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Today we celebrated our friend Brian's birthday, which was really on the 19th. I think he looks a bit like Santa in a birthday hat in this picture, or maybe more like Father Christmas, since he is English. If you knew him in person, you'd never believe he was 70, in spite of the white hair, which he has had at least as long as I have known him, around 30 years. And, I have news for you, when you are almost 60, 70 just doesn't seem all that big a deal anymore.

It was good to spend a relaxed afternoon with friends, especially a group with whom I feel totally comfortable.Comfortable enough that they let me take pictures of them wearing silly hats and put them on the web.

On the 9th it was also Marge's birthday, so I made her wear the silly hat, too.

So, Happy Birthday Bri, and Marge, and I hope we'll all have the opportunity to be celebrate many more birthdays to come!

~:~:~:~:~:~:~

I was in charge of providing the cake for the birthday party today. I had found a recipe for a great sounding lemon cranberry bundt cake. Just as I was about to begin baking last night, I remembered that our oven was on the fritz and had been only working on and off since Thanksgiving. We neglected to mention it to our landlady because we just haven't been using it a lot in the past month, having been too busy to cook much.

Of course, last night it just wouldn't light and maintain a flame, producing instead only nasty gas fumes. We tried to beat it into submission, took apart various bits, and fiddled with them hoping to generate some magic fix, but no luck. I called the friend who was hosting the party and planned to bring the cake batter over and bake it while we ate. Then, after reading the recipe, I thought it over and realized that since it was a new recipe I really should figure out a way to bake it early. I just didn't want to take a chance and end up stuck at the very last minute with some problem.

So, I took the oven apart once more and swiped a few damp paper towels over various surfaces, and tried again. I have no idea if any of that helped, or if it was just random luck, but when I tried it again, the oven gave in and lit and stayed lit this time. So, I made the cake, which took forever because I had not planned ahead, and did not have every thing in place. I felt like I had never baked before. But it finally came together and after much finger crossing the cake appeared to be just fine when it came out of the oven. I turned it out fairly successfully and figured the glaze would cover the flaws.

Cutting to the chase, it was very good, and here's the recipe if you ever want to try it. I am going to try making it with chopped raw cranberries next time because the tartness is a nice contrast in an ordinary cranberry bread and I don't see why that won't work in a cake as well.

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