Spins the grin

No Fooling Around

No fooling around going on here, although originally, I did have a different idea in mind for what to write about in today’s post. But after a quick assessment of my blog schedule, I decided to use the photos that I’d intended to show today another time. So then, what do I post today?

How about a recap of the lovely time we had yesterday celebrating that gal ↖↖⬇⬇ turning 26? A few weeks ago when we’d asked Josephine what she wanted to do for her birthday, she said “let me think about it”. When we spoke with her next, she requested that we have dinner together, at our home and indoors for the first time in over a year, as it would be at least two weeks since each of us had had our first shot of a COVID vaccine. Oh yes, we were all in favor of that idea.

The plan boiled down to Jo and her boyfriend coming over at about 5:30pm which would give us time to enjoy dinner and then walk out to the beach to watch the sunset. We’d had a bit of wind earlier in the day so the sky was quite clear, perfect for a glorious sunset. And photo taking.


For the meal, Jo had requested salmon, veggies, and mashed potatoes which her father happily made for us. It was delicious but no photos were taken. For my part, I did a bit of baking. First was a batch of pumpkin muffins (Jo’s to take home are in the green container in the photo on the left below), and then two types of sourdough bread. We had some of the olive sourdough bread with dinner and there was another loaf of it for Jo to take home as well.

For dessert, I made a chocolate cake. This is no ordinary chocolate cake, either. It is dairy-free because Josephine has an allergy to milk protein. The cake turned out great and I found the recipe, Fudgiest Dairy-Free Chocolate Cake, on the TASTY website. For her gift, there was some 💵 and I’d crocheted a pillow cover for which the insert was a small decorative pillow that she’d had as a child. Silly me, I didn’t take any photos of it.

So glad to have been able to hug her again. No fooling.

Be well and let’s stay in touch! Subscribe, tweet, follow, friend, pin … all options are available. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

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Note: This is an unsponsored post; however, some or all of the links to clothing items are associated with an affiliate program where I earned a few cents for each click.

11 Comments

  3. shelbeeontheedge1

    Happy Birthday, Jo! Rena, what a beautiful post! You have such a lovely family and it is so nice to see them here! These photos are stunning and I really love the one of you and Jo! What a special photo.

    Shelbee
    http://www.shelbeeontheedge.com

  4. Sheila (of Ephemera)

    What lovely photos, and how wonderful to be able to hug again! I have not hugged my mom since January 2020. Your daughter looks very much like you – lucky her! Those are some good genes!

    • Rena Post Author

      Thank you. A few of her genes came from her father as well but I like to take credit for the best parts 😉

  5. Jo

    Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes! And thanks mom for extra super sweet post 💛