Another birthday dinner last night—salmon with red wine mushroom sauce, mashed potatoes, asparagus. I'm more than willing to keep dragging this out. I now have the coolest tripod I have ever seen. Straight from REI, through Cullen, this tripod has legs that can be bent on a curve, rotated, even wrapped around a tree. I didn't do the tree thing to test it, but it works.(How many Memmott relatives can you count in this photo?)

The downstairs report. These are the plants for our hanging baskets, now in our laundry room—thumbergia, which if they survive the repotting, hardening, and final transplant will fill 10 hanging baskets in the garden. The tomato plants are growing under lights on the kitchen counter. Those of you interested in math could probably come up with a germination ratio based on this photo. The upstairs report? No picture, but Zoey is doing well. We had the potluck group tonight and half a dozen people trooped upstairs to meet and greet Zoey, who preened, talked, and generally impressed everyone. Food report? meatloaf, salad, baked salmon, pasta with cream sauce and vegetables, corn bread, corn souffle, chocolate truffles, and macademia nut cookies. We never know what's going to show up. Tonight's was a little odd for two corn items, but what's not to like about salmon and meat loaf?