My 93rd Birthday

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

After circling the block a couple of times to find parking, I bought a pound of cookies at Peter Sciortino Bakery to serve the breakfast group.

I brought my cereal and a hard roll (it wasn't as hard as I'd like) that I bought at the bakery to find Terri Miller, Rod DePue, Russ Langford, Edie Zutz and Barbara Todd at the table.  They sang "Happy Birthday"; they sang it again when Cecile Langford arrived, and once more when Jackie Haessley came.  I had quite a few cookies left that I shared with some people in the lower trattoria, also the cook.

It was bumper to bumper Brewer traffic that made driving extremely slow going to Maggiano's for lunch with the Ladies of Lee-sure.  I got off at 35th Street and took Wisconsin Avenue until the street was closed.  Bluemound Road was better and I got to the restaurant exactly at noon.  I had lunch with Karen Sauer, Vicky Barton, Wendy Selestow and Cindy Swenson.  I had shrimp scampi with a lot of pasta that I could take home. 

The waitress brought a Birthday treat that was an oval of white chocolate with "Happy Birthday" and crescent shaped lemon-flavored cookies that I shared with the ladies; there was also a strawberry.

                    

I got to Dr. Gundamraj's office about 2:00 p.m. for my 3:00 p.m. appointment  When the nurse assistant asked how I was spending my Birthday, I told her that I had lunch with the teachers from Lee School. "I went to Lee School", she said, and we tried remembering some teachers.   Dr. G  completed the DMV form before going over my lab results; the only concern was high glucose (borderline diabetes).  I also got a flu shot.

It took me about 30 minutes to get to the DMV on Grange Ave.  Because it was so close to closing time, my information had to be sent to Madison for review and I won't get approval for a license until tomorrow when they will call me.

Thursday, September 25, 2025

At breakfast when I told the group that I had an appointment with the audiologist because my right hearing aid was dead, I got a lot of advice about not driving with an expired license.  Dwight Morgan cautioned that if I hit someone all of my assets could vanish.  Paco Martorell offered to drive me, but I declined, not knowing how long my appointment would last.  I decided to call Lyft.

Dawn arrived with a Jeep and almost lost control when I told her that I was 93 and was able to get into the Jeep.  We had a lively chat and she got me to Dr. Martin's office on time, even after missing an exit.  That ride was $23.93.

My hearing aid was filled with wax and needed a cleaning and a new guard; I also got different tops

David picked me up at 11:55 a.m. and got me to SRS at 12:20 p.m.  That ride was $13.93; my transportation cost $37.68.

Claude treated me to dinner at Pitch's.  We each had a half rack of ribs (buy one get the second at half price), I had a Pinot G, Claude had a beer.  The meals were delicious.  I expected a Birthday treat since the waitress knew it was my Birthday, but Claude was not charged for my Pinot.  I toasted the waitress; it was much better than a piece of cake.

Friday, September 26, 2025

Janice came with a noodle dish, salad and a iced banana dessert.  She gave me a card with a Pick 'n Save gift card.  It was a beautiful day to have our lunch on the balcony.

Annika and I had dinner at the Twisted Fisherman; I knew she'd like the mussels on the menu.  Even though the day was warm earlier, it was too cool to eat outdoors.  We shared a calamari appetizer, Annika devoured a bowl of mussels and I had shrimp tacos.  Annika said she was mussels happy.

Thursday, October 2, 2025

Peter treated me to dinner at Parkside 23 as my Birthday gift.  I had charred salmon; Peter had Amish chicken breast.  Both were delicious.  We shared a complementary Crème Brulee.

We finished the evening at O'Donohue's.