This was taken at Ella’s, a beautiful restaurant in Westerly.  Jeff and Angela took us here for a birthday celebration.

I am 72 and proud of it!

As  you see, we are having a great time.

Daughter Nancy arrived earlier with a big bouquet of flowers and my favorite mousse cake (three layers of three flavors of chocolate mousse).   So sweet of her!

On Sunday, Nancy, Banjo Man and I feasted on beef tenderloin, whipped potatoes and green bean casserole.

Tomorrow Nancy is scheduled for a long-awaited tonsillectomy.  We hope her recovery won’t be too painful.  If she’s up to it, we’ll haul her on the plane to Texas with us to finish her recovery.  Fingers crossed for an easy and not-terribly-painful time.  She is staying here with us for the time being and I am prepared, having just made many little bowls of Jello.

Banjo Man is going to make a vat of his homemade applesauce, so she will be well fed despite a painful throat.

In the meantime, I’m thinking about making Christmas cut-out cookies this week. It has been years since I’ve done that, but I dug out my box of 53-year old cookie cutters and it’s tempting to use them again.

It sure brings back memories. My father’s cookie decorating parties in Idaho, when the kids were young, are still highlights of Dancing Mandolin Player’s and My French Friend Janou’s now-grown children. I created dozens upon dozens of cookies for those parties. I made them ahead and froze them between wax paper in white cardboard gift boxes saved from year to year.

All I have to do now is find that old recipe…