Well . . . it was a different birthday, I'll give you that! The day started innocently enough . . . warm, sunny and lazy . . the way all birthdays should be. I'd made a big chocolate zucchini cake for dessert and left it to cool on the counter. Pottered in the garden for a bit . . . sat and enjoyed a mug of tea . . . took the dog for a leisurely walk. But somewhere about the time I went to pick up Mum and bring her back for dinner, a fickle wind must have begun to blow. We'd just arrived back in town and I stopped briefly at Safeway to pick up some cream for the cake, when my cell phone rang . . . it was Glen. "Where are you?" he asked. "Safeway, why?" my reply. Pause. . . . "You know that chocolate cake . . .? Well, you might want to pick up something else . . . .!" Oh dear. And with that he told me the sorry tale . . . Shortly after I left, Glen was working in the back yard and looked up just as something blue fluttered over the fence and landed in the middle of the lawn. Startled by the exotic arrival, he went over to investigate and found a pretty blue and white budgie looking tired and forlorn on the grass. It perked up a bit when it saw Glen, and climbed quite happily onto his finger, pecking away at his watch. No clue as to whose bird it was, and not wanting to leave it to the neighbourhood cats . . . Glen and son Barry set to work and built a lovely cage from a cardboard box and some plastic mesh. . . and duck tape (Red Green would have been proud!) It even came with a branch, water and some seed. All the while said budgie objected to waiting on the ground, and kept attempting to climb Glen's trouser leg. So what happened to the cake, you ask? While rummaging in the cupboard for a suitable budgie-sized water bowl, a pyrex measuring jug became dislodged, and smashed to smithereens - showering the cake with a million tiny shards. :'( With bird settled in cage, and Glen working feverishly in the kitchen, Mum and I sat enjoying a glass of wine . . and helping out with onion chopping or pasta cooking when our assistance was needed. It was to be one of his seafood masterpieces -- bristling with plump, succulent shrimps, fresh halibut pieces and pearly white scallops nestled in a fragrant tomato and herb sauce on a bed of fresh linguine. Now, many years ago when Kevin (older son now 26) was about 18 months old he was violently ill after eating a dish containing scallops -- so consequently, he'd never had them since. Thinking it was about time to find out whether he'd outgrown this allergy -- he erred on the side of caution, and ate just one small scallop. . . . No sudden wheezing or clasping of hands to throat . . . no mad dash to the bathroom. Things were looking good. About half way through the meal, there was a sudden fluttering in the cage . . . we all leaped up anxiously, but sadly the stress and whatever else she had endured, caused our little feathered friend to succumb. We returned to our meal, rather subdued. The rest of the evening passed uneventfully and pleasantly, and we enjoyed the replacement chocolate cake - p'raps not quite as nice as homemade, but still good. I drove Mum home about 11 and had just sat down to relax and browse through one of my birthday books, when Kevin rushed from his bedroom and dived into the bathroom . . . the scallop had decided to re-surface!! Poor fellow had a very rocky night of it. So I guess it's a NO for any future scallops. Thank you everyone for your kind wishes, cards and pictures . . . they really made my day special. So, BIG Thanks to Big Dave, Pam & Nikki (Pam, we were almost twins <g>) ... Marlene (who is still singing along to with the card <g>) ... Maggie ... Glennis (see, we did have chocolate cake and ice cream!) ... DiDi ... John and Carolone (um ... the cake just disappeared, sorry!) ... June ... Wendy (wasn't the sun beeeeautiful?) ... Jean in Oz ... Geo (lovely card) ... Annalee ... Edna ... Val ... Lizzie ... Maria, Andy and little Phoebe ... Pat and Shaun (lovely piccie) ... Jean USA ... Gwen ... Johno, Mary and Cathy. Hugs to you all, Jennifer