Happy Birthday, Barbara

Today is my sister, Barbara's, birthday that we celebrated a couple days ago before the rain set in. I think it might have been our last "dinner on the deck", as we've come to call them. By following covid guidelines, we are able to keep our six foot distance when eating on the deck, our visitors bring all their own eating utensils, plates, cups, etc. We don't even serve drinks. I don't prepare any food but we order takeout so we each get our own container of food. I disinfect the bathroom so our guests can use it safely and Bruce and I use a different one in the house.

It works out great and we've done this several times. It was after this article from the Washington Post came out in July that we figured out how to do this correctly. They interviewed five of the health experts on the coronavirus from around the country and asked them how they live their lives knowing everything that they know about this virus. The article was a game changer for us. I started referring to that article and used the "experts" as my role model on dealing with this pandemic.  We've been a lot more relaxed around Nick's family and grandkids because they'd been in quarantine and Bruce and I don't go many places.  But now Nick is back to work, traveling for his job, and our granddaughter is in preschool three days/week; things will change.  And another change is the weather.  I'm so disappointed about summer being over.  The smoke from the wildfires took away one of our last weeks of good weather when we all had to stay inside when we could have been outside seeing people one last time before the cold weather set in.  So, for Barbara's birthday, we invited her over early before the rain came and did one last "dinner of the deck" and it was very lovely.  We got our new outdoor furniture during the week of smoke so we couldn't even use it until we could go outside again. 

We were eager to use the new gas fire pit and see if it would help warm up the deck during the cooler weather which it does but probably not enough for as cold as it gets here plus with the rain, it won't really help that much.  But we sure enjoyed it for Barbara's birthday and gazing at the view.  

When it's not raining, our deck is now an extension of our living room and we love going out there and hanging out.   

Barbara's birthday may not have been the big dinner parties in years past but we did have a very lovely time on the deck and ordered one of her favorites of ginger spice cake with orange icing and vanilla bean ice cream from Circa, our neighborhood go-to restaurant.  Here's a photo from their social media...drool, drool. 

Everything is a little more of a challenge this year of coronavirus but one thing that has made it easier is having my sister nearby with whom we can share these trying times together and then somehow, it actually becomes somewhat enjoyable.  Happy Birthday, Barbara.