Happy Birthday To Me, Part II

Well, we had a MNB listening session last night to choose some new tunes. It was not an easy affair. I've been on a country kick. Our bass player figures that Motown is the key to get people dancing. Caro has an ear for b-sides and rarities, and our singer doesn't trust anything that isn't on top-40 radio. Here.

Not a lot of overlap, there.

But, they surprised me with a little birthday celebration. Caro brought a cake, Helen a bottle of champagne, and we had a little party, MNB-style.

Now, when I was in Canada at Christmas, my aunt was kind enough to give me some "candles" that have been legendary in our family for some time, but that I had never before had the pleasure of experiencing.

I have "candle" in "quotes" because they are mostly plastic, and about the size of stubby pop can. I put one on the cake last night, and lit it. And, to our shared delight, it shot up a sparkler about a foot into the air. The sparkler lit the mini candles (about... oh, nine of them?) that were on folded-up leaves above it, and then the leaves dropped down, making it look like a rather explosive lotus flower. The leaves started to spin, and a cheerily electronic version of "Happy Birthday" began to play.

And play.

And play.

And play.

Eventually, I took it outside and put it on my window ledge. It seemed reckless to throw it into the street, I didn't want to keep it inside, and, besides, there is a pigeon who has been visiting the little chick and I, and sitting there. At first I thought this would be grand, and a wonderful chance for her to see a bird at close range. Then I realized that, should I decide to open the windows this summer, it may be a little too close, and quite likely messy. I speculated that perhaps this rather spiky lotus-thing would help him stay away.

Nathan, upon arriving home, mentioned that he had gotten up at about 2:30 to have a good cough, and noticed that it was still playing. Crazy, we said.

The party was... about 8:00 last night. And it's now about 7:00 today. And Nathan just opened the window to check, and it's still playing.

Happy birthday to me.

Happy birthday to me.


That pigeon is never coming back.