Bernthday

had the most amazing birthday today. I took the day off from work, and just did this and that. It was also my first turn to cook for the group today. Was great to be out in the garden in the afternoon picking kale. Not bunches from small plants, but single leaves from mature plants. I picked hundreds of leaves, one by one, and it felt right to be handling each one, knowing it would be cooked and eaten by my new friends here.
Made a mess of beans, and the biggest pot of chili i've ever made before and dry cooked the greens in the oven, so they came out crispy and good, sort of like kale bacon.
Plus i made pop-overs from scratch, thanks to Terese for sending me some perfectly detailed instructions, i think, based on the recipe that our mom used when we were kids. They came out great, really eggy and hot right out of the oven.
After dinner a cake with candles was brought out and a room full of folks singing. It was all more like a dream than real. I tried to say my thanks as good as words might do. I just feel so lucky to be here.
After the cake we made it out to the fire pit with a couple guitars. I played my standards, Josie and Bur and some others, and we started trying to remember all the songs we could from the 1970's it was really a hoot and now my fingers are killing me, in a good way.
thanks again for reading