In this summer of big events, my dad has quietly notched up another year around the sun. Our granddaughter Beks, who is going into 4th grade and loves math, said, “If he was 100 he’d be born in 1922 so we just have to add six because 100 take away 94 is six so he must have been born in 1928.”

Nicely done.

It’s hard, of course, to make the celebration exactly what you want when it’s not at home, but the folk at dad’s assisted living were kind and helpful and we had the dining room to ourselves for a birthday lunch.

Dad chose Shepherd’s Pie. So I did my version which is really Cottage Pie because I make it an easy to handle casserole, and I include the mixed vegetables between the meat and the potatoes. As it’s “Foodie Thursday” today I’ll include the recipe (below).

The children were all wonderful so we managed to have me, Rebekah, Andrew, Alicia, Mr. T. David, and Beks all around the table for lunch followed by some amazing cupcakes, and then everyone reading their cards out loud to dad. We may have had a few tears.

My mum of course said, “You know what I want to give dad for his birthday, I want to bring him home.” But we all understand how hard this is for her, and the celebration came off as well as possible if not better.

So this is the status quo: Dad is being very well taken care of by the good folk at Avendelle; mum is managing very well in their home next door to us, and she gets to see him every day; I am managing their challenges on a day-to-day basis.

Meanwhile, dad has sailed into his 95th year, and we are blessed as a family – DEREK

RECIPE: Sauté a couple of medium onions, then brown a pound and a half of ground beef (adding mushrooms can be good too). Make a cup and a half of brown gravy and add to the meat. Salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer. Put meat mixture in bottom of casserole. Add layer of mixed veggies. Add layer of mashed potatoes. Sprinkle mixture of breadcrumbs and parmesan on top of the potatoes. Bake 30 mins at 350. Then broil for a couple of minutes to brown.