Unfortunately, Ian is up country today and Lindsey and I are working in Melbourne. There is no one in Mount Helen to celebrate with him, apart from Rupert and Hugo.
Nothing for it but to shift his birthday to last weekend.
On Saturday he and I headed to the Bridge Mall market and had a good mooch around. Right, said I. Let's go to Bunnings. Why did we want to go to Bunnings? No particular reason. Just because.
So we went. And while we were there I bought a digital weather station, similar to the one Lindsey has recently bought for Hill House, and much like the one my father had at Mount Martha. I also bought a cheap rain gauge that you push into the garden bed. It measures not just rainfall, but also sprinkler use. Jim was much puzzled by this.
Until we got back to Tani and I asked if he would like me to assemble his weather station (the nuts and bolts were small and my fingers are a bit more nimble than his). Oh, said he. Is it mine? I explained that it was his birthday present, including the rain gauge which we have pushed into the front garden bed.
About an hour later we had the weather station assembled, wirelessly connected to the digital screen inside, and attached to the fence.
We had salmon, chips and white wine for his birthday dinner.
On Sunday I went to the shop for much needed bread and milk. I came back with the bread and milk, and with a bottle of whisky as Jim's birthday present from Stella. At lunchtime, Lindsey and Ian came by and we all drove out to Daylesford where we had Jim's birthday lunch at Bad Habits in the Convent Gallery. I had a very delicious steak sandwich. Jim had egg and bacon pie, Lindsey corn fritters with smoked salmon and Ian a chilli calamari salad. We had extra potatoes and some more wine. I think he thought it was an excellent birthday lunch
We did other things as well. We have weeded the front garden beds, sorted out one of the back boxes for winter sprouting broccoli and pruned one of the shrubs outside our bedroom window. We rescued a mouse that had got into one of the packing boxes in the garage and released it into the back garden. We have taken down the gazebo which we've had up for most of the summer. And I stewed a box of blueberries and baked some apples, both of which I got at the market. I will have the fruit for breakfasts this week. Jim is having his with the apple crumble cake, custard, cream and bottle of white wine which Lindsey and Ian left as his birthday treat at Hill House, where he is looking after Rupert and Hugo.
Not a bad birthday weekend, I reckon.
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