Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Sixty years on


Am I still recognisable?


A random thought at the end of a lovely birthday.

Good night and sweet dreams......

73 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday Perpetua ... and yes, you have aged well:) I had a similar hair-do to your youthful one. Did you have lots of hair ribbons? I had a tiny little iron that I used to keep them all smooth.

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    1. Thanks, Shirlwin. I'm leaving it all to nature and she's doing a fair job. :-) My sisters and I had lots of hair-ribbons between us, but I'm afraid we left it to my mother to keep them ironed.

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    1. I think contentment is very under-rated and much to be desired.

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  3. Decidely so.

    Happy birthday and many more to come.

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    1. Thanks, Helen. I find it wonderful how we take with us the child we were.

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  4. I wish you a very happy birthday! Your smile and dimples and the look in you eye all seem the same to me!

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    1. Thanks, Pondside. I had a lovely day. It's good that time and experience don't make the child in us disappear completely.

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  5. Happy Birthday! I hope you had a very special day!

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    1. Thanks, Kristie. It was quiet and spent with my DH and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

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  6. Happy Birthday dear Perpetua! Yes, you are still recognisable: same sweet natured expression, same dimples, about to burst into a happy smile. Many Happy Returns :)

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    1. Thanks, Patricia. Yes, those dimples would give me away anywhere and they'll never disappear. The first thing I noticed when our DS was born was that he'd inherited my dimples. :-)

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  7. Happy Birthday - yes, that smile is still the same and I must say you look very young now.

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    1. Thanks, Susan, that's reassuring. My childhood ash-blonde hair is now just ash and it's probably a good thing you can't see the rest of me. :-)

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  8. A very happy birthday to you, Miss P. There is no doubt at all that the photos are of the same person. The little girl's eyes and the slow smile suggest an apparent calm hiding a wicked sense of humour.... the same as in the grown-up Miss P in the next picture :-)

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    1. Thank you kindly, MM. You read expressions all too well, you know. :-)Your children must find it hard to hide their mischief from Maman. To tell you the truth I'm sometimes not sure quite how grown-up I am even now....

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    2. Happy belated birthday... no, that's wrong... belated Hippo Birdy Greetings and many more to come... I've been too busy enjoying my birfday and trying to get mowing done between the rains to read the bloggosphere...

      You said above...I think contentment is very under-rated and much to be desired.... I spent much of my birthday on Thursday contendedly watching the little mason bees buzzily filling up the holes I'd drilled in a block of wood... they journeyed back and fifth from the nearby cherry tree with loads of pollen.... everynowandthen reversing in to lay an egg... 'twas most relaxationing and a wonder to behold.

      And in answer to the question immediately above...
      act your shoe size... English if you want to have fun.... and European if you need to be serious...[ish]!

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    3. Belated birthday greetings are as welcome as any others, Tim, and I happily reciprocate them for your birthday last Thursday. :-)

      I gather the Loire Valley has been having quite a lot of rain, so I'm glad you've managed to get the grass cut and watch the bees between downpours. Did you drill the holes for them as a nursery or was it serendipitous? I wish I could see my French cherry trees blossoming, as all the trees are still bare up here.

      I LOVE the saying about shoe sizes and will immediately commit it to memory. The juvenile me in the photo above is exactly my shoe size. :-))

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    4. The block of wood was drilled especially for the beez to nest in...
      three different diameters to cater for the different species....
      I am currently doing a blog entry to go with my photographs...
      I'll email you when I've done it...
      Susan of Days on the Claise came over to do some drilling here as their drill had temporarily given up the ghost...
      so I did a couple of blocks as well...
      my usual bee nest is lengths of teasel or hogweed stem tied together in bundles...
      I've a specially made cube of them immediately next door to the drilled block...
      as yet, no takers!!

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    5. That's brilliant, Tim. Bees of all kinds are under such pressures nowadays, so anything that helps them survive and breed has to be a great thing. I was so glad to hear that the EU has at least temporarily banned the use of the worst bee-harming pesticides. Don't farmers realise that they NEED the bees for their crops to flourish?

      I will look forward to reading your post on the subject.

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  9. A belated very happy birthday Perpetua. Yes, you are recognisable.
    Both lovely pictures.
    May you enjoy many many more.

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    1. Thanks, Ray, I do hope to do so. :-) Don't you find it amazing that sixty years doesn't change us totally from the child we were? I do...

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  10. Hari OM
    without doubt the same! dimply smile and quizzical brow. Glad you enjoyed your day.

    Hugs ((((0)))) YAM

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    1. Thanks, Yam. Those dimples would give me away if I were ninety, I fear. As for the odd eyebrows.....

