Happy Birthday to Me

SJ is back from Ukraine and brought me a traditional "scepter" that looks more like a highly decorated like a mace than anything ceremonial. It's pretty cool. The bigger, fancier one's mine. ;) Actually, it's not really a birthday present; we're going out for dinner for that despite the fact that we have plenty of food in the house. We have yet to decide between Thai and Indian. I'm leaning toward Indian; I haven't had vindaloo in a loooong time and the Indian spices in my cabinet are limited to Madras curry powder and garam masala.


Since nothing else but the honeysuckle is blooming this time of year, I took a picture of my asters. Most years, the rabbits get them, so this year it's quite a treat to see them actually bloom and not get nibbled. They come up amid the astilbes, lilies of the valley, vinca major (periwinkle) and stray catnip.