I improved the mantle shelf this morning by adding my birthday cards. (I replaced the teddy bear and elephant after taking the photo). Besides these I had an electronic card and several greetings via Facebook so am feeling blessed.

The day was spent traveling to our first holiday destination, an aparthotel in Newcastle-under-Lyme. The collage in the extra shows highlights of the journey, top left: Shap Summit, top right: a ?pyramid orchid by the Tebay car park, bottom left: our old friend Pennine Tower at Forton Services, bottom right: strawberries and cherries for tea, actually bought for Monday and forgotten until packing for the holiday!

As birthdays go, quite a fun one after all!