hippo birdies

I turned 57 yesterday. My kids and my husband made vegan shakshouka, with chickpeas instead of eggs. Nixie made me a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, decorated with Reese's peanut butter cups. We opened an old bottle of champagne; Neal thinks my stepfather gave it to us, maybe as a housewarming gift? Or when Nixie was born? Either way, it's been sitting in the house for over twenty years, but it proved to be still bubbly and drinkable.

Nixie gave me an enormous sanseveria:
( Read more... )

We got a good snowstorm last week, which cooled down both the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires. Neal's house got moved from mandatory evacuation to voluntary evacuation, so he went home last night. Nixie is still here.

( snow pictures )