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  11. You look fantastic to me. The dimples are adorable then and now. Popped over from Maa's blog when I seen 60 me too:) Happy Birthday.B

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    1. Thanks, Buttons, and thanks for visiting. I'm afraid the sixty years are between photos and not just my age, which will soon be a closely guarded state secret. :-) The dimples I can't hide....

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  12. Absolutely recognisable - it's that dimple! Lovely photos of then and now. Here's wishing you many more very happy birthdays. Axxxx

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    1. Thanks, Annie. I don't think even plastic surgery would get rid of the dimple. I saw it in DS when he was minutes old and it's still there.

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  13. Dear blog friend, you have the same smile, which is a really good thing. Glad to know you - your sense of humour etc. through blogging. Trust you had a happy birthday.

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    1. I had a lovely birthday, thanks, Linda. You're right, smiles don't change. However old we are the smile gives us away. :-) I too love the friendships that blogging brings and would never have expected that when I started.

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  14. A sweet photo of you as a child. You look the same.. we all get those things they call " lines " on the face..thats all that changes.
    Wishing you a happy Birthday for yesterday Perpetua.
    great photo.
    val x

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    1. Thanks, Val, it was a happy day. You're right about the lines. They come, whether we like it or not, but they add character and can never take away the smile. No Botox for me. :-)

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  15. It's the dimples that do it... instantly recognisable Perpertua. Have a wonderful birthday, fondest wishes, Janice x

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    1. Thanks, Janice. As a teenager I used to curse my dimples as I thought they made me look childish when I wanted to look grown-up and sophisticated. :-) Now I'm glad they are there to connect me to my childhood self.

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  16. Dear Perpetua - belated happy birthday to you and so pleased that the day was lovely. Yes, definitely the dimples, which I always find are an attractive feature, and are apparently a sign of truthfulness.

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    1. Thanks, Rosemary. The weather could have been better, but thankfully that didn't concern us. I'd never heard of a connection between about dimples and truthfulness. Hmmm, I wonder whether my mother knew that when I was naughty as a child? They certainly can't be controlled or disguised. :-)

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  17. Looks like you made it through in pretty good shape.

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    1. Thanks, EF. As I said above, I'm not sure you'd say that if you could see the rest of me. :-)

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  18. Of course, I am biased, Big Sis, but you seem just as beautiful outside and in as I always remember your being. You and Polka Dot are the only sisters with natural curl and wave, darn you. And you are the only one with dimples. So that puts you quite high on the cute scale, then and now.

    Glad your b'day was a good one. We are safely back in Wales after a tough and tiring couple of days, and very glad to be home. Our Ma very small and frail in her big hospital bed, orthopaedically doing well, medically much less so, clear of infection but eating and drinking far too little for my liking. Hope she can be discharged soon as she SO needs the close attentive care the home can offer and a busy NHS ward cannot.

    95.5 is SO old...she looked every minute of it on Monday, I am afraid. She fixed me with her eye as I held her hand to say goodbye and said "You will look after him, won't you?" I said yes, I will look after your boy for you. She said "and he will look after you". I said yes, we will take good care of each other.

    I think that may have been my good-bye.

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    1. We're all biased where our siblings are concerned, Baby Sis. :-) I know you've always envied my curl and wave, just as I've always wished my hair wasn't so thick and coarse and yearned for your shiny and sleek. :-) We're never satisfied, are we? As for the dimples, I don't know where they came from, but DS also has them.

      Glad to hear you're safely home after your long and busy round trip. It's good to hear that Your Ma is recovering well, but you're right - she need the care of her excellent residential home now and I do hope she can be discharged very soon.

      That goodbye must have been very poignant as she seemed to relinquish her remaining responsibility to you and yes, perhaps she knows something the rest of you don't. At least you've seen her and she knows how much you both care.

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  19. Happy birthday for yesterday !!
    Yes, I can tell that both the pictures are you. The smile and the dimples give you away !! Glad to hear you had a lovely day for your special birthday.

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    1. Thanks, Jean. Sadly the sixty years was between the dates of the photos and not since birth. Even 65 is now in the past, but I'm soldiering on. :-) I often wonder how people manage to disguise themselves when things like smiles and dimples are so immediately recognisable....

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  20. The first one, a picture of a young gilr with years of adventure in front of her. The second, a picture of a lovely, wise and caring lady, who has had those adventures and gained the wisdom of the years past. If the eyes are the windows of the soul, then your soul is beautiful. Blessings, Perpetua.

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    1. Bonnie, that is such a lovely thing to say. Thank you so much. I've certainly had the adventures one way or another including a second career in the ministry which I could never even have guessed at when young. I think I've been very fortunate.

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  21. Goodness, yes! That's certainly you. I hope you had a wonderfully happy birthday yesterday and are continuing to enjoy your "new" sewing machine! Many happy returns of the day.

