A Very Merry Un-Birthday. . .

Those lyrics from Alice in Wonderland seem to do a good job of describing today's activities at Afton Station, because today we had a dysfunctional birthday party.  It was to celebrate the birthdays of four people -- Betty, Tattoo, Ron M., and Marly.   Well. . . Betty had to cancel at the last minute, Tattoo couldn't come because of a dental appointment, Ron M's birthday was way back in July when he was in the hospital, and only Marly had a birthday that was remotely close to today's date.  However, since I'd already bought the cupcakes, we went ahead and celebrated -- just Marly, Ron M., Robin, Phil, and me (oh, and David dropped in at the last minute, too).  The party was, not unlike all of our Afton Station parties, mainly an excuse to eat.  So we ordered a couple of pizzas and following those, we pigged out on ultra-sweet overly iced cupcakes.  Ahhh, it was lovely! (Betty and Tattoo:  We saved cupcakes for you.  They're in the fridge, so come and get 'em before they turn to concrete!).

There were only five visitors today, but all were from out of the country.  In the morning, three people from Japan came to visit.  Two were from Fukuoka, on the mainland, and the third who was traveling with them was from the island of Okinawa, a place where I lived for two years.  I would have enjoyed hearing about how the island has changed since I was there in the early '70s, but the gentleman spoke no English at all.

Later, this wonderful couple from New Plymouth, New Zealand came in.  They're enjoying their cruise down Route 66, and are very much anticipating the end of the trip when they will spend two days at Disneyland and CarsLand.  They are self-described "car people", and have quite a collection of American vehicles from the 50s and 60s, including their prize '57 Chevy.  

That wraps up our day.  It was fun, but it was also one more reminder that winter is afoot and soon we will be closing more often and seeing fewer and fewer visitors.