Poetry Monday :: Piece of Clothing

Mandagsdigtet er en blogleg, som Mimi fra Messymimi's Meanderings og jeg har overtaget - midlertidigt! - fra Diane, der slapper af og rejser verden rundt med sin mand. Vi håber hun er parat til at tage over igen, når hun kommer hjem.
     Stikordene kommer nu  fra 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts. Det er en Facebook-gruppe, der udgiver et stikord til hver dag i året, men bare rolig, stikordene vil stadig være at finde både her og på Mimis blog.

Dagens stikord er: Et stykke tøj

På engelsk har jeg skrevet en hyldest til det ældste stykke tøj jeg ejer. Jeg fik det forærende en kold og blæsende efterårsdag i 1979 - ja det er gammelt! - det virker endnu, slidt, bevares, og nogle af sømmene er blevet syet igen, men stoffet var helt indtil et ondt stykke ståltråd lavede en lille rift på en cm. sidste sommer. Jeg bruger det stadig i haven, og jeg tror nok det holder nok min tid ud.
     Deter ikke blevet til noget på dansk, beklager, men måske senere ...

- -  A  - -  B  - -  C  - -

Poetry Monday - what's that? It is a blogging game, that Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings and I have taken over the hosting duties, mostly the supplying of the prompts - only temporarily we hope - while Diane at On the Border is taking a break for health and relaxation, travelling the world with her husband as far as we can tell.  We just hope she's going to take back over once she returns home.

The prompts now come from 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts group. This is a Facebook group with a prompt for each day of the year, but no worries, the prompts will still be here and at Mimi's blog.

Today's prompt is: Piece of Clothing

I was inspired to write an ode to my oldest clothing item. It was given to me a cold and windy autumnal day in 1979 -- really, yes. It's that old -- and I've used it ever since. Some of the sewings have been redone, the fabric's worn, but no holes until a piece of wire caught it this last summer causing a small tear, approximately one cm. I still use it, mostly in the garden, but I suspect it'll outlast me given half a chance.

You are so old, but still you're fine
For many years you have been mine
you fit me still, though I have grown
you are the oldest piece I own

If you could talk, what could you say?
I'd listen to you all the day
You'd been with me to many lands
Seen mountains tall and shining sands.

Been splashed upon in waters cold
and sneaked through customs - you were bold.
You've helped me out, you've worn my load
and more than once you housed a toad.

You've hidden babies, held us warm
kept rain away, seen many storm.
Now you are worn more blue than black
My good old faithful anorak


- - - - - -  - Coming Themes  - - - - - - - -

taken from the 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts group.

Jan 19 Piece of clothing
Jan 26 That one time
Feb 2 Bamboo
Feb 9 Carousel
Feb 16 Plants with berriesb

Sunday Selection :: A year agoSøndagsbilleder :: for et år siden

A year ago I was in Copenhagen, and went shopping. I was surprised over how good a supermared could be, still, and even within the limits of the discount-chain

For et år siden var jeg til møde i København og gik på indkøb derefter. Og jeg blev positivt overrasket over hvor god en Coop butik kunne være.

Inside, some of the shelves -- Indenfor, nogle af hylderne

The entrance - Indgangen

Diinner next day - Aftensmad næste dag.

And in all these photos we find   ~   Og i alle biullederne er der

the colour of January   ~    januars farve

Words for Wednesday :: Birch Manor - In Italy again

🪄
Wednesday we were given these Words, supplied byWiseWebWoman and to be found at River's blog:
Garrote
Kisses
Neck
Philanthropist
Pragmatism
     and/or:
Balconies
Decadence
Entertainment
Genius
Public

     I said that I found them too grown-uppish for Unicorn Farm, and they are, but I still have dangling story lines from later on.
   What about a return to Italy and the mystery of the Lorenzoes?

The rather incoherent Chapters can be found on this blog:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Or in their entirety - and a bit corrected - on my dedicated Unicorn Farm/Birch Manor -blog

This piece is supposed to go between chapters 2 and 3.

