Jean & Ursula, 2017
Dear Ann,
Birthdays come around every year. All I can say is that I am very glad to be here to celebrate the happy occasions. However, it was a bit of a shock when I realised that Jean’s birthday was upon us in August & I hadn’t seen her at all throughout this year.
Jean has not enjoyed the best of health in recent years & never knows how she is going to be each morning, so in her positive way she just takes each day as it comes dealing with it as best she can. Therefore it is not wise for friends to arrive on her doorstep as a surprise & Ursula & I needed to plan Jean’s birthday with the lass herself.
Jean moved out into the country a couple of years ago to get as much of the good clean country air as possible & it takes a little time to get there. Also it takes a little bit of good navigating!. So when we conferred with Jean, it was decided that her friends would arrive on the happy day complete with the lunch to save her the trouble.
This wasn’t as easy as it sounded as, even though we made the trip without fault last year it was the opposite this year in making wrong turns. I was the driver & completely out of my comfort zone. Between Ursula & I, we took no less than four wrong turns.
The first of these was the funniest. As I pulled up in a quiet country street where a lady was putting out some unwanted goods for what we call Council Pickup. This occurs twice a year when we are permitted to put out anything on hand that we no longer deem necessary & is too large for the ordinary weekly collection. This is all left on the side of the road & could possibly be there for a couple of weeks prior to the Council getting to that particular area.
So when I stopped the car & alighted, I started to cross the road to where the lady was. She immediately thought I was coming to check over what she was putting out to be taken. Lots of of people drive by to see if there is anything worth having , mostly people looking for something worthwhile to either sell or reuse themselves – it is a common practice.
I was half way across the road when she told me there was absolutely nothing that could be reused, it was all moth eaten etc! I assured her I wasn’t looking for anything as all I needed was directions to get to the Retirement Village looking out onto the golf course. She apologised profusely (I told her not to worry) & she was a real doll & gave me some helpful directions.
We had a few more stops & starts until we arrived at our destination. It had got quite late for lunch & Jean was out the front of her delightful little house to greet us so we, & the lunch, got taken inside pronto.
It didn’t take many minuted to display the heap of sandwiches that Ursula brought, plus the slices of Christmas pudding that I brought. Jean had the kettle boiling for our hot beverage. A friend of Jean’s from three doors up the road arrived to keep us company.
It became quite a joyous occasion as we placed our birthday bags in front of our hostess to open. It’s always difficult to know what to give to senior citizens, so this year I gave Jean a nice set of cosmetic stuff that she can use like special perfumed soap, body creams etc. which she seemed to like. But I think more so when she opened up a pack of 3 little jars I put together of my Curried Zucchini Relish. I do find that older people enjoy getting some home made produce that I usually pop into the gift bag.
The trip home was uneventful, which I was thankful for because at that time winter was not over & I am not keen on driving after dark. We needed to leave early as night time was closing in around 5 p.m. It had been a very enjoyable day, seeing as we hadn’t seen Jean all year.
Ursula, Jean and Dawn on Ursula’s Birthday.
Then a month went by & it was 7th September & Ursula’s birthday, although she calls all her birthdays her 24th! I made sure there was a pack of relish for Ursula too as she let it be known that she rather liked Jean’s pack.
She & I had arranged to meet at Micheles Patisserie for the occasion. On the day I found I was out of birthday bags. Ursula likes unusual things, so I had a brain wave. Some years before Richard had given me a vibrant shopping bag with many scenes printed on it from Burbank. I think it was made available for their centenary celebration. I decided to use that for a birthday bag hoping that Richard would not mind. Ursula loved it.
Anyway to get back to the beginning of the celebration! I was waiting for Ursula to arrive & who should come walking in but Jean. We were not expecting her as she hadn’t been too well, so this was quite a surprise & nice for Ursula to have her long time friend in attendance unexpectedly.
So we had our lunch & got busy with the birthday giving, once everything was cleared away. Believe me when I say that no one I know takes more time to undo birthday gifts than Ursula. She has been known to take hours. I think it is something inherited from her native country, Germany.
She seems to prefer taking them home to unwrap, which may be the German custom, but we Australians like seeing the reaction when our gifts are opened.
Next to the pack of relish her favourite gift was a soft scarf I had purchased to match the evening bag I had for her. The bag went by the board as she fell in love with the scarf & wrapped it around her neck where it stayed until we were about to leave.
As for the Burbank Birthday Bag, she said that was going to be hung on the wall in her home where she can see it every day. Richard should not be disappointed at me regifting it.
We had almost finished unpacking the gifts when I had another tremendous surprise. I think I had hold you before about my friend, Sarah, turning up at a party when only four days prior I had prayed I would see her soon & couldn’t contact her as I had no details about her.
You could have knocked me over with a feather when I looked up & saw her smiling beside our table. It was a shock as I never expected to see her so soon after my prayer. I jumped up & gave her such a hug before introducing her to my friends.
It made the day all the more special especially as she was soon into deep conversation with Ursula & from the story Sarah told us how she came to be directed to Micheles, I think she was directed there for more than one reason. Apparently Ursula was looking for some advice about a problem she had & to be able to talk it over with Sarah was of great comfort I gathered.
It was a fitting end to a very lovely day which we all enjoyed.
My Fondest Love Always. Dawn X O X O