John woke us up at 7:30, as requested, then left with his quiche to go have breakfast with Jeff and Grandma at the nursing home. I showered, dressed and went downstairs to make the frosting and frost the birthday cake. I was too lazy to trim the cake layers, which had gotten a bit lumpy on the flight from Houston, so the cake was slightly lopsided. But it looked okay. Next year I'll trim the layers, though.
With that accomplished, Dan and I went for breakfast at Paul's, our usual breakfast place in Cheshire. Then we went to the store to see if we could find a cake carrier, because there was no way that the cake would make it all the way to Meriden without some kind of cover. I looked all over the store and found no cake carriers, but I did find some tin trays and some big plastic salad bowls. One of each made for an approximation of a cake carrier, so the problem was solved.
We got to the nursing home around 11:30 only to find Grandma wasn't interested in having any cake. She let us take her picture with it, though. And she insisted we have lunch with her. We weren't hungry, having only eaten breakfast a short time before, but it was her birthday, and one doesn't refuse the simple requests of a 97 year old woman on her birthday. She still wasn't ready for cake after lunch, having been given an ice cream sundae for dessert, so we agreed to come back at 6 and have a little party with her, John and Jeff.
We went home, changed into hiking gear and headed out to Sleeping Giant State Park. One of the things we had wanted to do last year was try the difficult blue trail, but we were pressed for time. So we set our watches for an hour and ten minutes and headed out. The trail was insanely difficult in some stretches, requiring balancing and rock climbing skills. I later learned that people training to climb mountains in Nepal use Sleeping Giant for training. When our watch alarms went off after an hour and ten minutes, we turned around and headed back. We got home in plenty of time to shower, change and get to the nursing home at 6. John and Jeff were there and we had a little birthday party for Grandma in a room they called the "fish room" because of the giant aquarium along one wall. Much to our surprise, the cake was already missing a piece. When we questioned Grandma about it, she just smiled. Apparently she had decided to have a little afternoon snack!
After the party, Grandma was tired so we went for a simple dinner at a Chinese restaurant, then went home. Dan and I did what little laundry we had already dirtied and visited with John until Susan came home at 9:30. Then I talked to her in the kitchen while the laundry finished, and then went to bed.
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