Hopalong Hollow....

Hopalong Hollow, where the Blueberries grow sweet, and the moss feels soft beneath your feet.

Friday, October 1, 2010

The birthday girl is a sourpuss!

 Well, THAT birthday girl is!
But I am not a sourpuss, even though I am having an UNEVEN numbered birthday today. For some weird reason, I do not like odd numbered birthdays. And this one's  a biggie... well, some people might think so, like my boys who jokingly call me "old woman". (They are grown-ups and should know better. Didn't their mother teach them any manners??!!) . So I sit here contemplating my hair, with an increasing number of gray strands, which I prefer to call silver strands. I rather like them. Honestly, I wish I had more of those lovely silver threads. The Lord of the Manor has a whole head full and he is 2 years younger than I!    T isn't fair!


Now, I heard tell that "women of a certain age", whatever THAT means, should cut their hair to look more youthful... put away childish things, like braids and such. HA! I REFUSE! In fact, if I am fortunate to continue with a long life ( mom is 83) and my hair does not fall out, I intend to protest such a notion by allowing my hair to grow and grow and grow... like an aging Rapunzel. And when I am 83, should I be so blessed, I will wrap my long white braids round and round my head in a halo of wispy loveliness befitting an old woman artist and gardener. Indeed!


Contemplating my aging hands is a whole other matter. Oh dear! The best I can say is that these are hard working, industrious hands..They have bathed babies, soothed brows, kneaded bread, stuffed turkeys, dug ditches, swung a hammer, strummed a harp, spun and woven wool, lain rock, sheared sheep, trimmed hooves, sawed wooden pickets, sewn quilts, created art, planted seeds, gathered eggs, chopped wood, and on and on and on. Aren't  our hands just the most marvelous creations!!! I have even learned to love the look of my rugged, knotty fingers.
So, I guess having an odd numbered birthday isn't so bad when you look at it in a  a positive light.
No need to be a Sourpuss!

17 comments:

  1. And how lovely those working hands look against the background of gorgeous pencil sketches! Happy birthday, odd numbered though it is. :O)

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  2. Dear Sweet Jeri ~ Happy Birthday to you! I also refuse to cut or color my hair and also sometimes wear it in a braid. I'd love to know how to braid my hair like you do. I suppose once I learned to do it it would be easy. Your hair is really thick and lovely.

    Your hands are lovely, hard working and creative, caring hands. Mine are getting knottier, and ache more these days.

    Here's a toast to aging gracefully, living our lives peacefully, creatively, lovingly.

    Enjoy your birthday.

    Love and hugs ~ FlowerLady

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  3. Happy uneven birthday dear Jeri. Let's just say any birthdays are welcomed considering what the alternative is.
    What beautiful thick hair you have! I would love it wrapped in a bun. I cut mine about 8 years ago and most days I regret having shorter hair.
    Enjoy your day!

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  4. Dear Jeri, Wishing you joyful celebration on your uneven birthday! Isn't it amazing all the things hands do within a lifetime? You said it so well and I read it nodding my head. I must say though, the silver threads came to me way too soon and I've been covering them since my late twenties and I'm still not ready to let them shine through...perhaps next year.

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  5. Loved this post, don't want to cut my hair either, have many times but not lately. I love yours. Those hands are so talented and full of love, many blessings to you Rapunzel, Gina

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  6. Happy Birthday Jeri

    Your french braid is just beautiful.. Six years ago my hair what just that length.. I also used to wear it in a braid.. I cut it off, sent it to Locks of Love and every few years I wack it off again. I do miss my long hair, but am enjoying it short.
    I think our hands are a map of our life..
    Yours are beautiful.
    Enjoy your weekend.
    Penny

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  7. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!I LIKE TO SEE A WORKERS HANDS AND A FACE FILLED WITH WRINKLES!IT SHOWS A LIFE LIVED WELL AND FULL!GOD BLESS YOU WITH MANY MORE!

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  8. Well said, Jeri, and I'll try to remember it when my biggie of an odd birthday rolls around in January.

    I love my gardener's hands although my hair...well, let's say I should buy stock in Clairol!

    Happiest of birthdays to you and a year filled with smiles and sunshine! ((Hugs))

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  9. JERI!!! BON ANNIVERSAIRE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS!!!!! Dearest, I am NOT dying my hair, I am NOT giving in to all the MUDD slung around us that we have to do this, do that.....YOU ARE GORGEOUS and do you know that I will be 53 and it isn't phasing me...WE ARE CREATORS and we are too busy laughing, loving, digging, scrubbing, nailing, painting, strumming our harps, etc.....If we had nothing to do, then we would have all the time to think about our grays, but WE ARE TALE TELLERS and that suits me just fine. Oh your silver locks are simply divine....Blessings, Anita

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  10. I am sending you belated birthday greetings, I had an odd numbered birthday also this week. I am 57, there I said it, not so bad after all!
    May you and your hands continue creating and enriching our lives.

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  11. Oh, I thank all of you, my birthday well-wishers! How kind you are. And I will say it too, Valerie, 57 years old!

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  12. 57?????OH YEAH! BRING IT ON....I pray that I can still strum the harp, walk with Ruben around the lakes, in Paris and up the Eiffel tower, and grays be dam.......LIFE IS TOO GOOD and you are so sweet to come to visit..Rapunzel, Rapunzel, LET DOWN YOUR HAIR! You are gorgeous and keep going!!!

    Much love, Anita

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  13. Jeri ~ To me the last year of any decade seems the pits, but once into the next one it's better. I turned 61 this past March.

    You are such an inspiration to me.

    FlowerLady

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  14. belated happy birthday!! your hair is lovely... mine is getting too long and mine does fall out and break off...time for a snip with mine methinks....

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  15. I love the philosophy behind this post of yours Jeri - as well as admiring your wonderful illustrations as always - and am green with envy at your head of thick, abundant hair. Lucky you! Lesley

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  16. I am new to all this...wandering around the net looking for illustrations of catsand found your site!!! what joy!! As for age...no such thing...66 years and still learning, loving, doing and saving time for those things I will do when I am 99...I figure if my grandmother did it so can I. Thanks so much for your insight and this magical place...I will check in again, often.
    JaCo

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