It’s a long time since I wrote a blog post….I’m sorry about that and I have no excuse. Indeed, I have been thinking about it but haven’t been able to come up with any ideas for a post, though occasionally, as I’ve been on the point of falling asleep, I’ve thought of something only to have forgotten it by the next day!

This blog started as a set of things which happen to people as they get older as well as a load of memories to help my family know and remember things that happened in my childhood and right up to my old age.

I found myself wishing, earlier today, that my mother had written such posts. I have a memory of being pulled in a ‘one-horse open sleigh” by my father up Convers Avenue in Zanesville when I was very young. I don’t remember snow, I do remember that it was dark outside. BUT, I realise that this may not be a memory of something that really happened but the memory of a dream which had made a big impression on me. There is no one left alive who would be able to tell me what is the truth about this memory – and that makes me sad!

Now, about old age. Did you know that when you get old (and that could be anytime from 40 to 90!) your eyelids can stick to your eyeballs? I only found this out a few weeks ago when I woke up one morning and found that my left eye wouldn’t open; it was stuck somehow. Before I could get too panicky, I was able to open it. I looked it up on Google and found that it’s because the natural moisture that lubricates your eyes has started to dry up a bit. I know that I have a touch of macular degeneration and this is likely behind the problem.

Another thing that has bothered me for several years is cramps in my feet, toes, and legs. Julian used to tell me about the cramps he got when younger and I thought he was being a bit dramatic but, yes, there are cramps that mean your big toe points upwards. There are also cramps that go up the outer calf of your leg, cramps that make your foot turn towards the side and even cramps in your thigh. Finally, I worked out that wearing flat shoes can make me have cramps in my feet and legs and sitting in one position on a hard chair can suddenly cause a cramp in my thigh. But I also found out that I can keep most leg cramps away by drinking tonic water every few days. I found this out by working out what I had been doing differently upon realising I hadn’t had a cramp for weeks. (Since then, people who already knew this have affirmed the fact that tonic water helps stop cramps.)

Nowadays, I laugh out loud when I see adverts with women in their early forties worrying about ‘wrinkles’, ie almost invisible laugh lines on the outer side of their eyes. For real wrinkles, look at women in their late seventies (who haven’t used Botox!).

I will admit that I haven’t done anything to keep my face wrinkle-free. I have fallen into bed without a rigorous cleanse, forgotten to put on my moisturiser in the morning and have slept most nights with at least half of my face buried in my pillow. But, I was born with good genes (as far as skin goes, anyway) and was wrinkle-free until my seventies – except for the frown lines between my eyebrows. Only this past year have the laugh-lines become apparent and I’ve noticed that the skin under my eyes has become a bit ‘baggy’. I think the collagen, or whatever it’s called, has deserted me😩

Other changes since I have got older, have been in my nails which have the dreaded ‘ridges’ which occasionally form a little split on the top edge, which can be difficult to deal with; in my hair, which I’ve complained about before in a post; in the skin on my neck, which suddenly resembles that of a turkey; and in an unmentionable part of my body which has been suffering from something horrifically called ‘lichen sclerosis’. I won’t scare you with the details of that!

In about four months I will have reached the beginning of my ninth decade. Women in my mother’s side of the family usually live until they are in their nineties, though their final three or four years are usually not full of fun. So, I may have another eight or ten years of reasonable life – assuming Putin doesn’t carry out his threats!

Now, one thing I’ve found out during the last fifty or so years is that each year seems to go by more quickly than the previous ones which means the next few years are going to whizz by! Am I scared? No, though I am a bit annoyed. All of the most interesting things that are coming to the world in the next few decades will happen without my knowing – maybe teleporting (being able to go from one place to another without taking any form of transport); cures for the most hideous diseases (my sister, Judy, if she had been alive today, would have had a treatment for her cancer and possibly even a cure); man landing on Mars or travelling to another galaxy; and all the million and one things that I can’t even imagine.

But – it’s nearly Christmas! I love this time of year! Not the weather, it’s usually too cold. I love the busyness of buying and wrapping presents, planning meals and ordering the food, decorating the house, remembering to have crackers and tins of chocolate and cakes and biscuits and, best of all, seeing my family for the first time in ages and sitting around with teas and gin and wine and plates of turkey and roast potatoes…..whew!

Then, suddenly, it’ll be next year with my next term of painting lessons online, days getting longer (hooray!), and (ugh!) dieting to get rid of all the weight I’ve put on in the last months.

Have a wonderful Christmas/Hanukkah/Alban Arthan or whatever you might call your celebration time.

And, may the New Year bring peace to the world and a happiness to us all!