Bavarians have birthdays?
Aaaawww! Thank you all so much for thinking of me! And for your gifts too, of course.
What more could you want?
Sorry for having been a little brisk in my first reply. I was late to discover this thread, and was having guests when I did. So, to repeat with some more detail:
Thanks for starting the thread Roberta -- and for the cake! (Yours too, Izzie!) Cakes are this diabetic's guilty pleasure. Just don't tell my mom that I ate them, okay?
MsOlga, the roses look beautiful. Thanks for all your good wishes!
Walter and Linkat, I'm only now noticing how much I've been missing German beer. Thanks for the much-needed supplies!
Francis, it's always good to get a bottle of wine from France. I hope they let me bring it on the plane home with tightened security and all ...
Tsar Stepan, we're definitely celebrating my birthday Uncle Vanya's as soon as I'm back. Diva will insist that we toast to her with Vodka up (or down) where she's residing now.
Letty -- how did you know? I don't think I ever wrote about my trip to see Wernher von Braun's workplace in Huntsville, Alab.... er .... what I meant to say is, I'm not at liberty to comment on that.
EhBeth -- that's what I call a cup of coffe, and a nice collection of butter tarts. (Again, not a word about those tarts to my mother!) Please say hi to my best friend Timmy for me, will ya? Thanks for the Poutines, too. I sure hope you're not expecting me to, like, share them with anyone, are you?
Dyslexia -- no, of course Bavarians don't have birthdays. But Roberta knows that some A2Kers have been homeschooled by the wrong people, who consequently cannot grasp the concept of a springing-fully-formed-from-ones-father's-forehead day. The goil had to dumb it down to a level everyone understands.
Dlowan, Jespah, Wandel, edgarblythe, Sozobe, JPB, Brandon, Reyn, and your Majesty the Prince: thank y'all for coming. Make yourself at home, have a beer and a cake -- but stay the hell away from my Poutines!
Herzlichen Glueckwunsch zum Geburtstag, Thomas!
@CalamityJane,
Thomas and CJane are my little Bavarian cousins.
@wandeljw,
Actually, my credentials in Bavaria are insufficient to call myself a Bavarian. I'm merely what Calamity Jane would call a
Zuagroassta -- approximately, "one who has travelled to here". It was very gracious of Jane not to protest when Dyslexia labelled me a Bavarian.
@Thomas,
A 'Lake Constance-Upper Swabian' ...
@Thomas,
I'm late to the party as always. But the wishes for
A very happy Birthsay!!!
are quite sincere.
@Merry Andrew,
Thank you, Andrew! Any chance I can see you on the East Coast some time? There's a chance I'm not going to make the Iron Man anytime soon.
@Thomas,
Happy Birthday, what's it like having a birthday in the coldest time of year?
@Gala,
Thanks, Gala! For the most part, a birthday on January 5th means two things: (1) No garden parties: All the birthday celebrations I'm ever going to do are going to happen inside. (Unless I get a job on the Southern Hemisphere someday.) (2) Celebration fatigue: January 5th lies at the end of the Christmas season, when everybody (a) is still kind of hungover from celebrating New Years Eve; (b) is getting impatient with the duty of behaving well as the whole family assembles; and (c) has spent so much of the past two weeks celebrating that nobody is really in the mood for yet another celebration. Only the most loyal friends and the most loving family will show up. I'm pleasantly surprised how many came today, anyway.
Other than that, it's just like any other birthday.
Happy Birthday, Tommaso!
Well, here, I'll give you the Sonoma Coast, or at least a nice drive through it, and some Syrah. (I want to try the Peay La Bruma Syrah myself)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/wine/detail?blogid=54&entry_id=388
and I give you Portola Valley (or the drive) - for the Varner Bee Block Chardonnay
http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-09-26/wine/17158113_1_central-coast-fruit-chardonnay-ridge-vineyards
You can tell I'm not yet a fan of New Mexico wines.. maybe next year. To become a fan, I'll have to try more of them.
@ossobuco,
Great. Now you're making me homesick for California.
@Thomas,
That was on purpose.. (and to give myself a treat with the photos).
@Thomas,
Thomas wrote: (2) Celebration fatigue: January 5th lies at the end of the Christmas season, when everybody (a) is still kind of hungover from celebrating New Years Eve; (b) is getting impatient with the duty of behaving well as the whole family assembles; and (c) has spent so much of the past two weeks celebrating that nobody is really in the mood for yet another celebration.
Ha! That rings true (says yet another Capricorn...)
@sozobe,
Oh dammit! You were due around the 28th or something, right? I keep forgetting your birthday, and even when I remember it I never know if it's yours or Sozlet's.
