Happy Birthday to me!!

I celebrated my birthday last weekend while away at a caravan rally.  It was the Wellington Caravan Club’s 60th Birthday Rally, so it was a rather busy weekend with all sorts of things going on.  In fact, there were two birthday girls at the rally, and the MC called us both up to the front of the hall while everyone sang Happy Birthday to us.  We joined in the singing too – after all, you have to celebrate your special day, don’t you?

All singing along

Some exciting looking parcels had arrived in the post during the week, so I packed them in the caravan to open on Sunday.  It’s always fun getting parcels.  Want to have a peek at what I got?  First up was a lovely new diary for next year, and a tube of hand and nail cream from my good friend Merilyn, in Dunedin.  With aloe vera, plus vitamins A, B, and E in the mix, the hand cream is sure to work wonders for my washer woman hands.

New diary and hand cream

Two parcels arrived from England, from my quilting pen friends.   Glennis sent me a fat quarter of Easter Egg fabric, plus a packet of note-cards showing scenes from the Cotswolds, the lovely picturesque part of the country where Glennis lives.  And my pen friend Janet sent me a silk scarf in lovely shades of pink and lilac, with a cute little hardanger piece to hang up somewhere – on the Christmas Tree perhaps.

Received from England

My daughter Nicky sent me a bright and pretty tea-towel featuring New Zealand native flowers, together with a Penguin book,  Lady Chatterley’s Lover, by D H Lawrence.  Allen Lane started Penguin Books back in 1935, when he despaired of finding a good book to read on his railway journey.  The aim of the company was to produce a range of intelligent books for the public, at a low price. Penguin Books were prosecuted under the Obscene  Publication Act at the Old Bailey in 1960 for publishing this book.  The jurors returned a Not Guilty verdict, making D H Lawrence’s last novel available for the first time to the public in UK.  I’m sure I’ll enjoy reading this classic story – no doubt a little tame by today’s standards.

From my daughter Nicky

Amongst my cards was one containing this poem by Emily Matthews which certainly reflects my stage of life.

What we value most in life, the years may change somehow

What once seemed so important, may not matter to us now

For over time we learn and grow, and find, as we’ve matured

The things that mean the most to us, are those that have endured

With two more parcels winging their way from overseas, my birthday is not over yet.  Lucky me!