MORE PRESIES,PRESIES, PRESIES!

Some more presents to show you, then I'll stop droning on about my birthday.

There were lots of lovely cards

and this one was hand-made by Annie. Isn't she clever?



But what's all this that fell out of it? Birthday confetti!



There was this very appropriate card from Sally



and this one from Liz:

In case you can't manage to read it, it says, "Now she had reached 60 and recalling her doctor's advice to eat more fruit, she popped off to put some cherries in her gin." A wise woman.

There was another flower, on this beautiful Limoges dish from my friends Roberta and Roberto

and some memories of Wales from a close friend there - with more confetti!



Another close friend from Cardiff sent me this lovely necklace



and some British chocolate! [A girl has to be international when it comes to chocolate.]

This lovely jewellery is from my hairdresser, Raffaele [who came to the party early to do my hair] and the salon staff:



A group of Modican friends joined together to get me a classy outfit and Irma took me to choose it last Saturday. The trousers are in plain black velvet:



There was luxurious bubble bath and body lotion from my student Catia,



these pretty French bowls from my student Daniela



and this picture to brighten up my sitting room from Rosa and family:



Cathy my boss paid for the party and made a lot of people happy.

But the greatest gift of all is friendship.

MORE BIRTHDAY PICTURES

I can hardly believe it's nearly a week since the event. I'm still feeling very moved by all the good wishes and I've still got pics to show you but everybody dived into the food before I could take any of that!

I decided to play fifties and sixties music and I used some of my vinyl covers as decorations. The thing on the right is supposed to be a sort of collage of key figures of my youth and those crepe paper efforts are meant to be discs, just in case you were wondering:

Here I am with "my poet", Antonio Lonardo, who presented me with a poem he'd written specially.

The poem reads:

Salto

Nel salto delle cascate
si purificano i rivoli
e l'acqua corre alla foce
chiara, come alla sorgente.

Cascade

In cascading waterfalls
streams are purified
and the clear water runs to the river mouth
as it does to the spring.

[My translation.]

I shall treasure this and am going to frame it.

I had been delighted to receive another poem, through the post, from my good friend Sileno Lavorini, who organises the Buggiano Poetry Competition.

It reads:

Sono solo 30 x 2 Patricia
e quando a 30 x 3 sarai,
avrai la stessa gioventù di ora
perché la tua vita tradurrai.

It's only 30 x 2 Patricia
and when you reach 30 x 3,
you'll be as young as you are now
because you will translate your life.

I'm going to frame that, too. Hey, two published Italian poets wrote verses just for me! How lucky can a girl get?

By the way, I found the Marilyn Monroe jumper at Modica Market - where else?

Now I'm opening presents and, as you see, I have a willing helper. Irma is standing behind us. This gift is an elegant black purse by Valentino from my student Salvo the postman and his wife.

Here I'm modelling this lovely bag, a gift from my student Lucia and her family. Lucia [a different Lucia to the one I usually mention] is standing behind me having a drink, with her husband. Salvo, who is a very interesting man, is behind me on the right:

Showing off perfume and shower gel, from my friend Vanessa. I have had some luxurious baths since my birthday! My student Cristiano is on my right.

Cristiano has given me a beautiful photo frame:



Here I am with my wonderful friends:



I'm going to show you more presies tomorrow.

A HOUSE FULL OF FLOWERS

Rosa and I were cooking for the party on Saturday when the doorbell rang and, to my great surprise and delight, these beautiful flowers arrived from jmb in Canada!

[I am all scruffy in my cooking clothes.]

Here they are again:

On Sunday morning I was cooking when these fabulous tulips arrived from the Italy Magazine gang

along with this one for Simi, who was very waggy indeed:

I'd just started cooking again when these pretty pastel tulips were delivered from my Modican friends Marco, Giovanna, Giancarla and Laura:

By 2pm it was panic stations and I sent an SOS to Linda, who immediately came to help with the preparations, bringing these spring lovelies:



And at 6pm, when the party began, kind Lucia brought these gorgeous yellow roses:

So I now have a very cheerful sitting room and I want to sit in it all the time as it's like being in a profumeria. Thank you to all my thoughtful friends.

I think the florists of Modica had a good day too!

WHAT I'VE LEARNT IN 60 YEARS

As promised, I now bestow upon you the accumulated wisdom of 60 years and it is this:

Ladies, ONLY WEIGH WHEN YOU ARE THIN. This way you'll save yourself a lifetime of misery.

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And just in case you gentlemen feel left out, here's my advice to you:

DON'T SAY IT IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DO IT! That goes as much for calling a woman as for those jobs around the house and I'm sure you can all think of other occasions....

SABATO MUSICALE

A very self-indulgent one :

Karen Morrow - I'm Still Here from Sondheim's Follies


Shirley Maclaine sings it in Postcards from the Edge

60 INGLORIOUS YEARS - 2

Here is the great Dorothy Parker's Inventory:

Four be the things I am wiser to know:
Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe.

Four be the things I'd been better without:
Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.

Three be the things I shall never attain:
Envy, content, and sufficient champagne.

Three be the things I shall have till I die:
Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye.

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And here is mine:

Four be the things I am wiser to know:
Italy, internet, doggies, bons mots.

Four be the things I’d been better without:
Alcohol, credit cards, Welshmen, my pout.

Three be the things I shall never attain:
Motherhood, sense, a numerical brain.

Three be the things I shall have till I die:
Friendship, rebellion and pies in the sky.

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60 INGLORIOUS YEARS

My 60th birthday is fast approaching and, as I can't stop it from happening, I've decided I might as well celebrate. So over the next few weeks I am going to share with you some thoughts, some things learned, some things I should have learned and anything else that comes into my head. As you will see, these thoughts are of a profound nature. Here's the first one for your edification:

Men want to play
women are nice
If I were that way
I wouldn't think twice.

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