Sarah's Birthday

Yesterday was the birthday of my niece, Sarah Snow.  Her partner, Michael, was away in Las Vegas for a soccer tournament, and nephew Mike's wife, Erin, stayed home with a nasty sore throat.  So Kathy and Jim, Mike and I headed off for Denver at 12:30 yesterday - we met Sarah at her work place, the Denver Botanic Gardens, and had a "quick" 2 and a half hour tour.  The York Street Garden, where Sarah works, is a 100-acre paradise with plants and trees from all over the world - there are several greenhouses to visit for both tropical and desert-type plants, as well as all the outside areas, including water features and quite a few sculptures.  It was gorgeous.  I took a lot of photos, and when I down-loaded them, realized I only knew the names of about half of the specimens...  but that's normal, isn't it?  After the Garden, we went to the IMAX theater and watched The Flight of the Butterflies, a 3-D documentary recording the efforts of a husband and wife team to discover, and follow, the winter migration of the Monarch butterfly.  It was a superb film.  
     After the film, we headed back into downtown Denver and had a dinner party at Steuben's The Cave - a comfort food restaurant and bar.  I had never before seen the meal called "Chicken & Waffles" on a menu, and I ordered it.  The result was half of a fried chicken served on top of a two-inch-thick slightly sweet, golden brown waffle; with a pat of butter, and servings of red-eye gravy, warmed maple syrup, and a vinegary au-jus dip.  It was delicious.  Mike and Sarah also ordered the Chicken and Waffles; Jim had Chicken Marsala, and Kathy had Trout Amandine.  I was the only one who had to ask for a doggy-bag.  We all handed Sarah our gifts, hugged, kissed, and returned home.  I had a splitting headache, took migraine medicine and went straight to bed, as soon as I checked on Cloudy and Shady.  (And Shady crawled into bed with me this morning, set up his sleep station on my shoulder, and promptly started to snore.)
     It's a grey day today.  It rained overnight, and has sprinkled off and on this morning.  Lovey and Nedi have covered me with their scent, and at this time, I should smell only like them.  They are out in the back yard, and come inside only when the rain becomes a little too heavy for them to stand.  -  I've used 6 towels to dry them off so far...
    Finally, I need to wish a very Happy Birthday to Michele in Wisconsin.  I hope she has a fantabulous day!