A Lifetime of Birthdays

18th - Nike golf shoes and a golf bag from Village Green in Port Orchard
19th - On the ranch. Elsie's sour cream white sheet cake w/guitar.
20th - Would have been on the ranch. A vague memory of watching TV at my grandmother's.
21st - Just back from the Soviet Union. A barbeque w/my parents and aunt using the green sauce I smuggled out of Soviet Georgia.
22nd - Must have been at my parents in Loomis. Living in Seattle.
23rd - First summer in Bellingham, just back from the Soviet Union. Must have been at my parents.
24th - Leaving for L.A., driving to David's in Eugene from Seattle.
25th - Working for Ron, must have been at my parents in Loomis.
26th - First birthday w/Catherine, Oregon Zoo t-shirt.
27th - Can't really remember.
28th - Can't really remember.
29th - Must have been the year we went to Ashland/Jacksonville. Dinner at the Greenleaf Restaurant.
30th - Woke up puking in Beloit, Wisconsin. Arrived in Bloomington, dinner w/David and Jen, Kes was fed up w/me.
31st - Moving to the house, staying at David and Jen's. Spent the night at the Grant St. Inn, salmon dinner at the Uptown.
32nd - Might have been the year we went to the Indiana State Fair to see Reba.
33rd - Can't really remember.
34th - Can't really remember.
35th - Woke up in a cabin on Skykomish River, went for a run. Drove to Seattle, dinner at the Mongolian barbeque, Catherine bought me a couple of books at Bailey/Coy. Stayed on the MV Challenger, had a daytrip to Tillicum Village. Biggest birthday ever.
36th - Woke up in Pokagon State Park. Catherine gave me Douglas the skunk. Ended up at Bear Creek Farm for the night. Pretty well documented online.
37th - Low key, just back from vacation. Bought an ice-cream cake from Ritter's, had Garry and Amanda over.
38th - Indiana State Fair to see Garrison Keillor. First birthday party ever. Garry and Amanda hosted surprise party w/Diane and Garrett, Henry and Erika. Grace slept on my lap.
39th - Can't really remember, other than the fact that Catherine hooked me up with high-speed internet for a present during the first week of classes.
40th - Dinner with Dana, Craig, Jonah, Evie. Catherine arranged for us to take a sail on the lake while we were in Chicago.
41st - Trip to the National Corvette Museum and Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.
42nd - Bhopal in silence (2009).
43rd - Sugarland w/Little Big Town at the Indiana State Fair, movie (Nanny McPhee Returns), lunch at Bucceto's, chocolate cake.
44th - Bowling. I had to teach on my actual birthday (2011) but Beth W. took me out to dinner (donation by Catherine).
45th - Dinner at Bucceto's, chocolate cake. Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.
46th - Thai food in Charlottesville, first day in Esmont.
47th - Niagara Falls, overnight in Buffalo, moving to Boston.
48th - Attempted to make my own cupcakes. Tropical sprinkles with plastic zoo animals (2015).
49th - Saturday rocket launch with CMASS, Sunday visit to Gropius house, Thai food for dinner, camping the next weekend.
50th - Started the day before with a total solar eclipse! Catherine bought me a Burke whistle, which I played for the first time at the rental house in the Alvord desert. Lisa tried to make a cake, but it ended up as chocolate mousse. Liz drove up from California. When we got back to Massachusetts, there was a Pikachu cake!

51st - Not a big celebration, feeling blue because of Fern and Lee. But another Pikachu cake! Two lovely books from Catherine (a medieval bird book, a book on underwater archaeology). Maynard Community Band concert.

52nd - Catherine bought us tickets for a weekend in Rockport! Summer Celtic Sojourn, "Celtic/Appalachia" and "Strings on Strings." Fantastic! A nice Airbnb in Gloucester. French bakery on the final morning. Pikachu plays the fiddle cake!

53rd - A Happy Pandemic Birthday. Made a peach cobbler. Catherine gave me two Carpenters albums (vinyl), four books (Maya glyphs, Egyptian hieroglyphs, two hiking books), zoo membership, pizza, played bocce.

54th - Camping at Massasoit State Park. Cut short thanks to Hurricane Henri. Run in the rain at the park. Fungarium book, virtual ukulele camp, carrot cake, zoo animal (Vicki the Sloth Bear)

55th - Camping at Lake Dennison, a little bit of stargazing. Lemon cake (1/2 100 days of violin reward), banjo uke. Great bird songbook, Danish string quartet CD.

56th - Another fantastic lemon cake. Went for a boat ride on the Blackstone River on Sunday. A run in the morning, out to dinner in the evening. A Low D Whistle, a book about the East India Co., an alabaster bowl and scarabs from Egypt.

57th - Up at 4:30 for a run (short 4.5 miles, cut-back week while training for NJ 50K). Cute Pokemon card from Catherine. Had a normal work day, violin lesson. Had an S&T folk get-together on Saturday after, with a birthday cake featuring chickens and hay bales. Presents: new blankets, book on women in the Valley of the Kings, sea monster tshirt, running socks, Taylor Swift music books, Shokz headphones.