Birthday Celebration

Last week (October 20) was my birthday, and not just any old birthday, but my 65th birthday. I’m now eligible for various pensions and a seat outside the coffee shop in the Mall with all the other old farts. Bah, humbug!

Birthday week began on Sunday evening when Wendy asked if I wanted to know what was going on this week. What good is a surprise if you know about it? I, of course, said no and just went along with the flow. Monday (the 19th) I went to a reception at the Museum announcing the formation of the New Brunswick Geopark, Stonehammer. That was fun and a chance to meet some new people. After we all went out to a quick dinner at The Ale House. We, means Dale and Lynn, Carol and Gerry and Wendy and I. We managed to get our meals and back to our cars within the time limit imposed by Wendy (tour organizer extraordinaire).

Next on the agenda was the Imperial Theatre and a concert by Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans. Corb’s music and poetry is definitely “Country and Western” but he has a great sense of humour (see “The truck got stuck” on YouTube) and a strong sense of place. The band was set up for a typical bar setting - they played a couple of nights at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto later that week. The instruments were too loud and they drowned out Corb. On the other hand the rowdy crowd (not your typical Imperial Theatre crowd) knew all the words anyway. All in all, a great evening. Gerry and Carol stopped by the house later and put one of the posters for the tour in my mail box. Thanks for that.

I woke up Tuesday morning to a gentle chorus of Happy Birthday from Wendy and a variety of gifts from Wendy, Comet, Ginger and Simba. Many books – hurray- a new mug, and most shocking, a beautiful, hand crafted wooden chair made by a local craftsman. I have encountered chairs made by this craftsman in a variety of places and every one I’ve sat in is disarmingly comfortable.

That evening people showed up to celebrate my birthday and to reinforce the fact I was now sixty five. Sigh. Thanks to Dale and Lynn for the muddler that Dale made on his father's lathe and to Suzanne and Jack for the bottle of Pernod. It's open already. Yum. Wendy got me an ice cream cake which everyone enjoyed.

Wednesday, Heather and Debbie Marshall, friends from Alberta, arrived after getting lost in Saint John several times. We gave them a city tour and they shared Wendy's admiration for a place which has its major tourist attraction, Reversing Falls, next to its major industry. Stops included the Martello Tour, a Frenchy's and Misty Harbour Seafood for lobsters. We had the rest of the ice cream birthday cake for dinner.

I did manage to stretch out my birthday for three days, which I thought was pretty good. Not as good as my friend Dianna who, if my memory is correct, managed to stretch her birthday out over seven days.

Thanks to all who brought or sent their birthday wishes, and especially to Wendy who organized a great time and managed to hide a chair right under my nose in the house for several months.

I've already enjoyed my first movie at the seniors rate, Where the Wild Things Are. Off to the mall to hang around with the other old guys and ogle the girls.

Harvey