Birthday weekend

 

Nearby peach orchard in full bloom. 

(McLeod Farms, McBee, SC)

Yesterday was my birthday! I've been having a really nice weekend. First of all, this area is beautiful this time of year! How gorgeous are those peach trees? And here are blooming dogwoods at the end of my driveway (my neighborhood is full of dogwoods, wisteria, and jessamine at the moment):

We're still having some chilly nights, but my lettuce is coming along nicely. I planted it in a plastic kiddie pool this year to save space in the raised bed, and it seems to be working out well. I'm looking forward to fresh greens.

And of course, my tomatoes and peppers are getting big and will be ready for planting out in a couple more weeks (I hope).

On to birthday gifts! Gregg went shopping with me yesterday and I picked out three new bird feeders to hang in the back yard. We put them up this morning.

And my main gift was a really nice new grill! We bought it last week and Gregg spent hours putting it together one afternoon. Lots of cursing was involved. :)  It's the nicest grill we've ever owned and I'm excited to cook with it! We couldn't try it out yesterday because of rainy weather, but tonight we're going to break it in. I went by the butcher shop yesterday and had some thick, beautiful ribeye steaks cut (the price ended up being eye watering, but it's a special occasion, right?) and I also went to the farm stand and bought some Florida-grown corn on the cob, new potatoes, and zucchini. Tonight we'll have a small feast! :)

Of course, my birthday post wouldn't be complete without mentioning my birthday buddy Little P.! He turned 11 years old yesterday (I turned 49). I went out to eat Mexican food with him and his sweet mama earlier in the week. He's growing up so fast!

We always take a birthday selfie. It's a tradition.

His mom told me he's really into the video game called Fortnite, which I know absolutely nothing about, but it turns out you can buy gift cards for it and do.......something...with them. No clue, but I got him a Fortnite gift card and also an ice cream shop gift card for his birthday. He seemed thrilled! Video games and ice cream seem like a really good birthday gift for an 11-year-old boy.