Some garden pictures, taken on Sunday:

We had a lovely low-key celebratory day yesterday. That’s what Don wanted and I was more than happy to comply.

I found a small cake for him from a local bakery – if I was eating sugar, I would have been thrilled because it was chocolate and buttercream and hazlenuts and all things yummy. It was the perfect size, not so big that you feel you have to eat it for days, not so small that it’s all gone in one bite. (I didn’t really even have a craving for it, which is a good sign, as I’ve been off sugar for 3 weeks now.)

I sang Happy Birthday and he blew out the candles and he loved his presents. He had asked for an inexpensive watch because he was sick of checking his phone to get the time of day. I found a rather stylish Timex that I thought he would like and it was a big success. He also was the recipient of two new books.

Don is such an interesting guy. He has a thirst for knowledge that I deeply admire. He never went to college. He’s self-educated and he’s whip smart. In the past year, he has been delving into several subjects – he calls them his ‘courses.’ The non-fiction books he reads are dense – far too dense for me. He reads a lot.

And, though he’s played guitar since he was 12 years old, he is studying online with a well-known guitar player. He practices every day for hours. All of the pieces are complicated and completely instrumental.

He’s so disciplined about his reading and his guitar study. I am not nearly so disciplined about anything!

We also had a FaceTime call with our Little Z, who is not so little anymore. He was having a great birthday, but was yawning because all that celebrating is tiring! He sent a video Happy Birthday message to his Uncle Don in the morning and we sang to him on the phone until he interrupted us to tell us all about his new iPad. I love hearing him talk about pretty much anything, including an iPad.

He’s still young enough that he gives us kisses on the phone. I hope that lasts a bit longer.

A lovely day. Two lovely guys.

I finished 84, Charing Cross Road  this morning. Absolutely charming. And now, on to The Diary of a Bookseller.

We’ve got thunderstorms headed our way this afternoon and the rest of the week will have temperatures in the high eighties. I guess it’s summer.

Thank you for all the lovely birthday greetings!

Happy Tuesday.