On their way out from the library, Susan stopped in the front hall at the guest book. It too was old, and chained to the table in a mock up or the old books inside the library proper. Susan flipped through the pages, back to the very beginning of the book. It was old, maybe chained for a reason after all, of course it did not go all the way back to 1571, but the first posts in the book were over two centuries old.
One of the entries were strange, the names entwined and surrounded by a garrote. Susan could read only Medici, and called Knud over to aid her. He did no better, and a young assistant came running up to them. "This is a strange tale," he told them. "It's called the story of the stolen kisses, and in that tale one man loses his neck, and another his true love. It's a tale of true love, a disillusioned philanthropist and pragmatism leading to the ruin of them all."
In his fervour to speak to them and tell his tale, he toppled the inkwell and green ink cascaded down over Susan's backpack and the floor, luckily missing the old book totally.
He pulled out a handkerchief, and excusing profusely, and tried in vain to mop up the ink, only spreading it even more, and rubbing it into Susan's backpack. Knud curtly told him off and he and Susan hurried towards their lodgings in an old, decrepit palazzo nearby.
They hurried, taking a shortcut where the low hanging balconies were a danger for  the tall Knud, and where the traces of decadence from past centuries normally were of great entertainment for them. Not so tonight.
"Genius," Susan spat out, "telling stories that sounds like something from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's pen and ruining my bag. Are they really mad all of the people at that library?"
"It's strange," Knud agreed, "it's public knowledge that the Medicis were a wicked bunch back in the days, so why all this cloak and dagger mysteries?"

Dragedag :: Appreciate a Dragon-day

I dag er det dragedag      ~    Today is Apprciate a Dragon day.
Vis en drage frem? Ja tak!  ~  Would I ever miss the opportunity to show a dragon?

Den her drage er en måned for tidligt på den ~   This here dragon is a month early
det er først kinesisk nyår om en måned.   ~  Chinese new Year is in a month.

Words for Wednesday ~ Only the Words Onsdagsord ~ Kun ordene!

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over as a moveable feast with many participants supplying the Words.
    When Delores closed her blog forever due to other problems, Elephant's Child (Sue) took over the role of coordinator.
    Now, after Sue's demise it is still to be discerned who will take over this role, River is doing it for the rest of 2025, but maybe Lissa will eventually be our new coordinator.

No matter what, how, where or who the aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to our mind.

This month the words are again supplied byWiseWebWoman and can be found at River's blog.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please leave a comment on River's blog, then we can come along and read it and add a few encouraging words.

 It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.

So Please, remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement.

We were given these words:
Garrote
Kisses
Neck
Philanthropist
Pragmatism
    and/or:
Balconies
Decadence
Entertainment
Genius
Public

I repeat what I said last Wednesday; I think I won't use any of them today because they seem far too "adult" for Unicorn Farm writing, and that's what I'm in the mood for. Writing stuff might happen - and get posted - later.

- -  A  - -  B  - -  C  - -

     Bloglegen Words for Wednesday blev startet af Delores og udviklede sig til  en flytbar fest med mange deltagere, der leverede ordene. Da Delores lukkede sin blog for altid på grund af diverse problemer, overtog Elephant's Child (Sue) rollen som koordinator.
    Nu, efter Sues bortgang, er det stadig uklart, hvem der vil overtage denne rolle. River gør det i resten af 2025, men måske bliver Lissa vores nye koordinator.
     Uanset hvad, hvordan, hvor eller hvem, er målet med ordene at opmuntre os til at skrive. En historie, et digt, hvad end der kommer os i tankerne.

Denne måneds ord bliver leveret af  Sean Jeating og kan findes på Rivers blog.

Hvis du poster et indlæg på din egen blog, så skriv en kommentar på Rivers blog, så vi kan komme forbi og læse det og tilføje et par opmuntrende ord.
      Det er også en udfordring, hvor det gamle ordsprog "Jo flere, jo bedre" holder stik.

Så husk at følge linkene, gå tilbage og læse andres historier. Og skriv gerne en kommentar, når du har læst dem. Udfordringer som denne trives med interaktion, feedback og opmuntring. Og vi har ALLE brug for opmuntring.

