Tag Archives: birthdays

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Lord Dudley Mountcatten and princely sums for liquid holiday cheer.

December 27, 2022 Rivergirl 38 Comments

We will start and end this post with photos of His Lordship.

Seen here giving me the evil eye for lowering the blinds and blocking his morning sun.

I had a birthday recently… yay me, another trip around the sun and straight down the road to decrepitude.

The husband told me to pick a place for dinner but I’d skipped lunch and decided we should go cocktail hopping early.

Enter Royal River Grille, one of my favorite spots.

We settled happily at the bar… but were presented with brunch menus since it was a Sunday. I’m not a breakfast person so the thought of scrambled eggs with my Cosmo at 4:00pm did not please me, not one little bit. Brunch until 5:00pm? Come on.

We decided to move on and got the check.

With tip, $30.92 for a drink and a beer. What’s the world coming to?

Next stop was Goodfire Brewery, a new place I’d been wanting to try. On arrival we discovered they were almost out of beer and only had three left on tap. Thankfully one was a blackberry currant sour, but at $9.50 per for the small pour and a virtually non existent menu, we paid $24 for two beers and moved on again.

We ended at a nice seafood place we hadn’t visited in a while and I had a lovely crab, shrimp and scallop lasagna which I didn’t photograph.

So we end with me another year older and a very innocent Lord Dudley Mountcatten.

Well, maybe not that innocent.

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Because when it’s my husband’s birthday…

March 29, 2022 Rivergirl 32 Comments

You know there’s only one answer to the question, “ what do you want to do to celebrate?”

Antiquing of course.

This time around it was the semi famous, at least in Maine… Elmers Barn. A ramshackle place that looks small from the front but feels like it’s 10 football fields deep once you’re inside.

In other words, husband heaven.

And because technically it was a barn at one time….

This lovely fellow greeted us upon arrival.

My husband turned 75 that day and to be honest, for the last few years he’s been feeling his age. The combination of a global plague, retirement, health issues, multiple deaths of friends and family, and the general weariness of aches and pains that are more prevalent when you spend considerable time on this side of the dirt have finally caught up to him. This winter the twinkle in his eye has faded and there’s not much spring in his step. Once the weather turns and he’s able to soak up some sun and fresh air I’m sure he’ll perk back up… but for now all I could offer was a day sifting and sorting through ~~piles of~~ ~~useless~~ ~~crap~~ untold treasure and a promise he could buy whatever he wanted without nary an eye roll from me.

Oh, the sacrifices I make for love.

This was one of the first things we saw when we walked in and I fervently hoped he wouldn’t want to buy it. Dolls in general creep me out, but dolls with dead eyes who look ready to consume your soul in one easy gulp?

No. Thank. You.

Needless to say we spent hours in this store and saw our share of strange things. Vintage snow sled with training wheels?

Check!

Taxidermy with stylish chapeaux?

Check!

I lost the husband in the aptly named ‘tool room’ for a long period of time, but surprisingly after spending half the day in a creaky old barn that promised 3 floors of odd and unusual…. there were very few items that could be described as either. Quite disappointing, that.

And though I fully expected to strain my eyes in a valiant attempt to stop them rolling… my beloved only made one small five dollar purchase that day.

An antique wooden tap for the man cave.

Color me surprised.

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That’s trippy dude.

March 25, 2021 Rivergirl 34 Comments

The husband’s birthday was this month, and for the past decade I’ve been giving him experience gifts rather than material things…. because we all know the man has more than enough stuff. Over the years I’ve gifted him a trip to a spooky old hotel in the Poconos that felt like the Overlook in Stephen King’s The Shining…

The place was huge!

So huge I could never manage to get a shot of the entire thing in frame. And we were literally the only guests.

Room after room.

Floor after floor.

All to ourselves.

I expected to see the twins every time we walked to our room. Uber creepy.

I’ve given him beer making classes….

Look at all those serious student faces.

And seeing him stir an actual pot? Was well worth the student fee.

I even gave him falconry training.

That was awesome. If you ever have the chance, take it.

They really are spectacular creatures.

And hey, where else do you get to walk around with a bag of decapitated quails?

But last year brought Covid and the romantic getaway to the coastal resort I chose was cancelled. This year? We didn’t go anywhere either so along with a few Marine Corps themed items and a handful of vintage Red Sox collectibles… I got him something for the man cave.

Doesn’t look impressive you say?

Trust me, it is.

I’m imaging many alcohol induced oohs and ahs when we plop this baby on the bar.

👍

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Even better than rocks…

April 10, 2019 Rivergirl 40 Comments

I’ve been known to give some interesting birthdays gifts in my time.

Some elicit laughter, some tears….

Some? Downright befuddlement.

It’s all good.

