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About Helen Benbow |
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Interview |
Friends' Words | ||||||
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 July 20th, 2001 - Birthday In between my last blog to you, I turned seventy…15th July saw me reach that infamous three score year and ten. First of all let me say I'm pleasantly surprised to say its great being 70. I like it better than any age I've ever been. I've not minded getting old - look at the alternative? - then again I don't mind that either…Anyway I've never felt so at peace or contented. Now I want to assure you I'm not smug or complacent about this seventy thing, but perhaps because this old ship has weathered so many storms it believes it can weather whatever else is in store. My younger daughter, Penny, organised the best day of my life. She gave me a superb birthday party at her farm in the Wattagans. A picturesque valley about 20 minutes away from me. There were twenty of my closest friends awaiting my arrival and I was totally stunned to see all those people - many who had come up from Sydney - look, it was such a blast. The food was out of this world, and the menu well, you'll see that eventually as it not only covers on the 'menu' page myself at 52 sailing in The Great Barrier Reef, on the back my elder daughter, Candace, put together a montage of my life and my children and friends. We all had a fabulous day, not one sour note and the weather was perfect. We sat around a long table out on Pen and Martin's verandah (her partner of nearly 30 years) and the atmosphere was rich with love and laughter and food and grog. I've always had a dream of travelling on one of our historic trains, the famous Ghan, to Alice Springs where Ayers Rock, that mighty monolith, stands. And just our ancient land anyway. So, my daughters handed me a large box and told me to be careful, it was fragile. Upon opening same, there were two logs of wood for the fireplace…and a birthday card. I opened the envelope to find a first class ticket on the Ghan leaving September 2 for The Alice. I've three days in Alice so I'll certainly go on a camel ride to the Olgas, another magnificent collection of rocks out in the desert, or the Dead Heart as we Aussies think of it. I may be sore for a day or four but what the heck, I'll recover. My elder daughter assisted in every way possible to help as well as creating this fabulous menu. She cut acres of lawn and oiled fences and posts and tarted up the farm so that it looked pretty good. What a way to turn 70 - and then on the 15th I had more friends over to my place for a bbcue. I went to bed with the sparrows that night to recover... I really enjoyed hearing from Soul and Vanessa, so drop me a line on the Discussion Board, I'll respond. Hooroo for now, Helen Helen's birthday photos:
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