Friendship just when I need it

I've been flat on my back with a disc problem for the last 24 hours. I shouldn't be on the computer now because sitting makes one of my legs go dead but I just had to tell you...

I got up this morning and went downstairs to get coffee and there were beautiful flowers on the cabinet! Could my husband Mel have been that thoughtful, I wondered? NAH!

They were so lovely and cheered me immediately. Then I noticed some bags of presents in the hall. They must be something that Mel has to take in to work, or something, I thought. Upon closer inspection, I saw my name on some of the envelopes.

Then I realized that my darling book club had remembered my birthday, even though I wasn't giving a party this year like I usually do. I hadn't been able to make the meeting earlier this week because my back went into spasms when I tried to drive.

My Austrian friend Martina made almond crescents -- we used to get those from a German baker in Vicksburg, Mississippi, when I was young, but I had never tasted them since. And my friend Manju got me my favorite chocolates -- rose and violet creams from Fortnum & Mason's in London.

Anyway, my breakfast this morning was almond crescents and violet/rose creams ! Was there ever such a magnificent breakfast?

I will float all day today because of their kindness to me (and not just from the drugs I have to take for my back). :)

This evening, another carload of friends are stopping by my house to whisk me into London to a Thai restaurant called the Blue Elephant for my birthday. I am so lucky that my friends are so nice to me, even when I'm ill and getting SO OLD.