My birthday...

.... earlier this week.

And  from first  light, I  was spoiled!  

The  first  person  to call  me,  was MIL Pam.  She's  almost 90,  struggles to  see, so one of the  helpers n the retirement home  dialed  my number and  she got through to me.

 I was subsequently wished on Whatsapp, Facebook and with phone calls  all through the day. Thank you to many of my Blogger friends who  wished me on  FB! 

Steve and Estelle invited me  too  breakfast at  The Valley Bakery before work. What a lovely start  to my  day. Caroline (Estelle's SIL and a dear  friend  of mine) and Carol,  another friend, joined us!

 Estelle, Steve,  Moi,, Caroline and Carol 

 My health  breakfast

During the day I  was inundated with phone calls and  messages.  Both my sons phoned me; I  reiterated to John,  older son, that I  sincerely  appreciated the fact that he continues to pay  my dear house-lady, Thandiwe's monthly salary. Not  only  is she such  a wonderful carer of my pets at home;  cleans  my house and does the laundry (especially the heavy linen from my accommodation) but she, as  a widow has an  income. 

Then,  at midday a courier arrived with  a parcel for me. I told the deliverer that I hadn't  ordered anything but he pointed to the name and address  on the  box and  said the parcel was for me.  I sent a  photo of the parcel to my younger son, Angus and asked if he knew anything about it? He replied: Open it! 

I did and was thrilled to see a brand new two-slice toaster inside. Last week on  the phone, I told Angus that I'd dropped my toaster off the top of the kitchen cabinet. Grant had  loved his toast for breakfast and while I don't eat regular breakfast at home (I eat overnight oats and yogurt at work), I do miss the toaster when I  feel like a light supper of baked beans on toast. Angus said he "heard" and acted. 

A few minutes later,  Amanda phoned and  was pleased that I liked  my gift! 

At one stage I  opened my Whatsapp and there was one  message from a walking partner at our monthly after work trail  run (walk!)   Marelize is yonks younger than me and does  the .Parkrun in a much faster time than I do. Yet, once a month, she and I take part in  the trail run at a brewery near my shop. It, like the Parkrun,  is also 5km long, but this time over rough terrain and through plantations and crossing a  river. So on THAT walk,  we walk and chat,  normally ending at the start / finish point as the  last  two walkers. We take an hour plus to do this walk whereas in Parkrun,  she covers  the distance in  43 minutes or less while  I always aim  to  finish at sub 45 minutes. The difference  is that on the monthly trail run, we have, over time, formed a special friendship. Marelize owns a business just down the road from my work - Scrumpy Jacks. It's a gift shop and restaurant and while she sells delicious cookies and yummy things like peanut brittle and ginger pieces, her husband does weekly tours in his glass bee-hive. Of course, having a bee-hive, Marelize sells pure and raw honey - by the kilogram tub. I only eat raw and non-irridiated honey, and always buy from Marelize. The morning of my birthday, Marelize sent me a birthday wish and asked me to please stop at her shop: she had a tub of honey as a gift for me ! What a generous present! 

Marelize, me and Tiger after our after-work 5km trail run walk

After work that day, I attended our monthly Probus committee meeting. The trusty committee (LOL) meets the Wednesday after the monthly meeting which takes place the previous Thursday. We go over the last meeting and plan for the next month's meeting. After this we all partake of the seven-course meal at the Nest Hotel - at a greatly reduced rate -  where we hold our committee meetings. This evening though, proprietors Shelley and Stuart refused to take my payment. The meal was on them! When we left, Shelley handed me an envelope. Inside was a personalized birthday card containing a voucher for a meal for two.  Another most generous gift! How blessed was I?

And it didn't end there!

Early the next morning , Janine, my neighbor arrived at my door with a gift for me. A beautiful winter dressing gown and  a tub of fragrant body butter.

From left, a winter dressing gown, body butter, hand lotion, 1kg of raw honey, a cosmetic bag of skincare (from Estelle) my personalized birthday card from the hoteliers with the voucher in front of it and my new toaster!  

And STILL the gifts continued to pour in! 

On Thursday at my Weigh-Less group, several members brought me gifts. 

 I find this the exciting part of receiving a gift - anticipating what's in/under the wrapping! 

 More beautiful,  fragrant body and bath products: A shower gel, a bag of bath salts, shower foam, body lotion and exfoliator. PLUS a soft feminine scarf! 

 While I was photographing my gifts, my images were...

... photobombed!  (Missy always has to be  the center of attraction! )

I wish you all a wonderful Friday !