Vi fik disse ord:
Garrote - Garrote (et mordredskab)
Kisses - Kys
Neck - Nakke (eller kæle)
Philanthropist - Filantrop
Pragmatism - Pragmatisme
    and/or:
Balconies - Balkoner
Decadence - Dekadent adfærd / udsvævende livsførelse / moralsk forfald
Entertainment - Underholdning (gerne letbenet)
Genius - Geni
Public - Offentlig

Og de ord er alt for voksne, moderne, et eller andet til at jeg rigtig kan stille noget op med dem ... jeg ved ikke hvordan, jeg skulle bruge dem til mine historier om Enhjørningegården.

Poetry Monday :: Glacier & Half an hour more!Mandagsdigt og en halv time længere

Poetry Monday - what's that? It is a blogging game, that Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings and I have taken over the hosting duties, mostly the supplying of the prompts - only temporarily we hope - while Diane at On the Border is taking a break for health and relaxation, travelling the world with her husband as far as we can tell.  We just hope she's going to take back over once she returns home.

The prompts now come from 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts group. This is a Facebook group with a prompt for each day of the year, but no worries, the prompts will still be here and at Mimi's blog.

Today's prompt is: Glacier

A glacier is a big, cold thing,
I feel like living inside one,
But longer days new seasons bring
Enjoy the snow, soon it is gone.


This past night we had minus 11 degrees, very cold!
Tonight we'll have snow, then rain as the temperature rises to above zero once again.

Today the day is already half an hour longer.
The process is speeding up too, yesterday was 2 minutes shorter, tomorrow will be 3 minutes longer, but probably feel shorter because of return to normal January weather, rain low clouds, murky. I'm not a fan. I loved my glacier days.

- -  A  - -  B  - -  C  - -

Mandagsdigtet er en blogleg, som Mimi fra Messymimi's Meanderings og jeg har overtaget - midlertidigt! - fra Diane, der slapper af og rejser verden rundt med sin mand. Vi håber hun er parat til at tage over igen, når hun kommer hjem.
     Stikordene kommer nu  fra 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts. Det er en Facebook-gruppe, der udgiver et stikord til hver dag i året, men bare rolig, stikordene vil stadig være at finde både her og på Mimis blog.

Dagens stikord er: Gletsjer

En gletsjer den er stor og kold
Jeg tror der står en lige her,
for huset er i kuldens vold
Men det er smukt, og se, det sner!

I morgen vender vejret, se
og regnen er tilbage
Men i mit hjerte glitrer sne
til trøst på triste dage.

Natten til i dag frøs det 11 grader, det var koldt, men klart og flot!
I nat bliver det først sne, så regn, og temperaturen stiger op over frysepunktet,

Dagen i dag er en hel, halv time længere, og nu går det hurtigt, den er to minutter længere end i går, og i morgen vil være tre minutter længere. I morgen vil nok ikke føles længere, fordi den normale januar-tristesse med vådt, klamt og lave skyer vender tilbage.

Old, worn and cobwebby, but it still works. When it's cold, it inside temperature affects it, making it show two degrees over the actual one. It always did.
If we subtract, minus eleven is what we get.

-- 🌡 --

Gammelt, slidt og fuld af spindelvæv, men det virker.
Når det er koldt, påvirker indendørstemperaturen det, så det viser to grader varmere, end den reelle temperatur. Det har det altid gjort, så vi trækker lige fra. Så viser det minus elleve grader.





- - - - - -  - Coming Themes  - - - - - - - -

taken from the 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts group.

Jan 19 Piece of clothing
Jan 26 That one time
Feb 2 Bamboo
Feb 9 Carousel
Feb 16 Plants with berries

Sunday Selection :: 7. januar :: Søndagsbilleder

How I spent part of Wednesday :: Hvad jeg brugte noget af min onsdag på

 

Sneglæde ~ Snow Happiness

Today, the day is 21 minutes longer than at the winter solstice. And it is totally unevenly distributed. Most of the 21 minutes – almost all of them, in fact – are in the evening...  It seems that even though the days are getting longer from the winter solstice, the mornings will be later for a while longer...

