Once Upon a Time ...

This photograph was taken exactly 70 years ago. My birthday dress was a forgotten color -- there was only black and white film available in the countryside for a little Brownie camera. But I am fairly certain the bow was pink. I know the bush behind me was spirea. The Brownie was used lavishly that day because I have a couple of other pictures from the same afternoon party.

Seventy years? It hardly seems possible I could have so much of life, so many experiences chalked up to all the days and weeks and months and years. But I am not going to dwell on what all of it was. My feeling is that I have recently entered the last quarter of my life -- that is not a depressing thought -- in fact it is an optimistic one. I know it's not going to last much longer than that but truly hope it does last that long because every other quarter has been a wonder to live through and I expect this to be also. If you think about it in sports terms, in the fourth quarter is when the decisive plays are made, the real surprises happen and the greatest challenges are met. Life is surely the same.

The day has been a lovely blue sky one. My two daughters and I spent much of the morning at a botanical garden, a little sad the early spring meant the rhododendrons had disappeared but it was a lovely "Plantation". Then granddaughter and new great-grandson met us for lunch at a very lovely tearoom. That was a couple of hours ago and I still feel replete from the lunch. I'm ready for the year ahead and for as many more as can be added on to it.