Me in the rain and wind at Minn Beach
I don't know how I got to this grand old age so quickly, but I have, so nothing I can do about it. I suppose, as they say 'you are old as you feel' and on a good day I'm still 18 and on a bad day I'm 200! I've not been looking forward to this birthday one tiny bit, but its better than the alternative I suppose! 😆
I have two cards for my birthday from Lucy, Vivien & Ray along with two lovely presents of sheepskin slippers and sheepskin hotwater bottle
covers. I had an unexpected and lovely surprise from Interflora on Saturday – a
beautiful bouquet of flowers from my sisters & Ray, which arrived at 11am and were put in my shed, I didn't know they were there until late afternoon, as not been feeling too good and didn't get up until very late!
Just after midnight I received an incredible pink birthday card via WhatsApp from John Furse, titled
Penny 60 & Blooming Fabulous
with his best and longest poem to date! Brilliant and hilarious, as John's verse always is! John also sent an MP3 file too, reading out my poem! It must have taken him AGES to write and to record. A huge thank you John, hugely appreciated and made me smile 🤗😊👏👏👏 xx
Pouring with rain right now and doesn't look a good forecast for my day off and birthday.
🌧 🥳 🌧 😋 🌧 🎉 🌧 🎂 🌧
Woke up later than I intended to. Jumped in shower, washed hair and did quick make-up. Called Lucy, Vivien & Ray to thank them for my lovely presents and cards, Vivien and Ray sang Happy Birthday 🎶 to me! Went to the
Cornerstone Cafe in Scalloway and got the last seat by the window – jam packed full of either local people or/and
Up Helly Aa visitors. Link on to the
Up Helly Aa website to watch live tomorrow from 7pm. Had a pesto panini, chips, salad and coleslaw, pot of tea and a piece of cake. There were four ladies on a table next to me, who started to sing Happy Birthday to one of them, so I said Happy Birthday too! The cafe owner asked '
was I visiting?' I said '
no, I live here and work at the hospital and am celebrating my 60th birthday' – he replied "
I wouldn't have even said you were 50, never mind 60" Obviously said to charm and lift my spirits or/and needs to go to Specsavers! 🤣
Returned home briefly, put the birding gear in the car and headed off for a walk. No news on the Bufflehead, so went somewhere closer to drive to before the light disappeared and headed to Banner Minn. Stopped at Papil Loch – wouldn't that have been a cool birthday tick if the Bufflehead was on here, but alas it wasn't! 4 Whooper Swans, 2 Mute Swans, Teal, Wigeon, Curlew and a Redshank were my birthday birds.
Me in the rain and wind on Minn Beach
Parked up at Papil and walked down to Minn Beach. It was chilly, but refreshing and was raining on and off. Nobody here, no people, no dogs! Loads of sheep feasting on the seaweed on the shore – such a beautiful scene. The sheep were all marked with different colours, some had turquoise bums, some had orange bums and so on! A Great Northern Diver was on the sea – raining too much to get the SLR out of my bag though. Even in the dull light, this beach looks incredible – the turquoise colours of of the crystal waters, rippling over white sands and bubbling through the ribbon seaweed, along with black boulders, pebbles and colourful sheep, makes a spectacular scene. I took far too many pictures! Also tried to take some selfies, which was pretty difficult to achieve with wind and rain!
Minn Beach – a stunning location
Sheep grazing on seaweed at Minn Beach
Me in the rain and wind on Minn Beach
I was thinking about
Buttons the beach cat (who has her own Facebook page) as I was walking along the beach. Buttons is a gorgeous friendly cat that lives close by (with house and owners!), but in the nicer months prefers to spend most of her time on the beach and greets all visitors who like to fuss her. She has not been seen since for at least 14 weeks and her owner is sadly very worried about her, she is 18 years old – I really hope she is ok, wherever she is.
Margaret's gorgeous birthday cake she so kindly made me!
Returned home, hung all the wet gear up and popped round to Margaret's house (two doors away) for a cup of tea (she had kindly invited me earlier). Margaret invited me to stay for tea, but didn't realise I was 'veggie' and had made chicken curry for her husband Alastair and herself, but she offered me some lentil soup, which was the best lentil soup and warm bread I have ever had! Margaret had gone to the massive effort of making me a birthday cake with 60 and candles on! WOW! Completely unexpected and a wonderful surprise! It was the second cake Margaret had made, as another friend of hers was also 60 today! Candles were lit, we sang and I blew them out – all good fun. Then Alastair returned home from work and enjoyed his curry whilst we chatted and then all had a slice of the birthday carrot cake, which was gorgeous! I can't imagine Margaret making anything that doesn't taste fabulous. Margaret and Alastair also gave me a lovely card. I left around 7pm and walked home, which took around 30 seconds – I had had several missed calls from old friends and my sisters.
Did a Zoom call with Lucy, Vivien and Ray at 7.45pm, which you get free for 40 minutes, although it didn't seem anywhere near that long and seemed to go far too quickly. Lucy looked really well I thought and it was nice to see Vivien and Ray sitting on their little sofa together on the boat.
Called Hilary, as she had tried to call me earlier and she wished me Happy Birthday. Hilary said 'have you had anything from Norfolk?' I had no idea what she was talking about! She then explained that Bev, Sarah B. and herself had posted me something, which obviously had not arrived by today – Hilary had one of her naughty mischevious looks on her face and she roared with laughter when I said 'have you sent me a strippergram?!' This would be my worst nightmare, seriously! I don't know what has been sent, so will await the delivery, thank you all in advance xxx. I think the post is very behind (due to ferry and plane cancellations due to the storm), as Pete S. was shocked his card didn't arrive by today either and he had posted it on Wednesday last week.
Ate more birthday cake, with the fire lit and my new cosy sheepskin slippers on. The day went far better than I had expected and thank you to all those that have made it so special with presents, cards and lovely messages on my blog, 97 messages on Facebook, emails and texts etc.
Tuesday 28th January Update!
I
had an awesome surprise today, four more birthday cards including Pete's and Eddie's! When I
returned home from work there was a long parcel in the shed which said
"Prestige Flowers" on the box! Some of my dear and lovely colleagues
from my last post at QEH had posted me a bouquet of flowers!!! Thank you
so much to Hilary, Bev and Sarah B., I was really taken back, that was
an awesome surprise and bought a tear to my eye – hugs and kisses to you
all 🤗💞🥰 xxx
Thursday 30th January Update!
Beautiful Bouquet of Flowers
From the Physiotherapy Team at GBH
Another
birthday surprise! Just after patient handover at work this morning,
the Physiotherapy team unexpectedly opened our office door and started singing
"Happy Birthday" to me and gave me some beautiful flowers, a huge box of
Thorntons chocolates, a lovely scented seasalt candle in a glass and a
brilliant card all signed by them. Elaine (Band 7 physio) told me off
for not letting them know. WOW! I hadn't expected that at all, so very,
very kind of them. Elaine (top baker) stated she would be bringing in
cakes in on Monday, so that's the diet put on hold again! Absolutely
made my day, thank you all very much indeed! 💖🤗 xxx
Monday 3rd February Update!
Catherine
was off on annual leave last week – she very kindly baked and bought in
a very yummy Victoria Sandwich Cake for my birthday and also some
lovely presents that she and Jen has kindly bought me! The birthday
continues! 😁😘