Yes­ter­day was my birth­day, and I spent it doing things I love, which is what you should do on your birth­day. There’s some­thing won­der­ful and almost deca­dent about going to the movies in the morn­ing, so I went to a 10:30 show of “Duplic­ity,” which I thought was fan­tas­tic. Such a smart, well-crafted script.

After the movie, I tooled up to my favorite gar­den cen­ter and bought hang­ing bas­kets and other plants to fes­toon the front porch. Restraint where plants are con­cerned is never easy, but I man­aged not to go hog wild. I did lust in my heart after too many of the gor­geous things there, though.

Next, lunch at First Chi­nese Bar­be­cue, where I had an order of their scrump­tious spicy fried squid. It’s hard to beat green onions, jalapeños, gin­ger, and salt. Yum-my! I swear, I could eat it every day.

No birth­day is com­plete with­out a visit to the book­store. Or an after­noon nap. In the evening, my beloved hus­band fixed supper—ribeyes on our new grill he’d assem­bled, baked pota­toes, wedge salad with lots of gor­gonzola, and a nice Mal­bec to go along with it. For dessert, lemon cup­cakes and good old Blue Bell Home­made Vanilla with Strawberries.

The chil­dren made birth­day cards, one of which depicted me giv­ing a book sign­ing and another show­ing me win­ning an Oscar for best screen­play. It’s nice to know I have a cou­ple of fans already.

Not a glam­orous birth­day cel­e­bra­tion perhaps—and I have had a few of those—but it made me happy.