it was a good day for me too. Someone commented that I was a good friend. It's actually the other way around - I am surrounded by a few incredibly wonderful, caring friends and for that I am so grateful.

Julia gave me a bunch of BLUE presents, LOL, to go along with my BLUES I guess. OMG, she found a beautiful vintage blue and white doll quilt too! How lucky am I?? The vintage bracelet is a heart locket. So sweet, I love it. She also knitted this adorable blue headband to wear when I walk the dogs when it gets cold . . . . I think I definitely came out ahead this year in the gift department, LOL. She's very understanding and I'll make it up to her.

I thought you'd also enjoy seeing a few of the gifts from my daughter and my husband. They spoil me too. A couple of books, a polka-dotted basket to hold my scraps, a sweater and a necklace. Bless his heart, the sweater is in a smaller size than I wear. I must look thinner than I really am, huh? Or those bifocals he just got are  not working very well . . . . My son is going to take me on an architectural tour of Chicago for my birthday when my knee gets better (a whole other depressing story for later). I've been on a Fossil kick lately. Look - Julia's Fossil earrings perfectly match the Fossil necklace my husband bought! How did they know? In cahoots, I'll bet!

To celebrate last week, my husband and son took me out to dinner (daughter is away at college) at a small seafood restaurant in Chicago and then my son found me a gelato place for dessert. Gelato is hard to find where I live but it is becoming popular in the city and I suspect more shops will spread to the suburbs soon.

If you haven't jumped on the Gelato bandwagon yet, it's a sort of dense ice cream. Like ice cream, but distinctly NOT ice cream. It's churned at a slower speed than ice cream, and so not as much air is whipped into the mixture. Regular ice cream contains about 50% air - gelato contains about 25 to 30 percent air. And it's not completely frozen, but stored and served at a slightly warmer temperature and has an amazing, rich flavor. Not as much fat either, I hear.

I got the single scoop of chocolate that you see sitting up on the counter above. So rich that a small scoop was even too much for me, believe it or not. Me, the woman who can eat a whole pint of ice cream in one sitting could not finish that small cup. Sad. See what advanced age does to you??

The gelato place was in a trendy neighborhood and, as we were leaving, I couldn't resist taking this photo of the Pedal Pub passing by. Everyone was pedalling, laughing and looking so happy and obviously having a great time. I had no idea what it was (or that they were drinking beer! No wonder they looked so cheerful)  but I looked it up when we got home. Maybe you have seen these in your area?? I believe they were first introduced in the Netherlands and have slowly spread to a few cities in the U.S.

They are pedalling about 5 mph.

It seems that it's like a large bar on a bike - you can get a group together and rent these with a driver and pedal your way to different bars in the city for a genuine bar-hopping experience.

I wonder if we quilters can get a hold of one of these to work off a few pounds as we go from quilt shop to quilt shop, wouldn't that be fun?? Without the beer of course. I say we even try a Gelato Shop Hop someday. Then I wouldn't feel so guilty about eating it.