Dave's birthday party was tonight. It was a much bigger event than I had anticipated; it was held at a restaurant, and about 70 people showed up.

I used a variation on chiroptera_mama's idea, and wrote Dave is only 40?? But I'm hungry NOW!! on the mat under the photo. When he opened his gift, he saw the photo but not the pencilled writing. He said, "That's absolutely gorgeous!" Then he held it up to the light and read it and roared with laughter. He asked if I took the picture myself. I said yes, and then I told him what I had originally planned to write. He roared at that, too. I knew I could count on Dave's sense of humor. I did not, by the way, admit that I hadn't made up that line all by myself. :-)

I put the picture in a museum frame (wide mat) from AC Moore. I use these frames all the time. They are front-mounted, which means you pop the glass out, set up your photo inside the mat opening, and then pop the glass back in, all from the front. With Dave's picture, I went to put the glass back in  and it broke into three pieces. Fortunately, I buy these frames whenever they go on sale, so I had another. When I popped the glass out on this one I discovered a big chip in the corner. Eeek. Thank heavens the third one worked out fine. I'll have to return the others to the store.

Susan