Lockdownish week 15 - this happened yesterday

As Littlest Granddaughter would say, it my birfday yesterday. Thanks for kind wishes. I've now attained three score years and ten, which I have to say sounds rather older than I feel myself to be. However, as always, in years to come (let's hope) it'll sound to me relatively young and spry, so I shall try to appreciate this age before I get even older.

It wasn't quite as it might have been. Mr L's Australian cousins were due to be here and we were going to have a mass cousin reunion, with all our offspring and quite a large collection of theirs. They'd chosen the date for the get-together. I hadn't told them that it was my birfday; but we'd have had a cake and it would have been a wonderful day. But of course, they're still in Australia.

However, by happy chance, THE BOTANICS, which I've not been able to visit since March, reopened on Thursday. Hurray! You have to book, and numbers are limited, but we got six tickets and the Edinburgh family came for a lovely walk with us there.

Biggest Granddaughter (7) made me this card. It features me and, apparently, some wolves.

Big Grandson (nearly 9) made this one. He explained that it shows him in the foreground, thinking about Brio and the particular Brio item he hopes we're giving him for his birthday, but this is deliberately scored out to show that though he would like it to be his birthday, it's actually mine. I, in the background, get books and am surrounded by rainbows. I love the guilelessness of children.

He's not wrong about the books. I also got flowers and Prosecco (as yet unconsumed), but as well as that, Daughter 2 had contacted 22 of my friends and relations and persuaded them to send a short video clip of themselves wishing me a happy birthday. Son-in-Law 2 then edited them together into an 8+ minute film. This was so lovely! 

 Daughter 1 had made cakes - mmm - which we ate (not them all...) at her house before the Botanics visit.

Big Grandson is very into maps. This display is new since his last visit so he studied it with great interest. Big Granddaughter listened obligingly to what he said. He's also into water and waterfalls, so we visited the many small waterfalls in the gardens and then went round by this tree.

When he was tiny he decided that it was his house, and called it Number 17 Tree, because at that point he lived at number 17. Then they moved to number 21, so the tree got renumbered. 

The tree looks much the same but they've grown!

All in all it was a lovely day, though we missed the rest of the family. Soon, I do hope, we'll all manage to get together again. But I don't think it'll be very soon.