Birthday Tradition

Once you’ve done something two years in a row, does that count as a tradition? On my birthday last year, I digressed from my usual food post to share some photos of my kitties. I thought I’d do the same this year, with a few extras, too. Here are the dynamic duo, Gary and his diminutive partner in crime, Mitski:

The photo below is our darling outdoor kitty, Jason, who “came with the house” (he looks a lot like Gary, doesn’t he?). I’m still no closer to making him an indoor kitty, but he enjoys the little house Jon built for him on our deck, and of course, the three squares (actually, two) a day I feed him.

This next guy is not a kitty, of course, but I just had to share a photo of the cutest alpaca we met recently who was kind enough to strike this handsome pose:

And finally, I can’t seem to get by without talking at least a little about food. I was thinking about how great our blackberries were last year and anticipating a new crop this summer. Then I remembered the incredible variety of berries I had the pleasure of sampling a couple years ago in Italy while visiting the Mercato Centrale in Florence.

And they had some amazing olives too, as one would expect.

What I didn’t expect was happening upon a restaurant called “Ristorante del Fagioli” — Bean Restaurant? Sounds like a great place for a vegan to eat — too bad the place was closed when we were there.