Susan's Party

Yes, this is titled "Susan's Party", but I'm going to subject you to multiple shots of some amazing flowers. Well, at least I think they're amazing. Anyway. I had planned on spending this Saturday by driving out towards the Hill Country (Austin) to look at all the Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush blooming all over the place. But thanks to my friendly food poisoning, that didn't happen, which sucked cause it was an amazingly gorgeous Spring weekend.

My friend Scott stayed with me again this weekend and talked me into at least sitting with he and his son at lunch. So in an attempt to enjoy some of the weather, I went with them. On the way we drove through Memorial Park and all the Bluebonnetts were in full bloom there, so I quickly snapped a shot. It was as close as I was going to get, or so I thought.

After lunch with Scott, I took a two-and-a-half hour nap before going over to Susan's friend Barbara's house for Susan's birthday dinner. Driving up to Barbara's house, my heart smiled a bit as I saw the vast array of flowers - kind of like a wind from God, letting me take my pictures of flowers anyway. Dont' ask me the name of any of these...I knew them last night, but I've slept since then.

Looks kinda like an eye in the center. I thought these were poppy's but was told they were not.

This picture turned out a little "hotter" than I wanted it to. But here is the Texas state flower, the Bluebonnet....the bee is a bonus.

And this is Indian Paintbrush. You should see this when it's in huge clumps along the side of the road, mixed in with Bluebonnets.

And here's the gang having hors' duvres (sp?) in the front garden. It's not often you get to eat outside in Houston and we couldn't have asked for better weather. That's Barbara on the left, then Philipa, Jim, Penny and Susan.

My now world famous "self shot". I love doing these.

This was my present to Susan :-) A street vendor was selling them while I was out with Scott and his son, Ethan.

A toast to Susan! Again, I don't know the name of these flowers...or the champagne for that matter. But it was really good - sweet, and not too dry.

After toasting, we noticed that this little safety pin had fallen in Barbara's glass. We all wondered if there was some mystical meaning behind it..hmmmm......



The dinner all tasted really good, though I couldn't eat that much of it: short ribs broiled in wine, brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes and broiled vegetables.

The homemade birthday cake and the store bought sparklers.

Penny laughing at something funny Susan said. It was a fun evening.

Philipa adding some ambiance with candlelight to Susan's piece of cake. I wish I liked cake. They all raved about how good it was. I ate a few bites to be polite, but cake is just not my thing. So sue me.