...I'm older than yesterday. I am now officially middle-aged. I knew this before my birthday. Just the night before I sat in front of the fire doing my sewing and embroidery - yes, you read correctly - with my reading glasses positioned halfway down my nose so I was able to see the close up needlework, whilst also being able to look over the top at the tv.
I spent my 42nd birthday opening presents in front of the fire (loving those Birkenstocks D & A), before a day on the beach at Balmoral with Rob without children. After breakfast at Bathers - a breakfast that did not involve taking children to the toilet, wiping up spills, being constantly interrupted or wishing that the ground would open up and swallow us - we lay on the sand and read and talked. I mean actually, properly, definitely read and talked. Sometimes we didn't read or talk, we just sat there. Quietly.
After a while, I took a long walk to take photos and video, while Rob listened - really listened - to music. The weather was absolutely perfect and Autumnal - lots of sun, not too hot and a light breeze. Despite this, the beach was almost deserted. There was just enough time for a happy half hour at the old barracks site on the hill at Mosman, now redeveloped with fantastic lookouts over the harbour, before picking up Scarlett from school and hitting the pool for 36 rounds of Connect 4, her new favourite game at which she is an arch player and difficult to beat. Excuse me, but weren't we supposed to be here to swim?
After picking up Flo from daycare, flush with excitement from an afternoon with visiting animals from Kindifarm, we were in the shower, wrangling phone calls from Dad, Moira and Fraser and others (thanking you) and then hiking up the hill to Annandale for my birthday dinner. With Mart already calling in sick and Melissa on the phone to say her car wouldn't start, it was a poor first show of guests in the restaurant. Add to that Rob forgetting to arrange a cake and things weren't looking up. Thanks goodness for Melissa's car doing its stuff, for Drew McHugh sitting patiently waiting for us, Punt Road chardonnay, a pannacotta with a candle on top and (mostly) beautifully behaved children aged between 1 and 6. Home to a fire, children asleep and uploading these pics. Here's a little film (made on my new Flip video camera - thank you Rob) of our day at Balmoral, something to treasure during the darker winter months in Britain.
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