Oh my heavens, I had no idea this post was here! Thank you all so much for the lovely roses, the birthday greetings, and the kind words! I seldom have time to visit here anymore, life does get in the way. We've been busy in the garden, we tore off our old deck and built a new one which meant moving our huge Clementina and William R. Smith. A miserable job and I am praying they survive their move! I lost my precious Beauregard the basset hound in September and I felt he took my heart with him for months but we have two new bassets now, Barney and Harvey and they are a hand full! Harvey is a rescue who had been abused and Barney is a puppy who is full of mischief. So, you see, life has been chaos here. I have missed you all and hopefully can visit more often once things settle down to a dull roar. Thank you again for remembering me! Every post warmed my heart, made me smile, and brought back a wonderful memory. Carolina

Oh! Thank you everybody!! ItÂs wet and soggy here, but IÂm having a nice dayÂkids are at school, LOL! IÂm celebrating my 50th birthday today by having all the kids have a "spend the night" guest. WeÂll have spaghetti and birthday cake. Yippee! I AM counting my NYC trip as part of MY birthday celebration, even though it was REALLY for She and I spent 4 days in NYC! We took the Acela train from DC. It was wonderfully civilized! Lindsay liked (Ã la Star Trek) between the cars. Having already done all the obligatory monuments, etc, we got to really travel the city like locals. The first night we stayed at the Hilton on 53rd & 6th (Avenue of the Americas). The other nights we stayed at an apt on 55th and 2nd. WeÂd leave at 8:00 in the morning and didnÂt head "home" until 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. I knew it would be a good trip by bedtime the first day. We wandered upon filming for a We watched on the street for a couple of hours. He never got out of the car, but we were thrilled to see him. Finally we decided to head to our hotel. We walked down the street that had all the trailers. No one was around. Suddenly Nicolas Cage walked out of a trailer, right onto the street right in front of us! We squealed like little school girls! He walked up to us, chatted with us for a few moments (well, HE chatted; we babbled and drooled and shook!). He let me take a picture of . Ugh! I couldnÂt even hold the camera still or see the view finderÂI took a picture when he blinked! He was SOOOO gracious! I LOVE him even more now! But hey, Lindsay was so excited! We could barely sleep that night! We saw Mamma Mia the next day! Fabulous! We spent a day and a half in Central Park (and even ), walked all over the place. We didnÂt actually do a lot of shopping. We wanted to be out on the streets and see the sights! We walked through most of the neighborhoodsÂ.Lower East Side, Chinatown, Little Italy, Nolita, TriBeCa, East Village, Soho, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Meat Packing DistrictÂwe logged some serious miles! We tried to eat something in every neighborhood. We were stuffed by the time we left! Our last was breakfast at Max BrennerÂs, (OMGosh!) Âall the time!! We had a GREAT time! A wonderful 13th (for her) and 50th for me!! Thank you again for the wonderful wishes!

Nothing special planned. Too much turmoil in our lives right now with a lot going on. It's OK. We are, however, taking me to the ice cream shop for a bowl of Hudsonville peppermint ice cream tonight in celebration. (It's my all-time-world favorite ice cream flavor and brand.) That will make me very happy.

Thank you all so much for the good wishes! Still in day camp, still acting like a 12 year old :) and it's always fun to celebrate your birthday with three hundred little kids! and Sol, I am very happy to know that Ringo is much older than me! Happy Birthday to you, too, Jayne and Sherry, my birthday buddies! Hope your day was filled with fun! yep, mine was filled with balloons and the gift card :) thanks for the song, Lou! Thank you everyone! It's been a really nice day and very nice to come home to such nice posts! It's been a perfect birthday!