No matter what. We have more light, and we have SNOW!
Just look at this weather forecast:

❄ ❅ ❆  ⛄  ❆ ❅ ❄

I dag er dagen 21 minutter længere end ved vintersolhverv. Og det er totalt ulige fordelt. De fleste af de 21 minutter - næsten alt sammen faktisk - er om aftenen ...  der er vist noget med at selvom dagene bliver længere fra vintersolhverv, så bliver morgenerne senere et stykke tid mere ...

Ligemeget. Det er lysere, og det er  SNEVEJR!
Se lige den vejrmelding:

Frost så langt den rækker. Så skønt. Hvad man ikke lige kan se, er at der faktisk er sne i progneoserne for i dag. Det kan man se her:

❄ ❅ ❆  ⛄  ❆ ❅ ❄

Frost as far as the eye can see. How lovely. What you can't see is that there is actually snow in the forecast for today. You can see it here:

Det drømmende monsters to lukkede øjne er mulighed for sne. Jeg håber ...

❄ ❅ ❆  ⛄  ❆ ❅ ❄

The two closed eyes of the dreaming monster are a possibility of snow. I dare hope ...

Alle vejrgrafer/All forecasts: YR.NO

Words for Wednesday :: New Header & IWSG

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over as a moveable feast with many participants supplying the Words.
    When Delores closed her blog forever due to other problems, Elephant's Child (Sue) took over the role of coordinator.
    Now, after Sue's demise it is still to be discerned who will take over this role, River is doing it for the rest of 2025, but maybe Lissa will eventually be our new coordinator.

No matter what, how, where or who the aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to our mind.

This month the words are again supplied byWiseWebWoman and can be found at River's blog.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please leave a comment on River's blog, then we can come along and read it and add a few encouraging words.

 It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.

So Please, remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement.

We were given these words:

become
emigrate 
every
reliable
soonish
    and/or:
disunited
joining
million
referendum 
vote

I think I won't use any of them today for two reasons.

One: They seem far too "adult" for Unicorn Farm writing, and that's what I'm in the mood for today. Writing stuff might happen - and get posted - later.

Two: Lissa asked me if the elements in the new header meant something special. The answer is Yes - Explanation forthcoming, warning: might be boring, may contain poetry, old bits and pieces, and hints of things to come.

The Owl is obvious, It sits on a twig of some greenery, herbs I suppose, reminding me to pick and dry herbs and flowers for my different projects.

2026 in the Colour of the Month to remind me of said challenge and Sunday Selections.

The big, green I is an Inchworm. It reminds me in a very roundabout way of writing Unicorn Farm tales:
Inchworm, inchworm,
Measuring our magic wands
Come and tell me
Just how big they are.

From the A-Z Challenge, letter I 2022.

Sunflower seed oil, it's a soaping ingredient, saying simply: Soap more.

A frog, remember to do something for the wild life in the garden - right now: Feed the birds.

Sushi is a hint with more meanings: Study Japanese, make strange food items, sew something: The chopsticks reminding me of Hashi-bukurou - homemade chopstick bags. The puzzle piece below telling me to solve Rubik's cube, play with pentominoes, try my hand at Lingule, Wørdle or some such challenge.
Tuesday's Lingule was very easy for me:
Lingule #1360
"oświetlać": 1/6
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🏆

A mushroom, is also a multi-purpose hint. Take a walk in the woods, draw something, create something.

Most of these links take us far back in time, to a time when I created more, played more, and was a happier person. I'd like to revive my creativity and happiness from back then, and that is maybe the not so hidden meaning behind the header: Make more of what makes me happy!

- - A - - B - - C - - 

January 7 question - Is there anything in your writing plans for 2026 that you are going to do that you couldn't get done in 2025?

My answer - This is a very good question, but I can't answer it. I do not plan my writing. It just happens. I hope to write more in 2026 than I did in 2025, but I have no plans.

