Today is the queen's birthday!

Queen Elizabeth is 80 today! Mother is 81 today. They both look pretty good! I always knew that Mother and the queen shared a birthday. When we were little Mother always made mention, but I'm pretty sure that she said, also, that they were the same age. It now makes a little more sense that Mother's house is at all times "queen ready"! If the queen were at any moment to drop by Mother has it covered! Not only the house, but also Mother herself is ready to receive guests! If she's up (by 5am) she's dressed with hair and makeup done! She has been that way, it seems since I was around 8 years old. Someone must have dropped by at an unexpected time and Mother wasn't ready and then they said something about it to someone and it got around town or some other story with much the same theme.

Bless her heart, she expects both my sister and me to be the same way and she is often disappointed (and sometimes down right mean about it!).

Yesterday was the day chosen to celebrate the birthday, mainly because the restaurant we all wanted to go to isn't open on Sunday. I met my sister at her house at 2:45 and after a little visit we headed down to Crawfordville. Got to the restaurant at 3:20 (meeting time was scheduled to be four, but we got there early to make a reservation as they don't take them over the phone for parties under twelve!). Mother and Bert got there at 3:55. Had a fantastic meal and we laughed and visited and ate until around five. We were all quite full and each had a big box of leftovers to take home. Left around 5:10 headed toward Tallahassee in what grew to be a really major storm! A tornado touched down three times in Crawfordville at 5:15! No deaths, lots of damage.

Friday when I was leaving work the boss handed me his American Express card and said he wanted me to put the birthday dinner on it! I thanked him and knew that wouldn't fly! Bert wasn't having a thing to do with that! He bowed up just a tad!

Also on Friday the boss told me he's taking me to lunch on Wednesday for National Administrative Assistant Day. We're going to the University Club. What does one wear? Since I asked him for a raise last week he's been more involved in my life. I think it's because he'd like to keep me there, but he's not ready to give me more money.

All of the rain yesterday still didn't bring us out of our drought state, but it sure helped! We have been so dreadfully dry and hot! We hit 90 three days in a row last week! I've kept my little vegetable/herb garden watered and it's doing well. There's a couple of thumb tip sized tomatoes on one of the 8" plants and all of the others are blooming like crazy! The celantro is bolting and the poor little seedlings that haven't been planted yet are struggling!

Put out a total of 16 irises. They are visible from the dining room window and are such a pleasure to look at! Put out 5 more daylilies Friday and Saturday. The timing of the rain was perfect! It's to be sunny and hot today.

Didn't work Thursday. Asked for the entire day off! Had plumbers coming to install outside faucets in the front and back. Boy, that's wonderful being able to water without having to pull the hoses through the carport, across the patio and then on to the garden!

I don't think Helen's doing very well. She told me Friday night that all of her bones on the right side of her body, from the shoulder to the knee, hurts. It hurts enough that she called for an appointment with her doctor, but she didn't say how bad it is and they are to see her tomorrow! She said she ran out of pain pills and is taking asprin.