My family has a tradition of having birthday seasons rather than simple “birthdays”.  I think this might be because we have a failure to commit, rather than because of any intention to brilliantly extend things.

Anyway, it was my birthday on Thursday.  We had intended to go to our favourite restaurant on Wednesday, but instead ill-health intervened. This happens sometimes, so we made up for it by grabbing lunch at the Fat Dragon in Mount Lawley. I’ve always loved the restaurant, but perhaps because of the hangover from being unwell I didn’t especially love it this time. I didn’t really notice, though, because I was surrounded by family which made it special.  We ate and drank and talked and had a good time.

And there were gifts. Terrific gifts. I don’t want to gloat (I do!) but an original Shaun Tan drawing, scotch-related gifts, a voucher for a laptop skin, some caramels – all very nice.  And then at lunch my mum, brother and sister gave me the MacBook Air I’m typing this entry on which blew me away.  I knew I was going to get it, but it’s pretty incredible.

Friday was more of a work day, which I needed, but Saturday there was a small party at my mum’s house. Marianne,  Barbara, Stephen and mum put a lot of effort into making it terrific, and Keira, Robin, Nick and Amanda, Alisa, Chris and Mackenzie, and Theresa showed up worth gifts and great company. It could have been bigger (I know mum would have liked it if it was), but it was sort of just right as it was with dear friends making it special. I’m very grateful to everyone for coming, and also want to thank everyone out there who sent good wishes. They were all appreciated.

We were all up rather late, which meant today has been a bit of a day of rest. Some editing, some cricket to watch (5-0!), and no reading. There may be reading tonight because I want to get the next round of short fiction reviews out.  On those, I hope to do two entries of reviews each week. Have to see how that goes.