Poetry Monday :: Favourite Animal

Poetry Monday - what's that? It is a blogging game, that Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings and I have taken over the hosting duties, mostly the supplying of the prompts - only temporarily we hope - while Diane at On the Border is taking a break for health and relaxation, travelling the world with her husband as far as we can tell.  We just hope she's going to take back over once she returns home.

The prompts now come from 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts group. This is a Facebook group with a prompt for each day of the year, but no worries, the prompts will still be here and at Mimi's blog.

Today's prompt is Favourite Animal.

My favourite animal is no secret. Owls of course. Here's a ramling poem on owls.

I am fond of owls,
An angry owl that scowls
And  gentle owls in cowls,
A crabby owl that howls
A sneaky owl that prowls
I'm fond of every owl,
as long as they're not foul.

- -  A  - -  B  - -  C  - -

Hvad er Mandagsdigtet? Det er en blogleg, som Mimi fra Messymimi's Meanderings og jeg har overtaget - midlertidigt! - fra Diane, der slapper af og rejser verden rundt med sin mand. Vi håber hun er parat til at tage over igen, når hun kommer hjem.
     Stikordene kommer nu  fra 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts. Det er en Facebook-gruppe, der udgiver et stikord til hver dag i året, men bare rolig, stikordene vil stadig være at finde både her og på Mimis blog.

Dagens stikord er: Yndlingsdyr.

Det kommer næppe son en overraskelse for nogen, at mit yndlingsdyr er ugler.
Her er et ikke spor fantastisk vrøvledigt i dagens anledning med yndlingsdyr og sne.

Ugler der skuler
til ugler i huler,
er ikke spor rart.
Men se,
vi har sne.
Så sker det snart,
at uglerne smiler
til månen og iler
ud for at se
og lege med sne.

- - - - - -  - Coming Themes  - - - - - - - -

taken from the 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts group.

Jan 12 Glacier
Jan 19 Piece of clothing
Jan 26 That one time
Feb 2 Bamboo
Feb 9 Carousel

Sunday Selection ~ Søndagsbilleder :: Colour26

The colour of January is      ~      Januars farve er

Now, finally, we have snow. We went for a walk, and lo and behold the roadsigns are perfct for January.

 -- 🎉   --

Endelig har vi fået sne, så vi gik en tur og nød det - og se, vejskiltene har lige den rigtige farve.

JAnuary, new start, new (or old) habits. Once again I pick up draving. For January I add something red, and a Japanese Kanji (letter) every day. Only my stock of red coloured pencils is somewhat lacking, one of these is even pink.

 -- 📌   --

Januar er en ny start, og en chance til at få nye vaner eller genoptage gamle. Jeg har sat mig for at tegne igen. I januar tilføjer jeg så noget rødt og et japansk skrifttegn (kanji) hver dag. Desværre lader min beholdning af gode, røde farveblyanter noget tilbage at ønske, den ene er lyserød, altså.

And a last, red thing from the past weeks. We've seen the one to the right before, but the one to the left is a new one. Sorry for the fuzzy look, I fumbled with my new camera and made an ultra-short movie, from which this is a screenshot.
   But now I can prove that both Mr. and Mrs. Woodpecker are visiting our garden. The only difference is the red spot on the neck of Mr.

--   🐦  --

Og en sidste, rød ting fra de seneste dage. Den til højre har vi set før, men den til venstre er en ny. Jeg undskylder den dårlige kvalitet, men jeg kom til at kludre med min nye kamera og tog en mini-film i stedet for et billede, så dette er et stillbillede fra filmen.
     Nu kan jeg så bevise at både hr. og fru spætte aflægger besøg i vores fuglekugler. Den eneste forskel er at hr. spætte har en rød plet i nakken.

Fødselsdage ~ Birthdays

På min blog fejrer jeg normalt fødselsdage for kendte mennesker, forfattere og den slags, som har betydet noget for mig.
    Derfor er det med triste miner at jeg opdagede at i går, 3. januar, var J.R.R. Tolkiens fødselsdag. 134 år er immervæk noget at fejre.
    Af den grund, og fordi det aldrig er lykkedes for mig at finde et digt af Tolkien, der fortæller om frost og sne, legede jeg med underlige tegnsæt i tekstbehandling, og fandt ud af at Open Office faktisk kan skrive Fëanors runer.

