I baked a devil's food cake from scratch (the only kind) yesterday for Car Guy's birthday.
I filled it with strawberry jam from my own berries and frosted it with thick chocolate frosting and sprinkles.
Car Guy's 10-year-old son crammed the top of the cake with all the candles we had, and lit it with a miniature blow torch. (CG has every gadget known to man.) Amazingly enough, the cake was OK. A bit of wax in the frosting, but no one seemed to care about that.
Younger Son, who just finished his freshman year at Seattle U, is home with me for 10 days (that makes me happy). Then he goes to SF to work for his father for most of the summer.
Nepotism has its advantages: This way, Younger Son can take the last two weeks of July off to go to his father's family reunion on the East Coast, and the first two weeks of August to vacation with me. We'll be at the beach for a week of that time (we'll scatter his dog's ashes there--GB LOVED the beach).
Younger Son was planning to go to the birthday party with me, but he begged off at the last minute, saying he was too tired. He did fill water balloons for me while I was frantically cooking (salad, garlic bread, and the cake)--a surprise for Car Guy.
We (Car Guy's son, his younger brother, his niece, and I) ambushed Car Guy with the water balloons. We were all laughing like loons, and I could hardly catch my breath.
Good clean fun--although Car Guy has threatened a payback ...
I felt pretty comfortable, and I think Car Guy's family (which included his father) and friends like me OK. Maybe better than OK, but it's hard to tell. His father was really sweet to me.
I don't know who among the F&F knows about my cancer and who doesn't, but I'm not going to bring it up. I did give his 20-something niece my blog address when she asked. I don't mind if she knows--just don't want it to be a topic of conversation when I'm in the room.
I stayed till the very end, and drove home in CG's hot car--I tried to give the keys back to him for his birthday, but he refused. So I am still driving the silver-gray Honda convertible. I may have trouble returning this car, maybe I could trade the Corvair for it? (Not likely.)
@ Jeanne Sather 2008.
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