The slideshow

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When I began creating the slideshow, it was intended to be a Christmas greeting to post a bit later on, but the seasonal templates offered by the host company did not work for me, and the Celebration one caught my fancy. Suddenly it struck me: here I was sitting at my computer late in the evening, at the end of a damp, dark, depressing day in November, typical of my birthdays, and wishing it to be over. I had been out briefly to buy some batteries for the microlights on my mini Christmas tree, but that was all. It was not a day for doing things, and that is the sad truth of it.



The night before I had eaten a birthday supper with my son and his family in the village, and another son who was visiting. But the only bright spot in this day had been a brief visit from a friend, who brought me pots of special jam and marmalade which she had made herself. Two of my sons had not remembered at all. Not exactly a celebration in style, I am afraid, but it is a sad fact of life, I fear, that while our generation continues struggling to remember the birthdays of children and grandchildren, they in their turn tend to forget, struggling, as they often have to, to live their own lives.



So why not end the day by turning my slideshow into a birthday one instead, and celebrate my own life? I am so glad I did. The messages I have received here have done much to offset the drearyness of yesterday. And after all, I had a celebration in style last year, for my 80th - I shouldn't be greedy.

[You will find full length pictures of some of the video shots in my post on Dressing Up.]