I still have on the mantlepiece one of my birthday cards six weeks after the event. It is so lovely, I think it may be there all year!
Paper roses
I have at last found somewhere pleasing to hang my musical cloud, a delightful birthday present from last December – and it looks just lovely.
Musical cloud
I have loved the poem, ‘When I am an old woman’ by Jenny Joseph since I first read it many, many years ago and I have been remembering it recently, thinking, when I am an old woman, I shall wear purple and lime green and pink and turquoise and yellow and orange – and all together!
Walking without crutches 7 weeks after my second hip replacement
When I am an old woman by Jenny Joseph
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people’s gardens
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
Today is the birthday of my beautiful friend Kath whose too-early death inspired this blog. She also was going to wear purple and we did both practise in good time. We enjoyed singing and laughing together, sharing recipes and good food together, being in France in their Meyssac home, and always supporting each other and she is much missed. She would have loved my blog.
