it's my birthday, and you are not what i asked for

some friends had me over last Friday for my birthday dinner (for deborah: lois), and i got to use the special birthday plate.  the napkins said "aged to perfection!".  oh boy!  but it was fun.  they're so good to me, it was even ok that the main dish was broccoli cheese soup.  i kind of hate broccoli, and i'm not fond of soup.  but it's ok.  just a fun part of the story.


i adore my cats.  i could (and sometimes do) stare at them for long periods of time.  i don't know what it is that fascinates me so much about cats.  i love their faces.  my favorite thing to do, when they're curled up and sleeping, is to bury my face in their fur.  they're so cozy and warm; often, they're purring.  it feels like such a safe place to be, though i'm sure, as an outsider, it's weird to imagine it.  but if you have a cat, try it sometime.  just walk up to the circle of cat, and plant your face right in the center.  it's such the best, as one of my friends used to say.

also, i have this habit of taking tons of photos of them.  here's a set i took on saturday: