A 'Red Letter Day'!!!

Today was my birthday - not just 'any birthday' but the day I hit the big 65! Now to many that may mean very little - but to me it was wonderful... I was alive - and still here....what more could I wish for? Well what I did wish for was to have my family and friends nearby - and in fact #1 Son and his girl flew in yesterday (Friday) afternoon - only 'til tomorrow night though. But I'm not complaining one little bit. Just to be able to give Sergio a big hug after 8 long months was well worth the wait - Lynsey too! I had e-mails sent over night and a lovely e-mail card form great friend 'Deb' in the USA - plus cards by post yesterday from the UK. My 'bestest' friend Heather phoned at 8am to sing 'Happy Birthday' as she does every year. So the day started with a real 'bang'. Over on "Amici Over The Ocean" there were a lot of birthday wishes too - but I didn't find those 'til this eveneng. What a lovely warm feeling when people remember such things. I can remember that period in MY life that I think we all go through in 'mid life' when you only want to forget such things...but then you become a pensioner and suddenly the pride comes not in subtracing your 'total years' but in adding them!!!

So now I'll get reduced fares on all the lake boats, many (so I understand) reduced charges for medical things and there are probably other things that I'll discover as I go along, so that in itself will be exciting.

Today has been great - we got up and had a leisurely breakfast and then left for Livigno - Sergio did the driving (a nice change for me - so I could sight see....). I broke all my dietary rules and had Swiss rosti (fried grated potato) with egg for my lunch and then this evening I was taken out for dinner. Nothing pretentious - I didn't want that - just a nice soup, followed by a bistecca ai ferri (grilled steak) and a mixed salad. The 'kids' (ssssh) had penne al arrabiata followed by the same 'second' course as me. They then tried the home made tiramisu and crostata al albicocca (Apricot shortcrust flan).
Oh and when we got back from Livigno, we had just pulled in with the car when another car arrived - to deliver a wonderful bouquet of flowers from my niece Daniela and her family. Sergio and Lynsey gave me a beatiful matching trinket box, magnifying glass (LOL?) and a small photo frame that are in the art nouveau style of Rene Makintosh, with the most delightful enamels in really delicate colours.

So all in all it's been an almost perfect day....what more could one ask? Nothing I suspect!