In the past few years, I’ve gifted my husband with experiences as well as tangible items.

2014 was a beer making lesson.

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Friends and family joined us for what I thought would be a laugh a minute celebration…

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Ah, look at those happy faces.

(Word of warning – if you’re thinking about trying it? There’s a lot more to beer than drinking. And I don’t recommend any of it.)

Beer drinking? Fun!

Beer making?

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Not so much.

It’s a long involved process…. that I completely stopped caring about two hours in.

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Poor husband.

Look at him… he had his tasting glass ready and it wasn’t anywhere near finished.

Birthday experience gift rating on a scale of 1 to 10?

Last year I nailed it with a School of Falconry class.

This was fabulous and we both enjoyed it immensely.

Husband got up close and personal with a Harris Hawk and a Peregrine Falcon.

And they were both beautiful creatures.

Learning to handle them can be challenging.

As well as a little intimidating.

Of course, they were nothing compared to the instructor.

She was downright terrifying.

(I think the husband had flashbacks to boot camp and reverted to a quivering PFC before my eyes.)

But baggie of dead quails aside?

An awesome day.

Birthday experience gift rating?

A definite 10!

So this year, along with the rock and other assorted presents…

I gave him a helicopter.

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Okay, calm down.

Those babies go for $425,000.

I gave him the experience of learning how to fly a helicopter.

Half an hour class instruction, half an hour flying time with 2 guests.

I’m not sure when we’ll do it, most likely after the weather warms up.

But I’m guessing it’s going to be a good one!

Assuming we don’t die in a flaming fireball of a crash…

That’s bound to reduce the rating.

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Birthday presents no one gets excited about.

April 7, 2019 Rivergirl 29 Comments

We recently celebrated my husband’s birthday.

And as I posted earlier, among other things….

I gave him a rock.

Because I’m that kind of wife.

We celebrated at a friend’s house, and naturally he was speechless.

Okay, at first he didn’t know what the hell it was.

But that’s not always a bad thing. And he could honestly say no one had ever given him a rock before… so that should count for something.

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But if you thought that was odd?

Witness the gift our friends gave him.

At first it was a box filled with the weirdest packing peanuts I’d ever seen.

Then it was a little box that said..

And then…

And…

Are you noticing the trend?

This went on forever.

And while I’m sure it was funnier with the 3 margaritas I’d had, even sober ….you have to applaud the effort.

Finally he reached the end.

And I thought, oh yeah.

This is going to be good.

I was wrong.

Very, very wrong.

Huh?

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Turns out it was a war nickel which had popped up while my husband was playing poker with the guys a while back. Husband is a coin collector, and had explained what it was to the group.

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So….

Yeah.

They gave him a nickel.

And I gave him a rock.

Do we know how to make a birthday boy happy or what?

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Because I’m that kind of wife.

March 26, 2019 Rivergirl 30 Comments

My husband recently had a birthday.

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Yes.

I’m that kind of wife as well, but I digress.

Along with some very nice, serious gifts…

I ordered him something from Amazon.

The box it came in was rather disappointing.

But nothing could dampen the sheer joy I felt at giving him….

A rock.

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Yes, Cindy.

I did.

I bought him a rock…

A rock!

Or rather, a solid metal rock replica.

Because after our recent vacation in Arizona, and all the amazing rocks we saw out there… ( did I tell you about that? I seem to remember some subtle mentioning of rocks) …. I had to present my beloved with his very own rock (replica).

And may I just say?

Bravo Amazon.

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I don’t know what kind of algorithm you’re running, but as I was searching the mystery/thriller book section?

You recommended a rock.

Talk about knowing your audience.

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And so am I.

I never knew Jeff Bezos had time to read my blog.

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Yay for me.

December 17, 2018 Rivergirl 41 Comments

The understanding wife.

I recently celebrated a birthday. (Okay, there was more silent cursing of my advancing years than actual celebrating, but you get the idea.)

The husband had some lovely flowers delivered…

Which have opened quite nicely since then.

As well as a really large card.

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The phrase “size doesn’t matter” clearly has no meaning for my other half, as evidenced by his gift.

A monstrously large (not to mention monstrously expensive) Breville appliance.

I must have made the mistake of muttering under my breath about needing a new toaster oven recently… because boy, I’ve got one now.

It’s like that old Ginsu knife they used to advertise ad nauseam in the 80’s. It slices, it dices, it cleans your fish.

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But… but…

While I appreciate the thought, all I really wanted was toast.

So I unpacked and played with my new toy in between doing hair and makeup and getting ready to go out to dinner as we always do on my ~~damn it,~~ ~~don’t remind me I’m older~~ birthday.

Except…. (here comes the understanding wife part) my kind, considerate husband called to say his friend at the office won Bruins tickets and he’d like to go with him down to Boston for the night.