I Didn't Think 50 Would Be Like This

I woke this morning to find I hadn't wrinkled like a prune overnight

Nor had I turned dull and frumpy in my sleep

(Quick check)  Yes, I still think fun is….well, fun

I don't consider any shops off limits when it comes to buying clothes

And I'll swear I turned a head or two as I walked down the street today

I'm healthier than I've ever been

And happier, too

50 feels….liberating, empowering, exciting (I wasn't expecting that)

And like a massive sigh of relief

As if I can finally let go of all the striving and trying and inadequacy and hang-ups and wanting to please and worrying what others think.  What the hell, it's time to just ENJOY life.

Time to throw caution to the winds and simply be ME.  Because - it's now obvious - this life won't go on forever.  Time, then, to be bold.  To be real.  Time to stand in the authority of my experience - the accumulated wisdom of half a century on this earth.

50 feels like gaining a voice.  And permission to use it.

A Chalet Girl At Last

I grew up with Elinor Brent-Dyer's Chalet School books.  I adored them.  I was convinced I would leave school and flit off to Austria for good and evermore.  Had my ten year old self known it would take me close on half a century to get there, I'd have been horrified.  But the years have come and gone and I never quite made it to Tirol.

Today, however, was THE day.  I finally stood - for all of about three seconds - with my feet in the icy water of the Aachensee (the Tiernsee of the books).  I perused the menu at the Post Hotel and walked along the lake path that leads to Seespitz.  I lingered on the boat landing and tried to identify the snowy peaks that ringed me round.

I absolutely couldn't have chosen a better day to be there - the first really hot day of the year, the sky so blue, the lake so clear and still.  I left with a pebble from the water and a cone from the pine woods.  And a soul at last satisfied.  The Tiernsee (Aachensee) was exactly as I'd imagined it.  And it was perfect.

An Average Kind of Friday

I usually wash the floors on Friday.  But yesterday was slightly different.

It started with a swim in the spa of a top London hotel.  Continued with lunch at this little place in Paris (Hugo on Rue Papillon - the food was divine!).  And wound up with a train ride across Europe to Munich.

I'd say that was one up on the average Friday, wouldn't you?

Dress A Girl Around The World

Ten days from now I'll be celebrating a BIG birthday.  One that warrants a whole month of celebrations.  The first party was a couple of days ago when my sewing chums gathered at Dixon Hill for something rather special.

Dress A Girl Around The World is a charity that believes every little girl on the planet should have at least one pretty dress.   In order to make that a reality, they encourage folk to stitch up simple pillowcase dresses which are then taken to parts of the world where little girls have no dresses at all.

In a couple of hours on Thursday, we whipped up TEN dresses - the four you see above and six others which are almost finished.  We're planning to titivate them with patch pockets and appliquéd flowers etc.  I promise to show you the whole line-up when they're complete.

It delights me to think that ten small people might have smiles on their faces just because it was my birthday.  I honestly can't think of a better way to celebrate.

Happy Hyacinths

Sometimes it's the little things….

Like finally discovering how to persuade hyacinths to bloom short and stumpy and last for AGES.   Instead of bolting, leggy creatures that flop even when you stake them and are past their best way too soon.

The secret?  Keep 'em cool!  (Our downstairs loo is the perfect place!)