Birthday bash…

October 16, 2016Blog, Prue Batten, pruebatten8 Comments

“With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.”

― William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

 That’s what old Will said, and I guess it’s true, because when I look in the mirror now, I see there are many more wrinkles there than there were last year…

But I can map them now.

As they deepen between my eyebrows, it’s because I’ve got a serious issue with balance and my left brain has to work harder, therefore I concentrate more, therefore my train tracks deepen.

The lines around my mouth become more pronounced because I’m spending more time writing and sewing and it’s now an entrenched habit that I pout when I work. I wish I stuck my tongue through my teeth – that way my mouth would be smooth.

I wonder to myself, if money was no object, would I have needles and collagen and all that cement that hides the emotion on a face? And you know what? I wouldn’t, because every line and every freckle tells a story.

My mum was a very very attractive woman right till she died aged 89. She had a soft face with a beautiful smile and she allowed every wrinkle to carve across her face, like the facets in a perfect precious gem.

That’s the plan for her daughter…

And so this weekend I celebrated.

Yesterday my darling OH and Dog and I went for a picnic up the coast (my favourite activity other than boating but it was too windy for that).

We investigated the textures and the colours of the coast whilst Dog fished for bullies in the rock pools and I listened to the slip and suck of the tide in the chasms before tackling the old sand bank and running down – just to prove a point to myself!

We ate brie and pepper cheese, peppered Cointreau paté, quince paste and pickled walnuts, apple chutney and olive bread. We finished off with sparkling elderflower cordial and grapes.

And today, I awoke to largesse of all kinds and was spoiled with a family BBQ of venison sausages and beef rissoles with grilled haloumi and a bench spread with homemade mayonnaise, apple chutney, fig and balsamic chutney and the ingredients for ‘serve up your own burgers’! There was Lubiana pinot gris, Lubiana pinot noir and beer and…

then I was allowed to blow out a candle on the rich-as-sin birthday cake my hubbie made for me.

So yes, another birthday passes and I move closer to old age but surely that is a state of mind.

And really, if you ask anyone who knows me well, they will tell you that I’m really only a 21 year old masquerading as a pensioner to see if I like it…