Unique birthday

Heaven help us, eighty one today, a number with special properties. Three to the power of four. Eight and one makes nine which is two squared. Did I stop to wonder if I'd make it this far when my life changed due to the stroke? I'm not sure I did, as I was too busy observing myself, taking note of the changes, and making an effort to write, and develop good new habits of noticing and compensating for mild visual impairment. It's been far harder to live with the impact of the various medications, and yesterday's verdict from the cardio consultant.

I lost a lot of sleep last night, distressed by yesterday's consultation. Waking early up to a bright sunny day didn't help. Fortunately my head was fairly clear without the medication having an adverse effect. I had birthday cards to open, greeting messages and the gift of a new novel from Clare to go with Saturday breakfast pancakes. I tried without success to doze in my arm chair to make up for lost sleep, and  cooked myself a quick pasta dish with mushrooms, garlic and passata for lunch to fend off the effect of low blood sugar. 

Kath and Anto arrived shortly after, then we went out together and walked in the cold wind for three quarters of an hour. Clare came with us part of the way, then made an excuse to return home to prepare my birthday cake, and let Owain in when he arrived from Bristol. When the three of us arrived home he was there to greet us, and the cake with candles lit was waiting in welcome for sharing with a cup of afternoon tea. Then there was a lengthy discussion about ordering special take-away food for supper, as I didn't think I could cope with eating in a noisy restaurant, feeling so tired.

We ordered food from a Lebanese restaurant, an assortment of dishes, mostly vegetarian. but including grilled halloumi and spicy chicken pieces. I settled for an interesting mixed salad as I wasn't feeling like a heavy meal, but tasted some of the other mezes as well. We drank a bottle of Beaujolais Villages, a good quality Gamay. It's the first glass of wine I've drunk since Christmas day with lots of water, not knowing what impact it might have on me, given the disruptive effect of the clot busting meds on my digestive system. I enjoyed the taste. It reminded me of life in Switzerland. although Bourgogne Gamay was more to my taste than supermarket Gamay de Geneve thirty years ago.

It was lovely to sit around en famille and chat until bed time, although we all missed having Rachel with us, of course. Clare and I went to be early and shared a bed for the first time in a long while, taking the risk of disturbing each other, so that Owain could sleep in my bed with Kath and Anto in the attic - rather noisy tonight with the wind and rain.