Sunday night was the birthday party.  

This shot captured Hilda, her three daughters and SILs, 

one grandson, and one great-granddaughter.

There were ten candles on the cake.  

Neil turned 64 that day (6+4=10), 

it was Terry & Neil's 37th anniversary (3+7=10), 

and Karen will be turning 73 on Wednesday (7+3=10)

The hummingbird cake was delicious (it had some very interesting ingredients in it) 

and the frosting had a lot of sugar.  

Despite its name, Hummingbird cake is not made from or for hummingbirds. It is a moist, flavorful cake made from a relatively simple recipe. Many speculate that the cake's name is due to its sweetness, but the origin of the cake remains a mystery.

I "supervised" while it was being made, and did get to lick the beaters and the bowl.  I  didn't sleep well that night, and it's possible that it was because I had too much sugar?

Monday morning we had a hawk (juvenile goshawk?) set up camp

in the tall scrub oak adjacent to the hummingbird feeders.  

It was obviously hoping to snag a snack because that tree is always filled with hummers, awaiting their turn at the feeders.  The hummers like to perch on a bare branch to give them a good view, and at one point there were three little ones on that branch. Unfortunately with the delay on my camera's shutter I missed that shot as I kept snapping away.

The hummers, of course, were quite aware of the hawk's presence.

Here's a Stare-Down!

That morning there were lots of fawns out and about.  One hung out for quite a while at party pool, at one point grazing quite near the water while Mom rested in the shade.  That would have made a great pic, except I was pretty sure that if I got out of the water the fawn would get spooked.

Later, one fawn went boing-ing across trail in front of me on my walk home -

though its twin was somewhat shyer and waited for me to leave before crossing.  

Later another fawn was crying its distinctive call for Mama right outside the kitchen window.  

Here's what that sounds like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTf0hwapnuE

Tired from not sleeping well the night before, I spent a lazy afternoon watching some mindless movies on Netflix.  Finished up Like Father (NO surprises in that one), and then watched Rumor Has It, Rob Reiner's 2005 romantic comedy about a journalist who suspects that her family inspired The Graduate.  That one, from 2005, had quite the stellar cast (Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Ruffalo, Richard Jenkins) and though I'd never heard of the movie I did find it enjoyable.

I did manage a (rare) 20-minute nap late in the afternoon, but was still tired and so opted to stay home with Neil and skip the farewell dinner for Karen & Mark down at Elinor & Richard's.  There were intense winds here (one gust blew the kitchen door open) but, as usual, no rain.  Down there (only 4 miles as the crow flies) they got 15 minutes of substantial rain.  

And that's not the first time this summer that's happened.  

The sky most afternoons has been "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing!"

Karen & Mark left this morning - sans her penguin nightshirt.  I did offer to let it waddle back into her suitcase, but she insisted she was done with it, and was happy to be sending it off to a new penguin-friendly home.