Self portrait with hat

A bittersweet day
Overwhelmed by generous wishes,
And sweet thoughtfulness.
Treasured friends and family,
Warm my heart, mind and spirit.


As it's my birthday, I thought I should do an SP!

So far it's been a lovely day - the hat I am wearing was a present from Tash which arrived by post with a beautiful hand made card. Sadly she has to stay in Bristol this weekend and so can't be here, but we had a chat on the phone this morning.

Mark bought me a beautiful bracelet and the new Bowie album (which I am looking forward to listening to).

The present from my Dad (with Mark's assistance) was two tickets to go and see Singing in the Rain in London next week .... exciting!

Sadly my Dad is not too good, so we weren't able to take him out for a celebratory lunch .... hence the "bittersweet" in the poem. We went to visit him at lunchtime and I got birthday wishes and a lovely hug from Michelle (one of the managers at my Dad's home), also they had made some little birthday cakes and brought them through with a candle ..... how lovely! I felt quite emotional and so thankful to have found such a wonderful loving place for Dad to be.

Greg is just now on his way home from work, and we are having a family meal here to celebrate this evening. Greg and I are off to see Eels in Brighton tomorrow, so a lovely week in prospect!

I am so lucky to have such lovely family and friends - birthdays can be sad as you get older and think of those no longer there to share it, but the lovely wishes and thoughts make it special.

Oh dear, better stop before I get tearful!

By the way, I'm not getting any older ... I have decided to start subtracting a year from now on!

PS. I am not miserable in this photo, but supposed to look as if deep and meaningful thought!!