I Can't Give You Anything But...

We spent the long weekend attending 60th birthday celebrations. The picture is mac-husband flanked by two of his college roommates at one such fiesta. The car (if
you can refer to a Porsche by such a common three letter word) was the surprise birthday present of the roommate on the right, given to him by his wife, who actually did the whole "I Love Lucy" hide-it-in-the-garage while he's-in-the-shower getting ready to go out to dinner thing.
Can you imagine? These things still happen in the alternative universe (New Jersey).

Our gift was a copy of the new book of yet another turning-sixty college friend and a photo from a ski trip in the sixties - all sideburns and Buddy Holly glasses.

Now I did get it together, last month, and pull myself out of the post-Christmas doldrums long enough to throw a small dinner party in honor of mac-husband reaching his hexacontal year but I didn't buy a present.
I would love to be the person who can find the perfect gift - the ohh-ahh-wow gift. I am so bad at gifts.

To be good at choosing a gift, one - you have to really know your recipient and two - you need to have confidence.
We've been together since before The Beatles broke up, you'd think "one" would be a slam dunk. It's not. And confidence? What's happened to me? I've lost it in so many ways.
Gifts are just things. Maybe some have meaning but mostly they don't. At this stage of the game the real gift is time - spent together, if possible.

Clare

My first granddaughter - this little peanut turned two weeks old today.
Born on Valentine's Day, she weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce and measured 21" -taller than her brother was. Everything is going smoothly as she quite enjoys sleeping at night, waking to eat once or twice but conking back out very nicely.
The past eight weeks have produced four new babes connected to our school crowd, starting with Mondale's, Henry, then Clare, then swim-sweetie's, Matteo, then grandchild of Helen's (of Ebbet's Field), Vanessa.
And there are more to come when Natalie Portmanesque & Unwellness deliver as spring turns to summer. What a fun preschool class this could be.

Gallery of Drinks Returns

I admit it. Sometimes I drink on school nights. I have been enamored of the
Cosmo, of late, but really, they are practically pure alcohol and they
are so good you can't drink just one, so I invented this "lighter fare"
– along the same lines – because I really can't be passing out on a
nightly basis. You know that as whacked the day has been, there's tomorrow to deal with and I've come to enjoy facing the music of each day, however discordant.
This is

The Cosmotonic.

2 parts vodka
1 part cointreau
1 part pomegranate juice
4 (or 5) parts tonic
a squeeze of lime