Birthday Bounty

Janice today was hard-pressed to decide what her favorite birthday present was. Maybe it was the tacky tiara or maybe the 28-page $1 history of the world (that didn't include a word about Africa, Asia or Latin America as far as we could tell) or the fuzzy pink bear. Or maybe it was the lemon-scented bags for picking up Charlie's poop.

Actually, we got her a really nice iPod with a yellow case to make it hard to damage or lose, not that she's been known to damage or lose anything valuable, of course.

We figured it was the least we could do since the swine flu outbreak in Ithaca forced a relocation of festivities from her house near the Cornell campus to here in Delmar three hours away. In truth, this was really a party as much for my benefit as much as hers. What a treat to have five women I love in the same place at the same time.

Except of course for Emily, they'll all be dispersing soon with Judi heading back to California Tuesday, Ellen and Allyson back to Somerville tomorrow and Janice already on her way back to school with a yellow fly swatter complete with yellow flower and a baton with sparkles to help her mark her 32nd birthday.

But Judi pointed out that Thanksgiving is only about eight weeks away and that gives us something to look forward to because we'll all be together again.