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    1. Thanks, Penny. It's reassuring to still be me. :-) I had a lovely birthday and am busy reacquainting myself with the workings of a manual machine and thoroughly enjoying myself.

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  22. Happy Birthday for yesterday Perpetua! I do know the exact number of years as both Crockford & your application to be my Assistant Priest from nine years ago, reveal all :-) But my lips are sealed here!

    I have to say that you are looking very well from when I last saw you in Prague in September- October 2011. Very best wishes to you & DH.

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    1. Thanks, Ricky. Glad to know that my secret is safe with you. :-) Not that I'm worried about anyone knowing it, just not in the same post as my actual birthday. Paranoid, moi?

      Thankfully I'm feeling very well too and DH and I are lucky enough not to have had even a sniffle all winter. Let's hope I'm not tempting fate by saying this.... :-)

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    2. Likewise Perpetua - Sybille & I have also had our first ever cold/flu/sniffle winter since moving to Prague nearly five years ago. With the temperature today reaching 25 degrees C, I think we can safely say that Spring, yea Summer, has definitely arrived.

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    3. Sorry - add the word 'free' after sniffle :-)

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    4. Glad you've had a germ-free winter too, Ricky. I do think cold weather helps in this respect. The bugs are much less active. :-)

      Glad the warm weather has arrived for you. It was 25C in London too yesterday according to a friend, but here it was much cooler and now colder weather is settling in all over the country for the weekend. Here we won't see double figures until Tuesday according to the Met Office. Sigh....

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  23. Congratulations Perpetua and hope you had a fabulous birthday. Many happy returns.
    Patricia x

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    1. Thanks, Patricia. it was just the kind we both like as we get older - celebrated quietly with just the two of us. We're definitely not party animals nowadays, if we ever were. :-)

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  24. I am of the opinion that once we turn sixty, we should celebrate our birthdays (mine included) all month long, and we do when a smile as sweet as yours has remained, Perpetua. I hope you had a happy birthday, and will continue to do so - and I'm sure you are enjoying that sewing machine. Many more happy returns. Penny

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    1. Thanks, Penny, I entirety agree. I've celebrated a number of birthdays since I reached the big 60 and after two lots of breast cancer am deeply grateful for every one I live to see. The hair may be grey rather than flaxen and the joints stiffer than they were, but I think I may be still a child at heart. :-)

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  25. Perpetua, I am sorry I missed THE day to wish you a happy birthday, but I agree with Penny...all month long, Happy Birthday to YOU! I read your statement about breast cancer, and so yes, indeed, that beautiful smile on your face is full of gratitude, and I'm very moved. I loved both photos...and yes, that beautiful little girl is still there! oxo

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    1. Thanks, Debra. Since I didn't post this until I was on my way to bed after my birthday, it's hardly your fault you missed it. :-) I'm a firm believer in celebrating everything it's possible to celebrate. It's now 14 years since my first diagnosis and nearly 8 since the second, so I don't look back to that time much now, except when old photos and mementos get me in a reminiscent mood.....

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  26. That smile certainly is :-)! Belated Happy Birthday. I hope you had a lovely day!

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    1. Indeed I did, thanks. I love the way certain features don't change with time and wear-and-tear from babyhood to old age. Continuity is important. :-)

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  27. Lovely photos - Happy birthday.

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  28. Belatedly and catching up anyway: Yes, and keep celebrating! Like you, I think a bit of me never grew up ...

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    1. Thanks, Christine. Yes, we're of the same generation, I believe. I think celebration is something that is essential to being truly human - joy and gratitude and just plain fun. :-)

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  29. Same dimples. Same sweet smile. Happy Birthday Perpetua

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    1. Thanks, Molly. It's reassuring that some things stay the same amid the lines and saggy bits. :-)

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  30. Belated birthday greetings! Glad you had a lovely day.....

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    1. Thanks, Sian. Nice and quiet with an excellent meal - just as I like it. :-)

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  31. I'm so sorry I'm late, but I do wish you a very happy Birthday. Yes- I see the resemblence. You still have the blond hair. Hehe! Love Sue

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    1. Thanks, Sue. I had a lovely day. So I still have the blond hair, do I? I wish! It's getting greyer and more unmanageable by the day. :-)

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  32. VERY late,so glad you had a lovely day. The warm smile and twinkly eyes are unchanged.

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    1. Thanks, Catriona. You've been so busy that I'm not sure how you find time to write your own blog, let alone keep up other people's. :-)

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  33. Even later: yes, I am happy to say that your smiling eyes are just the same, sixty years on. Many happy returns!

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    1. Thanks, DB. There is no such thing as too late. :-) With all your other commitments I'm amazed you find time to go back over posts you may have missed.

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I welcome your comments and will always try to respond to them. Thank you for reading.