Birthdays, Errands and Such

My 38th birthday was this past Saturday and my darling husband ignored me. The highlight of the day was our trip to the local dump. It actually turned out to be the most exciting dump day ever! We watched as the containers of glass, plastic and cardboard were crushed by a big backhoe. An empty container was also dropped off by a giant truck while a full one was removed, covered and carted off. The big backhoe pushed the new container screeching into place. Hugo was in love. He enjoys helping his Poppa at the dump. He runs along beside Cesar helping to toss the garbage bags and sort out the recycling into their proper containers. My job is to holler out, "Watch out for cars! Please hold hands!" His very favorite job is smashing the glass to smitherines. On our way home Cesar did refer to me as the "birthday girl" and did I want to get cold cuts at the store for our lunch? No, I didn't. He asked what I wanted to do that day. I didn't know. I did know that I had hoped that he would have a plan. That he would remember that birthdays are special to me. He didn't tell Hugo that it was his Momma's birthday until our boy was about to jump into bed for the night. Hugo ran downstairs and popped into the living room with his arms and legs spread eagle and hollered, "Surprise! Happy Birthday Momma! Surprise!" I got a big hug and kiss and then he bounded back up the stairs to his room and bedtime.

My Grandmother Marge and I have been playing phone tag since Saturday. She has been wanting to wish me a Happy Birthday. I've left her messages but I don't think she knows how to retrieve them! She asked how my day went and I hesitated in telling her the truth. She can hold a grudge like no other. She remindes me of that line from Pride and Prejudice referring to Mr Darcy that goes something like... once his good favor is lost, it is lost forever. Well, that is my Grandmother to a T. I spoke to her during her martini time and she was in a happy mood. Often she wont remember things that were spoken about during tini time so I told her how my birthday was nonexistent. She lifted my spirits as she said, "Now Ali, when are you going to realize that all men are alike. You can only tell them apart by their faces!" She has a great way of looking at life and she got me laughing. She loved it that my birthday highlight was a trip to the dump! We laughed hard together at poor Cesar. At the end of our conversation she said that she supposed that I should pass along her hellos to Cesar. Then she quipped, "Tell him he better not come to close for awhile or I'll have to give him the business!" I'm not sure what "the business" is, but she had me laughing once more. I love my Grandma. I love my husband too.


These photos were taken a few weeks ago during my quiet blogging days. We were out running errands, we three. Hugo had passed out in his chair and Cesar needed to stop in at the court house so I stayed behind in the car with our boy. I decided to see what I could photograph around me without leaving the car. You be the judge of the results.