This Sunday we went over to my friend Sabrina’s house to celebrate my birthday! Brad wanted to use some of his camera equipment to get interesting shots. He has a new lens that is a centerfield split diopter, which allows him to get things in the foreground in focus, as well as things in the background. He tried it out at home on me crocheting at first.
He also used a couple of flashes with different colored gels over them to give interesting tints to his pictures.
We brought all three pups with us, and when we arrived, Sabrina was already in the pool! I got Alice in her cooling vest and handed her off to Brad, and got Hestia and Felix in life jackets. Then I joined Sabrina in the pool! We floated around for a long time having fun chatting and enjoying relaxing on floats in the pool.
Felix was more comfortable this time than last time, but still not super comfortable in the pool. He wanted to be up on the headrest of the pool float right where my head goes, so my head was tilted to the right at an uncomfortable angle. But he was comfortable there, so I endured it for him.
Hestia was queen of the pool float! She regally posed herself on my stomach or legs and surveyed all that is loyal to her rule. She is so funny and really seems to enjoy the pool.
Brad got some pictures of us in the pool, as well as several of Indy, Sabrina’s Golden Retriever service dog, and Brutus, Sabrina’s Chihuahua.
Then Brad’s focus shifted to taking pictures of the hummingbirds at the feeders, and of Russ, who shaved his goatee!
After a while of floating, we got out of the pool and opened presents! Sabrina got me entirely too many presents!!!! I really had fun opening them, though. She got me two parasols, a pink and purple one. We have really enjoyed using the parasols we got at the Strawberry Festival to keep the sun off of us, but that one is green. So Sabrina thought I needed a pink and purple one, too!
She crocheted me 43 granny squares for my wheelchair cover project—43 because it was my 43rd birthday! They are beautiful! She also got me a cute tote bag, a mini-backpack, and flip-flops all in purple. And a purple jean jacket which she is going to embroider for me with Tinkerbell. She also got me a Tinkerbell dress, but that has not arrived yet. So yes, I have been thoroughly spoiled this birthday what with gifts from Sabrina and Brad’s parents (who also gave me a bunch of cool presents!). I really don’t feel worth it, and even though my birthday is my favorite “holiday” because I love getting presents, I feel like I was really overloaded with presents this year!
Next up was dinner. Russ cooked us some ribs with corn, mashed potatoes, and tomatoes. We had peach cobbler for dessert. Brad had thought he was allergic to peaches, but his allergist said it was probably a reaction to the pollen-like proteins on the skin of raw peaches, and that he might be able to eat them cooked. So this was his first experiment with cooked peaches, and it went well! Now Brad can eat cooked peaches! This gives us hope for bananas, too! Anyway, dinner was really tasty, and we all had fun talking during it.
Brad didn’t take any pictures while we were eating, but he took some of Russ preparing the food, and of us hanging out and talking after we ate. Brida the German Shepherd mix came out to join us, as did Faith, Sabrina’s daughter.
Finally it was time to play our favorite game, Mexican Train Dominoes. We always have a great time playing this game together! Brad used his split diopter lens to get interesting pictures with dominoes or the trains in the foreground, and people’s game faces in the background. He got a really good one of Sabrina looking angry with no eyes. Russ and I didn’t do such a good job of making angry faces!
I won the first round, yay! I only had a few points the second round, and lost with a moderate amount of points the third round. But when we added all the points us, I had won overall! So yay, I won for my birthday!
After playing Mexican Train Dominoes, we headed home. It was a great birthday! I had a really fun time with Sabrina and Russ. I can’t wait to go back over to their house again soon!
