I grow older

And am enchanted by the plants

Here's the What I Did On My Birthday report, with extra credit bonus stuff:

I drew in my sketchbook in the morning and we had our usual breakfast. When a routine works why mess around - right?

Then I did my ankle exercises as per my Physical Therapy (yes, I'm still working at ankle injury recovery and yes, it's taking for effin'ever…).

Then

J. L. Sullens

and I ran around loose going to locally owned "happy places" here in Vancouver where everybody knows our names more or less!!! This continues our personal project of supporting our downtown center. There's some necessary street repairs happening in front of some of the locally owned small businesses as well as the general economic uncertainty nationally due to the tariffs, the gestapo kidnapping of people etc so I worry about the locally owned small businesses. I mean these businesses so small it's literally the owner who's doing the working alongside a few employees. These are not franchises! These places are real! The owners thought up an original idea and are by-god doing what they love!! The current street repairs temporarily impact their foot traffic so whenever possible we go and do what we can to help them keep going. That's something we can do something about!

Once upon a time we lived in a different area of the country that didn't have so many delightful locally owned places to eat or shop, nor did it have such a welcoming vibe, so out of a deep gratitude to our current geographical region we support the local places we love.

On birthday day for lunch we went to a brand new Irish pub in downtown Vancouver called Full Heart Irish Pub.¹ OMG it was so good that we have a new favorite place! We already knew the owners of this new pub because they also own The Brickhouse another downtown favorite so, of course, we had to support their new place!

Full Heart does an awesome frozen Irish coffee and a nice pairing of Guinness + Paddy's whisky. They imported "Tayto Chips" from Ireland so we had to try those - yum! JL had the Guinness Stew and I had the Cottage Pie - we both scraped our bowls clean! The pub owner took this photo of us as we toasted to their success!

And when we were finished the pub gave us our check in a book of poetry by Yeats! Yes, I absolutely loved it and had to read and photo my favorite page!

Afterwards we walked across the street from the Irish pub and visited with Elizabeth at the Aurora Gallery² and I got some new art boards and a frame. We loved, as always, seeing all of the artworks there. Vancouver has some amazing artists!! Here's a photo of some of the new boards and a frame that I got… I love the feeling of hope and potential when I have new boards and frames to fill with my art!!

Then we went next door from the Aurora Gallery to Eryngium Paperterie³ (where we got more art supplies: paper, bookmarks, cards...) and I loved the stores "I Love You" shelf display…

…. and the flowers on the counter. The enchanting red flowers I wasn't familiar with so I asked and learned from Cricket (the Paperterie owner) that those flowers are Crocosima Lucifer⁴... and now I want to draw them!!

When we finished up at Eryngium Paperterie we went home for a while and we both read our books and had a luxuriant reading and relaxing afternoon.⁵

When it was hungry time later in the evening we went to another pub, Barrel Mountain Brewing⁶, where we had PB&J Wings. Yes, you read that right; peanut butter and sweet spicy pepper jelly on chicken wings! We also got one of our favorite pizzas called the "C'mon Craig". We mopped yummy sauce off our faces, waddled home, put the remaining half of the pizza in the fridge, watered our own garden…

…and went for a short walk in our neighborhood. During our walk we waved to and/or spoke to at least 12 of our neighbors and admired other people's gardens.

On birthday day it felt especially good to live in such a friendly welcoming town!!

Back at home we read our books until bedtime. This was an absolutely delightful birthday!!! Thank you for all of your birthday wishes!!!⁷

The next morning after birthday I was still enjoying the plants in my mind so I did this drawing and poem in my sketchbook.

And while drawing I had the thought I've had before “what if humans are here on earth just to take care of the plants?” - I've made one of my mugs⁸ with that thought. Because humans literally couldn't exist without plants giving us oxygen, fruits, holding the soil in place… without plants we wouldn't have coffee, tea, wine, vegetables or much else… and the colorful plant flowers attract the bees and birds which help the plants produce… and when humans help the plants we help the bees… to quote Kurt Vonnegut, “and so it goes”. Plants and animals and other humans are our mutual life support systems. (Mug link here)

FYI: Friday, July 11, is the second opening for my Owl and Pussycat fine art exhibit currently at Burnt Bridge Cellars⁹ in downtown Vancouver! My exhibit continues through the end of July. Please contact the Caplan Art Designs gallery¹⁰ about the original artworks (the gallery ships art anywhere.).¹¹

However you spend time this weekend I hope it is as pleasant as possible.

Thank you for being here!!

1. https://www.fullheartirishpub.com/

2. https://www.auroragalleryonline.com/

3. https://www.eryngiumpapeterie.com/

4. https://www.gardenia.net/plant/crocosmia-lucifer-montbretia

5. One of my birthday gifts is a signed first edition hardback novel by Gregory Maguire!!!! 🤗💙🫶

6. https://www.barrelmountainbrewing.com/pizza-and-pints-vancouver

7. Besides messages and comments several dear friends and family sent special birthday cards in the postal mail!!!! Thoughtful notes, handmade and hand picked gifts are the bees knees!!!! Thank you for them all!!!

8. https://www.zazzle.com/care_of_the_plants_mug-168553023843833576?context=114529070928263395

9. https://www.burntbridgecellars.com/

10. https://caplanartdesigns.com/

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