Birthday Fun

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Robb and I don't actually own our little cottage yet, but that didn't stop me from giving him this for his birthday.



That's right. Robb is now the proud owner of a sweet little eco-friendly push-mower. And I'm the kind of dork who buys a lawnmower for a birthday gift. In some relationships, a gift like that would be grounds for divorce.

Robb and I have never been in charge of a lawn. When I worked at the opera in upstate New York, and lived on the dairy farm, the farmers would cut our grass with their tractors. Neither Robb nor I have any memory of how the grass got cut in Dallas. We were workings eighty hour weeks. For all we know, the landlord hired a goatherd to crop our lawn.

The birthday fun didn't end when we rolled the lawnmover into our garage.

We also went kayaking on Lake Merritt.

If you haven't rented a boat and paddled or sailed around the lake, I highly recommend that you do so. As we were gliding along the cormorants, terns, pelicans and gulls, I kept wondering why we hadn't done this before.

This is good, cheap, healthy fun. Kayak rentals (for Oakland residents) are ten bucks an hour, and you can also rent sailboats, canoes, rowboats or sailboats. No power boats are permitted on the lake, so there's a leisurely pace to the boating.

To quote Kenneth Graham (from The Wind in the Willows), "There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."

Of course, you can't go wrong if you enjoy a dinner of Burmese food after you've done messing about in boats.

It was a lovely day.

Comments

Anonymous said…
... Ummm... one of my favorite birthday presents was a power drill of my own! About to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary...so it works!

Bandaid
Cinderellen said…
I rater like a "sensible" gift myself. Kayaking is lovely, what a nice day that must have been.
OH, I LOVE that little mower! I'd be so happy to get one for my birthday! Since Anthony had his knee surgery, I've been in charge of mowing our small fenced backyard, and I hate dragging the push (gas) mower over just to do it. I've been asking for one of these ;-)) The acreage is done by a riding lawnmower, per my MIL's instructions. I would put up a fence and turn the sheep into the yard, were I given a vote.... ;-))
Anonymous said…
Hey there! Congrats on the new mower! Why don't you just get yourselves a couple of goats?

Gary wants to know if you are going to the Outside Lands Music and Arts festival, at the end of August? Tom Jones is going to be there! Take your old undies and toss 'em on the stage for us, ok?

I have a LOT of flowers we put in the yard over time, (they were free and being thrown out) but the best thing we ever did -to the sloped part of the yard that was hard to mow- was put in strawberry plants! Consider putting in an edible landscape, and you will love it! Less to mow as well!

Annalisa and Gary
Lyn said…
Sounds like it was a happy birthday. Belated best wishes to Robb. May the coming year hold many more healthy, cheap, fun, good experiences.
Unknown said…
One of the most thoughtful birthday gifts I ever received was a top-of-the-line Rowenta iron, something I would never have bought for myself. As any quilter/sewer knows, a good iron is as important as the sewing machine--my husband (35 years now) figured that out all by himself and made me very happy many years ago.

~~Doublesaj~~
Gothknits said…
Happy Belated Birthday Robb!!

Love the mower. Practical gifts don't have to be relationship ending. I prefer them. I don't need one more thing to (not) dust. I think something useful is a lot more thoughtful.
I took Burmese in college, sadly all I remember is hello and Beer. When we moved into our first non apartment that is the kind of mower I used but the darn pinecones made it a pain in the butt. Happy Belated Robb
Anonymous said…
Are you guys closer to a Lowes or a Home Depot? I take the opportunity to tell you now that for all future birthdays, xmas's, flag days, etc... you request gift cards to those places of hardware and house fix-it fantasies!

We have been requesting gift cards from family members for 3 years now for those stores (Lowes has better prices and choices) and it is truely worth it.

Annalisa and Gary
Allison said…
What a lovely blog! I've been enjoying your photos on flickr for ages - I'll have to add your blog to the list of frequent reads too...

I wanted to know, have you been pleased with the mower, and if so, what brand/make is it? I hate gas-powered mowers, and have been on the hunt of a nice quiet reel-style mower for ages now. They come up used every now and then, but get snatched up quickly!

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