Firefly's Lounge Is Now Open

Are eggs benedict on the menu today?



Or fish and chips? I feel the need for something filling ...

Anything you wish is on the menu today, vonny...it's your special day.

Today, we're celebrating you. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, VONNY!

Thank you so much firefly - for your birthday wishes and for the birthday song and cake! The food is a delight to the eyes, and the song a pleasure to the ears.

It's been a lovely day in every possible way, made all the better by so many warm and genuine greetings from members of A2K - I'm finding them spread out over several threads - such fun.

Afraid that I rather spoiled my appetite by being greedy earlier today - I gobbled up two whole egg custard tarts - as they say, naughty but nice! But your offer of a choice from the menu is too good to pass up - might I call in tomorrow and look then?

Whenever you wish, you can have anything your heart desires--whether it's on the menu or not.

Glad you are having a lovely day. That's how birthdays should be.

I love birthdays - every good wish, every birthday card, the wrapping paper on a gift - enjoy the whole thing from start to finish.

Got to get one more in, cause I'm up-side down

Upside down - must be hard to keep money in your pockets

I've had such a lovely birthday that I think I'll do what I did last year - extend it until next Tuesday!

Shirt yeah I do that every year.

Funny story ex hub, 16/6 me 19/6.

D 30/6 me well 19/6

So for years I've celebrated for erm a few weeks

Ah ha, the truth is out, Foundy.

You've chosen your marriage partners based on the month of their birth, so you could enjoy prolonged birthday celebrations.

Speaking of birthdays, Google's "doodle", or graphic, today celebrates Mary Anning.on the 215th anniversary of her birthday.

So, who was she?


I'm glad that Google is bringing attention to her life and her scientific contributions today. I learned something quite interesting about a person I had never heard of before.

Ha! Just remembered at 25 my then fiancé was a Gemini as well LOLS... Maybe, maybe FF...

I haven't had a pizza for ages, perhaps I could order one like this ...



and some cooling Moroccan mint tea ...



Possibly with some background music - like Carlos Santana's 'Smooth' - always acceptable!



Oh - and I'll go quite mad and order a slice of egg custard tart. Blame Ossobucco - on my birthday thread she reminded me of just how much I like it! Scrumptious.

vonny, I haven't had pizza in ages either, and that one looks absolutely delicious. I'll join you.

All this talk of birthdays, and birthday cake, has left me with an absolute craving for frosted chocolate cake--I rarely have cake with any sort of frosting, except for birthday celebrations. But, I'm going to indulge now. With a glass of milk to wash it down.

Hey where is everybody? Did this place slow down after Memorial Day or am I just...oh, never mind seems I wandered into the storage room

Good to see everyone, just coming in for a quick cup of coffee and maybe some of the chocolate souffle which just got a wonderful write-up in the paper.

I'm relaxed for a change, after talking with my ex today. It's his birthday and we had a long wide ranging talk. No, we're long past getting back together, almost twenty years since the beginning of break up - and into common history, family, what's happening now. Still share a lot of views, talk easily. Someone who gets me and vice versa. Part of the grounding for our lives, despite any past upchucks of both of us.

So, I want to taste that chocolate souffle, Sturge.

It's so good to see some familiar faces in here.

I'm feeling relaxed too, osso. I finally got my car inspected (Hooray, it passed!). I always put it off until the final day of the expiration month, every year, and then I panic. Don't ask why I do that, I'm an incurable world-class procrastinator. But it does add excitement to life when you suddenly have a looming deadline trapping you against a wall, and that wall has scrawled messages all over it about the dire consequences that are about to happen if you don't get it done RIGHT NOW. .

I first tried to get the car inspected at the two closest places to my house, a gas station, and a tire place. Both said no, they were already closed for the day for that sort of thing. The man in one warned me not to leave my car on the street until I could get it done on Monday. That ramped up my anxiety level even more, and my palpitations grew stronger. So I headed for my most faithful place, the gas station I have always used for repairs--for decades--and where I buy all of my gas. I greeted the service manager by name, and asked him if he could please take care of my problem. He said, "You want that done NOW?" I answered, "I HAVE to have it done now. It expires today. PLEASE." And I gave him my most frantic and pleading look. He smiled and took my car keys, likely remembering how many times we have been through this before. Oh joy! Did I feel elated! Actually, I was there at the best time of day for that kind of thing. They had finished almost all of their repair work, so they did the inspection immediately. Usually, I worry they'll find some problem and the car won't pass inspection, and there won't be enough time to get it fixed, but not today. I just felt relaxed and good. In fact, I felt so upbeat and lucky while waiting for my car, I bought two lottery tickets.

Now I think I'll just sit back, have some coffee and a cannoli, and enjoy the pleasant company in here.

Don't talk about deadlines, I think I will have an anxiety attack or something but WELL done.

I am curious, why do you need to have the car inspected every year, we only need our license expiry done.......... I am slack I admit it, I do.. I forget myself and well go past the time they tell me to do it, but, but, I can put air in the tires, I can add oil and water and I can wash a car does that count?

Had Birthday celebrations today... D's daughter's, I guess almost my step-daughter's sweet 16th Thought I would share here as well as FW.

Cause it's about food and stuff.



D's ex made it, she's a Pastry Chef, I never go past any of her cakes EVER ! Beautiful huh.

Have some everyone. Plenty to go around.

Our car registration is now renewed every two years, but they've kept the inspection yearly. The inspection is two-fold--to make sure the minimum safety equipment on the car is functioning, and to help protect the environment from pollutants. So, they check to make sure the car lights and horn and steering work, they remove a tire to check the brake linings, they make sure the tires have at least a minimum of tread left, etc. that's the safety aspect. Then they do an elaborate check of the emission exhaust the car emits when it's running--they use a special machine for that--and that's to help protect the environment--and the car has to be functioning within a certain range in terms of emission exhaust to pass the inspection. They can sometimes uncover a problem the driver isn't aware of, and it's a way to make sure that the cars on the road meet minimum safety standards, so it's not a bad idea to require a yearly inspection. Usually, I get an oil change at the same time I have the car inspected, but I did bring the car in too late in the day to push my luck in asking them to do that too. I'll get that done some other day--there's no pressing deadline on that one.

What a gorgeous cake! It's almost too pretty to eat. What was the inside of it like?

I hope you all had a lovely time celebrating your almost step-daughter's 16th birthday.

My own sweet 16th birthday party wound up getting cancelled--I came down with the measles.

Awesome, no I mean that. See, here they prefer not to put those laws in place but it sounds like the ideal plan, why not make sure every car is safe on the road... What is amusing (not) is pretty much daily, I see a cop car (undercover) or not, pull someone over about their tires or head lights, someone without much money and you wouldn't want to know what the fines are.

Here it's about them making money...

Would you believe the exact same colours in layers as the cake From dark pink at the bottom up-wards, very sweet with the icing, she makes the best chocolate Belgian cakes.

Yep (almost) I ran away at 16 BUT I too got the measles when I was a kid, absolutely everywhere and I mean everywhere, the Doctors had never seen a case like it. My Mother told me not to scratch or I'd end up with craters on my face. Imagine the nightmares I had !!!!!

Where did you go when you ran away at 16?

All I wanted to do on my 16th birthday was go to the motor vehicle bureau and get my learner's permit so I could learn to drive. And that's what I did. The doctor said I was no longer contagious from the measles, and the actual rash was gone, but my skin was blotchy and mottled--sort of like an alligator pattern--and it looked pretty ghastly. I really didn't want to go out in public like that, but there was nothing that would have kept me from getting that permit on my birthday.