6:01 p.m. We call Gommie and Pop for birthday conversation, which morphs into a plans-for-Christmas discussion.
7:03 p.m. The kids are in bed but not asleep. Mama is setting up my evening birthday surprise compliments of Fortnum and Mason. I have been given two tasks: not to look and to bake a batch of our favorite scones.
7:57 p.m. The kids are asleep. She sets up a cream tea in the kitchen, using my tea service and several rose-flavored delicacies sent from London, including rose petal jelly, rose shortbread
cookies, rose creams, rose chocolates, and . . . pickle. We'd bought cheese (a KerryGold Dubliner) and water crackers earlier in the day (I had a hunch it would be tea-related--I mean, Fortnum and Mason's is basically a British Balducci's. It pretty much had to be food. And I knew it wasn't bangers and mash!). The rose petal jelly, which we just sampled, was astounding--I love the
texture of the petals in the jelly and the strong floral quality which oddly reminded me of canned longans and lychees (I can't always remember which is which). The rose cookies were so buttery and crisp, again with that, this time fairly delicate, rose essence (and I loved the decorative long tin cylinder, a great keepsake to store knitting needles and crochet hooks in!). The rose creams, covered in chocolate, were strong and impressive. And so we saved the chocolate for later, imagining it to be pretty similar. Of course, there was tea, but just a decaf Earl Grey because it was late. And my scones with clotted cream we'd picked up somewhere and some (gasp, French) strawberry
jam were as good as I've had on this side of the Atlantic (well, they 
weren't traditional scones but who cares when you have good toppings!). Finally, I must admit to being a devotee of Branston's pickle over F&M's version, which was sweeter and too reminiscent of curry for my taste; Mama really liked it. But the cheese, pickle, and crackers were a nice break from the sweets. So, sure, an odd tea, an even odder dinner, but not an especially odd birthday present considering my love of the
flavor of rose and my love of tea things and of England. Thanks so much for a wonderful treat, Mama.
8:53 p.m. Stuffed, we moved to the living room to polish off those last cups of tea and catch up on a week or so's worth of conversation that we can't have in front of the kids (not stressful or negative, but philosophical, political, personal, gossipy--you know, stuff you need to think about to talk about, or stuff you never want them to ask about. Or repeat!).
10:17 p.m. Bath and now . . . . bedtime.
What a happy birthday!
So pleased that your day went well, no need to worry about the next birthday, after all, it is only a numner and if we counted in 12s you would now be 33, you can work out for yourself what it would be in binary, or cheat and go to the calculator. Good bangers and mash are superb but best when eaten out of doors on a frosty day in the gloaming around a good log fire with a warm bed not far away. Not forgetting the mulled wine.
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