A gorgeous lime cake was brought in early morning with the guys. Delicious! Then some very funny cards.
Good advice.
Some gifts of fudge, house plant, note book set, plant for out near the newly installed pergola, wind chimes, and more. A nice transition into the eighties. I hadn’t had a birthday cake with candles since my kids were little! Amy had two Ursula LeGuin books sent and Patrick is going to redo my garage with new storage units and a good clean out when he comes next month.
Also two friends from Australia surprised me with a video call at 7:30 in the morning. So good to see Jude and Toni plus what they are making in the Queensland studio. Both of them into their eighties and still doing exhibitions and work to sell at basket venues. They inspire me!
The day before being eighty my pergola was put in place.
It is very hot this week. I am getting my steps in by following the route of 250 steps through the air conditioned house. Boring but I am moving!
The cats just needed each other the other day.
And the morning trip to the gym followed by the walk back to tai chi.
And day before yesterday I lost my wallpaper picture on my computer. I can always dig through old Australia trips and find the one I misplaced, but decided maybe it was time to freshen the look when my computer comes on. It took over two hours to finally settle on something. This was a close up of the Eucalyptus leaves made from pages of Robert Hughes’ book, Fatal Shore. The piece I made these for was my last accepted entry to South Australia Museum’s Waterhouse Natural History Exhibition. All the leaves were colored with watercolors I made from Australian soils and had the edges burned to show the fragility and fatality of climate change in Australia. All the leaves were swept into a dust bin to complete my entry. Most were given to friends down under and many put in favorite places as a going away gift to the land I was leaving behind.
So, what I have learned from turning eighty.
I am older, but not too terribly old.
I can do what I want with the time I have, just do it a bit slower.
I can say pretty much whatever I think is worth saying out loud, whether someone is listening or not.
I can cook some scrambled eggs with spinach and cheese, and call it a good meal.
I can drink wine at the neighbor’s, and think it is better than the same wine drunk alone at my house.
I can write words that my fellow poets think are amazing, and yet might get a shrug from others.
I have learned to ignore the shruggers, and expect nothing more.
I am comfortable in my skin, my shoes, my clothes, and not comfortable around some people.
Thank all of you for kind birthday wishes and encouragement to keep going.
So that is about all from here this time.
Til later….