Five

I will present to you my birthday in photos. Well, the important part of it at least: cake and gifts! As I suspected, Proust was not to be, but mother has agreed to read my favorite bits of Remembrance of Things Past to me in the evenings--quite appropriate when you think about it.
After a brisk (very brisk. It was barely out of the teens and, once again, windy) morning walk, father and I did some errands about town. The furnace is still on the blink, so we both relished the opportunity to sit somewhere warm and not have to be covered in blankets.

I do enjoy accompanying father to the bank. I have met some lovely and charming tellers there. Our evening walk was quite long. We met mother at the Trader Joe's and wandered home through the neighborhoods; the cold must have kept most of the squirrels at bay because I did not see any.
By now you should be caught up with the day! We now proceed to dinner, which I helped mother taste test:

It is hoppin' john, a Southern specialty that signifies luck and is often associated with the New Year. I quite enjoyed the bacon. Mother then departed for the kitchen and, unable to resist any sort of kitchen activity, I followed her. She was placing a candle on something. Then the humans raised their voices in song. It always makes me want to bark.

Mother blew out the candle (I am still trying to determine the purpose of that whole exercise) and placed in front of me a large, festively decorated cookie! Oh, it was tasty.

They presented me with something I had, to date, neither smelled nor encountered. It was the size of a marrow bone--but smelled of deer antler. But not yet deer--I was informed that it is the antler of something called an "elk."

It was sublime.

At bedtime, I curled up in a ball and made a show of shivering pitifully. In sympathy, the humans covered me with the bedcovers and thus--I not only obtained my rightful spot on the bed but also under the covers. Success!

I do love birthdays! I wish the best to my dear family and friends, and especially my Aunt Shanni.