Éstas son las mañanitas These are the morning verses
Que cantaba el Rey David, That King David used to sing,
A las muchachas bonitas To the beautiful young ladies,
Se las cantaba así. He would sing them like this.
(The Mexican birthday song, sometimes sung as a dawn serenade).
Youtube Mariachi version here. Piano music and eleventy-zillion more verses here.
My forty-third birthday next Wednesday will inaugurate the "Birthday Madness" season in the Grimes-Honkanen household. The next day Katie will turn five and just over two weeks later, on Feb. 3, Nicholas will be eleven. In the middle, on January 30, we celebrate the gift of Grandma Di; Nicholas and I were both due on my Mom's birthday but I was uncharacteristically early and he was little late. We will be doing a trip to Disneyland to celebrate them all in a couple weeks; in the meantime I offer this birthday-inspired Friday Five.
1. When is your birthday? Does anyone else (famous and/or in your own life) share it?
July 24th. Famous: Amelia Earhart and Simon Bolivar come to mind. In my life: the only one I know of is my cousin Perry.
2. Do you prefer a big party or an intimate celebration for the chosen few?
I usually have the latter, and that's fine as I am an introvert by nature, but the times I have had a big party have been lots of fun. And I have a major birthday coming up this year!
3. Describe your most memorable birthday(s)--good, bad, or both.
My most memorable birthday, I think, was in 1997, when Onkel Hankie Pants, The Traveller, Sisterknits and I had rented a cottage in Phippsburg and invited all the Maine relatives for a big birthday bash. The requested gift was that the guests bring an old family photograph. I received many photos that I treasure to this day, and it was also fun to entertain everyone who had been entertaining us on our visits over the years. This photo shows me and Brother #1 -- I'm not sure if it was anyone's birthday but we are sure pleased with our cowboy hats!
4. What is your favorite cake and ice cream? (Bonus points if you share the cake recipe). Or would you rather have a different treat altogether?
At the moment, it would be nice to have German chocolate cake with coconut-pecan icing. And butter pecan or coffee ice cream. However, any cake or other dessert that someone makes for me would be just fine! And I really like custard pie.
5. Surprise parties: love 'em or hate 'em?
I've only had one that I can recall, and it was a post-birth baby shower so it wasn't so great -- unmet expectations on the hostess's part (that I would bring the baby) and they were people from OHP's work that I didn't know well, anyway. It wasn't awful, but I guess I'd say no surprise parties (but surprise *guests* would be great!)
Bonus: Describe your ideal birthday--the sky's the limit.
It would last a week; my oldest friends would be there for some of it, at least; ditto my children and spouse and siblings and other relatives; and also some of my newer friends (for the most part people I've known for less than 30 years -- I'm slow). No special expectations for activities, just time to hang out together. Actually maybe it should last at least 3 weeks to involve all those people and still leave time for close conversations.
3 comments:
Great picture!
oh boy - I vote for the birthday lasting a week - I actually thought about writing that also!
You and my sister-in-law share a birthday. She was born 362 days after her big brother, who is my husband.
Glad you played.
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