Birthday No. 61 . . . "oh no"

I had a terrific birthday . . . Dick picked some beautiful hydrangeas for me from his garden . . . I love hydrangeas ! ! !

I came home from work to the most gorgeous fruit bouquet . . . with yummy chocolate dipped pineapple and strawberry flowers ( I wish I had thought to take a picture of it before Dick and I started to eat ! ! ! . . . thank you Rick, Tracy, Ben, and Peter . . .

While we were busy eating these delicious treats . . . the UPS man came . . . with several dozen roses . . . absolutely beautiful . . . thank you Adam, Isis, Sienna, and Olivia . . .

On Friday evening we went to dinner with Todd and Andrea to celebrate . . . they gave me a birthday card to open . . . and out fell 2 tickets to "Neil Diamond at Fenway Park" ! ! ! . . . incredible . . . I could NOT believe it . . . that is going to be an awesome evening . . . thank you Todd & Andrea . . .

Mom came with us . . . and gave me my $$ birthday gift . . . to buy whatever I want . . . so now I am trying to decide . . . going to wait for a while . . . and come up with something really good . . .

Also received lots of cards and well wishes from other family and friends . . . thank you all so much . . . for helping to make my birthday a great day !!

Congratulations, Adam ! ! !

Adam has won the 2008 AFSCME California State Senate Legislative Staff Person of the Year Award . . . for the 2nd year in a row ! ! !

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Great Job, Adam . . .

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ok . . . I'll say it . . . I'm bragging here . . . but Dad and I are really proud of YOU . . .

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Happy 4th of July !

We celebrated July 4th on Saturday with the Rhode Island Keigwins in Kingstown . . .

it was great to visit with Scott & Jane . . . and meet their new little guy, Henry . . . Matt & Paige are all grown up . . . wow ! ! !

it was fun visiting with Jennie and Andy too . . . and their little people, Harry & Gracie . . .

and it was great to see Bev & Jack too . . . we haven't seen everyone for a long time . . .

I only wish all of our guys could have been there with their families too . . . what a great Keigwin reunion that would have been . . . just like the old days when we would celebrate July 4th in Warwick . . .

Happy 4th of July !!
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The "Last" Phil Craig Book

Well, I just finished the last Phil Craig book . . . it was wonderful . . . as always !!

I first discovered Phil's books in 1995 . . . I think there were 5 out then . . . and I read through them all right away . . .

Then every spring I looked forward to the new one coming out . . . and that was usually the first book I read every year in June . . . I would always try to make them last . . . tried to read very slowly . . . but each one was so good I just couldn't put it down until it was finished . . . and usually read it in one day !

Last May . . . Phil passed away . . . I had met him a few times at different author events . . . and he was one of the nicest people I have ever met . . . so so kind . . . one of my favorite authors . . .

It makes me sad to think I will never get to speak with him again . . . or to be able to look forward to another one of his books in the Spring . . . June reading will never be the same.