Sixty... Really?

It is still one week to go before I celebrate my sixtieth birthday. When I was twenty the thought of being sixty felt so very, very old. Of course, now that I am almost sixty I feel just the same as I did when I was twenty apart from being totally incredulous that I could possibly be sixty... but try telling that to any twenty year old! Actually I lie, I'm sure I didn't have quite so many aches and pains at twenty but mostly I feel the same... and I've still got all my own teeth!

My sixty by sixty list has definitely slowed down and it looks as though I might be stuck on thirty things by the time my birthday arrives. But it's my list, I make the rules and so I shall keep it going throughout my sixty first year! The main problem is budget and trying to find things that don't cost the earth (if anything at all) is proving to be an additional challenge. I think "See the Northern Lights" might be one of those things that end up on a seventy x seventy list. But there have been a couple of recent additions to the list. We went to a formal dinner at a Cambridge college last month which was something I'd never done before and it was absolutely lovely. We were guests of my son Sam and his beautiful girlfriend Elle, who is completing her Masters at Clare Hall... except a week ago we got some fabulous news and I should now say Sam and his fiancee Elle! Which is just the best news ever!

Another thing I've added to the list but can't say much about is that I have nominated someone to receive a UK honours award. But the potential recipient mustn't know they have been nominated to prevent disappointment should they not receive it, and I won't know if the nomination is successful until they actually get the award... if they get it. So it's all a bit cloak and dagger I'm afraid as there people who read my blog who might put two and two together if I were to give any hints.  But it was something I'd thought about and wanted to do for a long time so it has gone on the list and been ticked off.

Something else on my list of possible ideas is to host an afternoon tea party... and I will be doing that for my birthday. At the last count I had over sixty people going... female friends from all walks of life over the past sixty years going back to school days, early working years, ante natal classes etc. My only regret was not to be able to invite more people but I had to put a limit on numbers... especially as I'm doing my own catering. Over eighty scones have gone into the freezer this week... not to mention brownies, sponge cakes and macarons!

And today I designed a menu for the tables. I designed the layout for the cover but confess I copied the design for the cup and the tea pot and must credit the original artist Rebecca Jones. As it is for my own personal use I hope she won't mind... especially as mine is a very poor copy of the original work. 

So that's where my sixty x sixty stands right now. But if any of you lovely readers have any great ideas for other things I might do, I'm all ears! Actually, I'm all one ear because that has just reminded me - I was bitten by a mosquito on my right ear last week and it turned bright red and stuck out like Dumbo's ear... just thought you might like to know!