The Grapevine Art & Soul Salon

AROUND TOWN WITH NANCY ROSE

Birthday Celebration 2020

January is my favorite month of the year; it's my birthday month, and no one enjoys being celebrated on her birthday more than I do. Festivities started in early January when my neighbor Ted and I continued our tradition of dining at Canoe Restaurant. His birthday is two days after mine. We take turns picking up the check. We love the location with a view of the Chattahoochee and the food is delicious. However, it's always noisy because everyone else there is also celebrating a special occasion with loud conversation and laughter. This year we went to brunch, served only on Sundays, and invited two of our favorite people, Brenda and Tucker to join us. Ted insisted I call the restaurant to be sure they served alcohol that early. He felt like a birthday brunch called for drinks to toast ourselves. Brenda and Tucker generously bought the drinks.

That same week, my son Greg invited me to join him and his daughter Kelly, whose birthday is a week before mine, to celebrate our birthdays with dinner at Canoe on the following Friday night. I gladly accepted. It was a novel birthday dinner for me because for the first time I drank wine with my granddaughter. She even selected the wine, a pinot grigio because it is less sweet than a chardonnay. It was a good selection.. Greg, on the other hand, had a sippin' whiskey.

Even though there was a pause in celebrating with family, food and friends, birthday cards still arrived in the mail and happy birthday wishes were posted on Facebook. I love that Facebook reminds you of friends' birthdays. That once a year greeting may be the only contact with some friends but it is comforting to hear from them to know they are still alive. Also arriving were bouquets of flowers. Ted brought over a huge, beautiful bouquet. I had previously received a bouquet of red roses. While Ted was still visiting, two different florists arrived with more bouquets, one from granddaughters Jessica and Jennifer and the other from my friend MaryAnn. I looked around my living room filled with buds and blooms and greenery and perfumed scents and felt the love those bouquets represented. On the other hand, Ted apparently saw a funeral home and said if I was dying, today would be a good time because no one would have to buy flowers. LOL. I told him there would be no dying today; I wasn't finished celebrating my birthday.

The next celebration was a family birthday lunch hosted by my son Greg and daughter Laurie on Monday, January 20, at Blue Ridge Grill on West Paces Ferry Road across from OK Cafe. Blue Ridge Grill is hidden from the street, nestled behind tall bushes. As I entered the restaurant foyer l was greeted with shouts of happy birthday and hugs and presents from Laurie and her friend Michael, son Greg, sister Barbara, brother-in-law Charles, and nephew Jonathan. We wanted to exchange presents and talk before sitting down to lunch so the hostess suggested we go into the beautiful bar area which was empty of patrons at this early hour. It was perfect for our celebration. We sat in a circle on a cushioned sofa and chairs with everyone talking at once and laughing until we realized our table would be ready soon so we needed to get on with the gift giving. I was ready to receive too. My favorite poet/singer/songwriter of all time if Leonard Cohen. Charles surprised me with a dramatic reading of Cohen's poem "Take this Longing." Charles is an actor so he was all in with the reading, even dropping to one knee as Cohen does when he is performing. It was a beautiful and thoughtful performance. He was rewarded with much deserved applause.

Jonathan knew exactly the kind of book I would love. It's a children's book for everyone, simply but wisely written and beautifully illustrated, called The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charles Mackesy. Patience, gentleness, kindness, friendship, helpfulness and loving each other are traits valued and emphasized in this story.

Greg and I share a love of chocolate fudge. He gave me a box of three large chunks of fudge, one each of caramel, chocolate and turtle, made by a chocolatier in Cumming. His favorite is the fudge his grandmother made. She made it the old fashioned way by cooking the sugar, butter, milk, cocoa and vanilla extract into a sugar syrup and then beating the syrup until it thickens into candy.

I opened Laurie's present and felt a tug at my heart. I was looking at an 8 x10 canvas print of my precious dog Winston, a fourteen-year-old Pekingese, who has brought joy into my heart every single day for the past thirteen years. The canvas print was made from a color photograph Laurie had taken of Winston sitting in the passenger seat of her Mini Cooper after returning from a walk on Noon Day Creek Trail. The photograph was so good I thought I was holding my little dog. It really captured his beautiful face and calm personality.

