Blogging… What’s that? Apparently something that dropped off my “to do” list sometime during my trip to Australia, back in the springtime of last year. I was simply having too much fun being with my sister and living in the moment in the land of Oz to spend time writing about it.

Somehow, a whole decade of time had flown away since my last visit to my sister. Our kids are now adults and our lives have changed, but our love for one another is undiminished and my trip was just the best thing ever.

Since then I’ve travelled to Sweden and Greece and Cornwall and Spain and Prague (all courtesy of my travel-loving partner of over 35 years), made lots of bears (and a few crows) and done a couple of very successful local craft fairs.

Whilst in Australia, with my sister’s encouragement, I started the process of getting fit. Her home exercise bike and gentle nagging finally made me get up off my sedentary backside and, not wanting to lose the progress I had made, I joined a gym when I got home. I am happy to say that I’m now two stones lighter and a lot stronger and fitter than when I arrived in Australia in March 2024. It hasn’t stopped time from flying ever onwards, but it has made me appreciate that I am still able to take some control over my ageing body.

The fitness thing also helps me to keep my worries at bay – not just about getting older, but about the world, my precarious finances and wondering what the future will bring.

Age-wise, I suppose I’m Gen X, though perhaps somewhere near the (seemingly quite flexible) border between that and boomer – next year I will be sixty.
SIXTY?!! How did THAT happen?! The extraordinary thing that happens to us all if we’re lucky to live long enough, is happening to me: time has flown by and I’m getting old. Somewhat disconcertingly, the world of today is no longer recognisable as the world of my youth, let alone my childhood. And life isn’t quite the picnic I thought it would be by this time of my life.

But I’m still here, for which I am incredibly grateful, having lost two close friends who weren’t as lucky.

Next year will be a difficult one though, as change is in the air. I actually don’t make enough money to carry on as I am and so, whether I like it or not, I will have to go out and get a job. It’s a prospect that quite frankly terrifies me. As well as getting old (ageism is rife in the job market, apparently) I haven’t had a proper job since 2011 – nor an interview since 2009! – and whatever skills I had back then are 15 years out of date now, so please wish me luck.

As much as I love making things and being at home, I can’t go on as I am because I simply can’t afford to. Which might mean some changes for modflowers over the next few months. I really hope to have the time and energy to go on making things, but it is possible that I won’t.

So if you want me to make you something, do get in touch.

It just might be your last chance. ♥