-- ❅ --

On my blog I normally celebrate birthdays by thoe meaning something to me. Therefor it saddened me to see that I forgot J.R.R: Tolkien's 134th birthday yesterday.

As I was unable to find any poem by him celebrating either snow or frost - if you know of one, do tell! - I played around with strange lettering, and discovered that Open Office is up to the challenge of writing using the Tengwar of Fëanor.

Det læses: nostarë manaitë og betyder efter mine ringe evner udi Quenya, det gamle elversprog fra Silmarilion, velsignet fødselsdag.

-- ❅ --

To be read nostarë manaitë and hopefully meaning, as I think it does,  Blessed birthday.

-- 🎂 -- 

I dag er det så Louis Brailles 217. fødselsdag.  -- --   Today is the 217th birthday of Louis Braille. 
⠞ ⠊ ⠇ ⠇ ⠽ ⠅ ⠑    ⠏ ⠡   ⠋ ⠪ ⠙ ⠎ ⠑ ⠎ ⠙ ⠁ ⠛ ⠑ ⠝

Der står Tillykke på fødselsdagen is what it says, meaning Happy Birthday

10 minutter mere ~ 10 Minutes More

I dag er dagen tiltaget med hele ti minutter, det er fuldmåne i aften, det er frostvejr og det sner!
Grund til at fejre.

Vejr fra / Weather from: yr.no

Today the day is longer by ten whole minutes, and we have a full moon tonight.
and it's frost and snow ... reasons to celebrate.

Words for Wednesday ~ December 31

A year late - or just a day. Today it amounts to the same. We had (still have) guests and grown kids visiting, but now in a quiet hour I suddenly felt like giving the Words a try.

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over as a moveable feast with many participants supplying the Words.
    When Delores closed her blog forever due to other problems, Elephant's Child (Sue) took over the role of coordinator.
    Now, after Sue's demise it is still to be discerned who will take over this role, River is doing it for the rest of 2025, but maybe Lissa will eventually be our new coordinator.

No matter what, how, where or who the aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to our mind.

This month the words are supplied byWiseWebWoman and can be found at River's blog.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please leave a comment on River's blog, then we can come along and read it and add a few encouraging words.

 It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.

So Please, remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement.

We were given these words:
Larch  
Trifle  
Multiple  
Poteen (Irish Moonshine I Think)
                      And/Or:
Surprise  
Quiche  
Flag  
Crossword

Poteen ... I just could not fit this one in. This chapter ends - maybe - the story of the hoopoe bird, it stems from the second year at the Farm, summer holidays, where the Farm had grown enough in magic to accommodate those of the apprentices not living near by. Susan of course stayed with Heidi and her family, who by then was more family than friends.

Susan kept on watching the nest of the Oop-bird, which she by now knew was called a hoopoe, but she did not always see it. Occasionally she saw a woodpecker in the larch tree nearby, occasionally a blackbirds or some sparrows. She had never before noticed for how many birds the woods and grasslands around Unicorn Farm were home, but it was way more than she could have guessed. She did not always know the official names of the birds she met, but she did not let such trifle stand in her way and simply invented names for the ones she did not know.

The hoopoe had had ten eggs in the nest, and one sunny day, Susan saw lots of dirty blue eggshell shards near the foot of the tree. The stench left not a trace of doubt. The hoopoe's eggs had hatched. She pulled her wand and soared upwards, and was greeted by the sight of multiple small but very long beaks peeping out from underneath mama hoopoe. This looked very funny, but Susan did not laugh until he was well away from the nest.
  The stench was overpowering now at close quarters, and she hoped that the small hoopoes would be left alone by any bird-eaters in the vicinity.

Back at the Farm she was met with a surprise birthday party, they had asked the Nisser to bake her favourite quiche with chicken and mushrooms, a flag stood at her place at the table, and she was given small gifts, a birding book and a crossword magazine and some candy. Susan went to bed perfectly happy.