Birthday Girl

Well, it was my birthday this week.  I'm now the grand old age of 53 and trying NOT to grow old gracefully.

The day itself, I didn't do anything special, but at least I didn't have to work this year. I got some lovely, but very practical presents from OH.

To be honest, for my present, I asked him to pay for an order I had collated on Marshall's website, so it was a gardening themed gift.

The order included this Mulberry bush, which was a much better specimen than I was expecting, after reading some of the reviews on the site.  It may take a few years before it produces fruit, but I'm very excited to have it, as it is such an old English variety of tree. I will probably keep it in a pot, as I don't really have a suitable space in the garden for it at the moment.

Also on the order was a new garden fork.  I needed one as we currently don't have one at all, after the handle on our last one broke off completely. This one is designed especially for the older lady, as it is very lightweight, made of ash wood and aluminium. I bought it with the future in mind.  Who needs to lug around a heavy garden fork as they get older, especially when they don't need to. I'm excited to use it at some point.  I'll have to try to make sure I clean it properly though and look after it.

The rest of the order included some green manure seeds to possibly sow on the allotment this winter to add nutrients to the soil, a few packs of vegetable seeds and some shallot bulbs. Talking of the allotment, I received a voucher from the Allotment society this week too, which confirmed that we'd won Best Plot on our small site this year, which was a lovely added birthday gift, although not intended as one.

There was one other item on the Marshalls order, which we bought as a gift for a family member for Christmas. It's a green gage tree, but hasn't been delivered yet. I quite fancy one myself, but due to our garden being so small, there isn't room for many trees. Anyway, a bit of Xmas shopping was done too, which is all good.

I also received some flowers from OH and LB and the always appreciated chocolate and gin, so I consider myself a very lucky girl indeed.

We also went out for lunch on the day, to a local restaurant/café that we hadn't been to before, which was nice. I had to have a glass of Prosecco with my pizza, of course. Daytime drinking is allowed on your birthday as far as I'm concerned.

I think that from now on, I might ask for dance classes for Christmas and birthday gifts, as I am so enjoying my solo Jazz/Charleston class.  This week's class was the best yet. I really feel like I had a good workout as it was really quite tiring at times, but fabulous fun.  I've treated myself to another block of three Charleston classes, as next is the final class in this current block, and they will follow on until the next block of five classes starts in November.  It was definitely a good decision to take the plunge and I hope to continue indefinitely.