According to my parents, once you get to my age, you get to celebrate your birthday all week, so I’ve had a birthday week. Wednesday after I got my car serviced, I went shopping for birthday presents and bought myself a few things. Then late that afternoon I walked downtown to see the new Superman movie. There’s only one movie theater in town, a vintage 1930s theater downtown. They have upgraded the seats to cushy recliners with footrests and the projection and sound are modern, but when you see the front of the theater and the lobby, you feel like you’ve gone back in time. One other modern touch is that they show the movies with captions. The state school for the Deaf is here, and we have a large Deaf population, from the students to faculty to the former students who decide to stay in town, so I guess it makes sense to show movies with captions. I don’t know if it’s every show or if I happened into a captioned one. For once, I actually caught all the names of the characters because I could read them. I’ll discuss Superman more once I’ve had a chance to process it.

For my actual birthday, I did more shopping (mostly errands, but I bought some fun stuff, too), then spent the afternoon reading on the deck before walking downtown to have dinner at a bistro with a sidewalk cafe. We’ve been lucky to have had a cool snap this week, so it was a perfect evening to dine outdoors. When I got home, I sat on the deck and read some more.

Today I’m easing back into “normal” life because there are chores that have to be done. While it’s still cool, before a heat wave hits next week, I spent the morning working in my lawn, cutting the grass (the lawn is small enough and hilly enough that I use a weedeater instead of a mower) and digging up some bad invasive plants. When I heard the church bells from downtown chime noon, I figured it was time to come in and take a break.

I’m waiting on a delivery from one of my birthday gifts to myself, a new desk chair. The one I have is so uncomfortable that it limits my writing time, so I got a fancy one with an adjustable lumbar pillow and a softer seat. It also looks like it should be on the bridge of the starship Enterprise, so I’ll have to start my writing sessions by saying, “Engage!”