Thursday, August 17, 2006

Happy Birthday Jessica!

My beautiful wife turns a year older today.

Feel free to share your thoughts on or for the birthday girl in comments.
And, of course, ten points for the location of each photo.

13 comments:

One of Freedom said...

All the photos are from down under, right :-).

Happy Birthday Jessica!

From the other side of the globe,
Frank

byron smith said...

Frank - thanks! Though a hint: only one of the photos was taken down under. The rest are from the old world.

John P. said...

Happy birthday to your lovely wife...mine was on the fifteenth so it is clear that only wonderful people were born in mid august.

Andrew said...

Many happy returns to the wonderful Jess!

(I have no idea where any of the photos were taken - although the second last one strikes me as a little Vatican museum-ish ...)

Mister Tim said...

I'm not going to aim at identifying the photos, nor will I aim to share thoughts on the birthday girl in question, as the English language does not contain the words to compliment her adequately.

byron smith said...

Andrew - ten points!

Mr Tim - you could try Russian? :-)

Dave Barrie said...

Happy Birthday Jess!

I have really enjoyed getting to know you over the last 3 1/2 years of college.

I appreciate how keenly you listen - as evidenced by encouraging way your head goes up and down whilst you are doing it : )

I am also challenged by the way you care about the marginalised and are concerned to do something about the injustice you see in the world.

I love watching you and Byron minister together – you are both on the same wavelength and united in purpose without in anyway losing your own identities.

Favourite Jess quote:
“He’s so opinionated!” (said in a mischievous tone)

10 points for guessing who she was speaking about.

Emma said...

For Jess from A.A. Milne's "When We Were Very Young":

The King's Breakfast

The King asked
The Queen, and
The Queen asked
The Dairymaid:
"Could we have some butter for
The Royal slice of bread?"
The Queen asked the Dairymaid,
The Dairymaid
Said, "Certainly,
I'll go and tell the cow
Now
Before she goes to bed."

The Dairymaid
She curtsied,
And went and told
The Alderney:
"Don't forget the butter for
The Royal slice of bread."
The Alderney
Said sleepily:
"You'd better tell
His Majesty
That many people nowadays
Like marmalade
Instead."

The Dairymaid
Said, "Fancy!"
And went to
Her Majesty.
She curtsied to the Queen, and
She turned a little red:
"Excuse me,
Your Majesty,
For taking of
The liberty,
But marmalade is tasty, if
It's very
Thickly
Spread."

The Queen said
"Oh!:
And went to
His Majesty:
"Talking of the butter for
The royal slice of bread,
Many people
Think that
Marmalade
Is nicer.
Would you like to try a little
Marmalade
Instead?"

The King said,
"Bother!"
And then he said,
"Oh, deary me!"
The King sobbed, "Oh, deary me!"
And went back to bed.
"Nobody,"
He whimpered,
"Could call me
A fussy man;
I only want
A little bit
Of butter for
My bread!"

The Queen said,
"There, there!"
And went to
The Dairymaid.
The Dairymaid
Said, "There, there!"
And went to the shed.
The cow said,
"There, there!
I didn't really
Mean it;
Here's milk for his porringer,
And butter for his bread."

The Queen took
The butter
And brought it to
His Majesty;
The King said,
"Butter, eh?"
And bounced out of bed.
"Nobody," he said,
As he kissed her
Tenderly,
"Nobody," he said,
As he slid down the banisters,
"Nobody,
My darling,
Could call me
A fussy man -
BUT
I do like a little bit of butter to my bread!"

Not sure of that is particularly relevant to your life these days, Jess, but that was one of my favourites as a kiddie and I thought you might like it on (or near) your birthday! I was happy to see you both today across a crowded room, sorry I didn't actually get to chat to you!

Love Em

Mister Tim said...

Jessica чудесно

Funnily enough, I've never learnt Russian. It's on my (long-term) to-do list though.

Unknown said...

Happy birthday Jess!

It's great seeing your happy smiling face around at church :-)

Anonymous said...

Thank you all for your lovely comments. I had a very nice birthday - a slow morning, Byron took me out to lunch and we had a little gathering of family and friends in the evening.

Thanks all round:
to Frank and John - always nice to receive kindness from brothers I haven't yet met.
to Andrew - rippa photo.
to Mr Tim - it's so sad not to see you around these days, thanks for your love and friendship.
to Dave - thanks again for all your love and encouragement of us.
to Emma - great poem! It was one of my Mum's car ride poems when we kids were going crazy. I love the "I'm not a fussy man" line. Great "present".
to Jo - :-)

and since I'm always out to win points... despite having more than an unfair advantage ...let me take some guesses:
so Byron: our balcony, Rome - a shop called "expensive" near the spanish steps, the Appian Way outside Rome, Vatican museum (as Andrew guessed), the Palace of Versaille gardens - it was a very long walk!
and Dave: that would be about Byron... as evidenced by this blog!

Thanks everyone!
Love Jess

Rachel said...

I'm a bit late but Happy Birthday Jessica!

I love that first photo of you Jess! Did you take it Byron? Well done!

I know that your not a huge blogging fan Jess but one day could we have a guest posting or guest picture from you?

byron smith said...

Rachel: I've been trying to coax Jess into a guest post or two for a while - we all live in hope... :-)

Jess: forty points for getting the remaining four photos. How did you know? :-)
And another ten for getting Dave's puzzle (or at least I assume that was the right answer: Dave?).
And another twenty-odd for having a birthday (the guys in my Bible study guessed 23... not quite, but a nice thought).
And as many as you like for being wonderful. :-)