Another Bloomin' Birthday

Despite seeming to have been celebrating my birthday since the weekend at Stobo Castle , today is the official day. A birthday you could say of biblical proportions!
I have been terribly spoilt this morning with so many cards and phone calls especially the children, Kathy in Oman , David 77 in Egypt and Alasdair in Elgin. And this evening there is more bacchanalian revelry with his Lordship, my anonymous #1 daughter and family, and Magpie.

I thought I would like to share with you this poem by Jenny Joseph which is a favourite one of mine as the birthdays increase -

When I am an Old Woman

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 have no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along 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 beer mats 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 will 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.

Well I am wearing a purple striped tee shirt but I definitely don't have a stick, and it's far too wet today to sit on the pavement.!

Edit: Thank you Dave and Larissa for the magnificent flowers. They came just too late to blip...... but maybe Thursday!