Then it was my sister's turn. I opened her birthday card containing the sentiment "I hope your birthday is full of Happy Surprises."I had no idea of what was about to happen. She presented me with a beautiful orange and turquoise card with the picture of a dream catcher on it. She said a dream catcher was also known among as The Eye of God. I opened the card. On the left side she had written "Eye of God" underneath the picture of the dream catcher. I felt a sense of dread as I read the printed greeting on the opposite side of the card. "May all your dreams come true! Best Birthday Wishes to You!" Written by hand underneath was "From the Eye of Mom." From the corner of my eye, I saw Barbara's closed hand coming toward me. When she opened her hand, inside was our late mother's one artificial eye. I burst out sobbing because it was so unexpected, and so many memories of my mother overwhelmed me.

My mother had an eye removed because of cancer, and I took her for fittings for the artificial eye. Barbara has been the keeper of the eye for more than twenty-five years since our mother's death. I guess she thought it was time for me to take possession. Let me mention that the two of us have many quirky ways of having fun with each other. After I calmed down from this one, we continued with the celebration. It was nice having my mother there, or at least her eye, to join in the fun. She would have appreciated the quirkiness of the situation. From then on that day, everything I saw looked like an eye, from olives to dancers I later saw on Facebook.

Now it was time for lunch. Thank goodness! I couldn't handle any more surprises without food. The hostess directed us to a beautifully decorated rectangular table set for seven, with lots of happy birthday graffiti sprinkled about. At each plate was a personalized menu that said Happy Birthday Nancy. We ordered coffee or tea and studied the menu. It was hard to choose, but finally everyone ordered something different, a BLT, herb roasted chicken, lobster club sandwich, American wagyu burger, grilled tuna nicoise and a tuna burger, all of which was delicious, but a side of corn souffle was the best my sister and I had ever eaten. I found the recipe online to make it myself.

After clearing the dishes and serving refills of coffee and tea, the waitress brought out the birthday cake. The Million Dollar Cake was from Alpine Bakery, compliments of Michael and Laurie who had decorated it with hot tamales candy. Laurie calls me a hot tamale. The cake was huge, consisting of three layers: a chocolate mousse, a cheesecake and a cake layer, topped with chocolate ganache frosting. According to Martha Stewart, chocolate ganache, "a smooth mixture of chocolate and cream, is one of the richest, most luscious of all chocolate frostings." I agree. I made a wish, blew out the candles and everyone sang Happy Birthday. We were served generous slices of cake, so big that each of us had some left to take home and enjoy it all over again. When it was time to leave, we walked out talking and laughing and still enjoying the celebration while our cars were retrieved from valet parking.

I enjoyed another birthday lunch with my Birmingham friends of many years, Ree and Linda. For fifteen years we have been meeting at least once a year at Classic on Noble in Anniston. Classic on Noble is located in the historic Levy and Clark Building in downtown Anniston. We meet in Aniston because it is approximately halfway between Birmingham and Atlanta so we each only have to drive about an hour and a half to be together. We try to be there at 11:00 when it opens and leave at 1:00 in order to miss the heavy afternoon traffic, always made worse because of work being done on I-20 with lane and road closures and detours. Most often our favorite food to order has been the Fried Green Tomato Salad with blackeyed peas, red onions, goat cheese and buttermilk vinaigrette. We are more adventurous with desserts. This year we shared the fried cheesecake since neither of us had ever eaten fried cheesecake. Delicious! Although we enjoy the food, we enjoy being with each other more and have such a happy time talking about trips, books, movies, our children and grandchildren. We cover as much as we can in the time. We say our goodbyes with hugs and plans to meet same time, same place next year.

About a week later, I received one more gift. Granddaughter Kelly could barely keep it a secret. I knew it was to be delivered by UPS but didn't know what it was or when it was to be delivered. Apparently she kept getting notices that it would be delayed. She had to return to college and we promised to face time so she could see my reaction when I opened it. When it finally arrived I kept my word and face timed her and we opened it together. I was thrilled. It was a portrait of my dog Winston digitally drawn from a photograph she had taken. When I had the picture framed I was able to put her greeting on it "To Grammy From Kelly: Happy Birthday Goober! Love you!" Winston now has his individual gallery for pictures.

Thank you for each individual way of remembering me on my birthday. Can't wait until next year.

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