A good life at any age
11 June 2021 | Life-Style
I’m itching to travel and decide to have a 3 day minibreak in Port Fairy. It’s all spur of the moment and I feel that buzz of excitement of new adventures at last. The cat looks perplexed as I make bookings and then the black overnight bag is hauled out of the closet. She knows this means trouble. Whenever this bag appears Gracie cat hurls herself under the bed to sulk. The neighbours are on feed cat duty, a stone cottage is booked in Port Fairy and I hurl my bags into the car with that wilful, wild look in my eyes that usually find me at Heathrow airport… ah well on a Covid travel scale- 3 and a bit hours from Melbourne is the wildest I’ll get.
There’s that sense of freedom and adventure. I last went to Port Fairy 10 plus years ago. I remember stone cottages, dairy cow country and wild beaches.. and the cheese factory at the nearby town of Warrnambool..that’s it. I know the area has become hugely popular for tree and sea changers and property prices have exploded. It’s an area 3 hours plus from Melbourne where Irish migrants settled and place names like Killarney are found. I love driving and the miles roll by until I decide to stop in a little country town for morning tea. There are 2 cafes. One a chip shop smelling of fried food so I head to other with lace curtains and tables all set for the throng of customers that never come.
I order my skinny, double shot flat white but I’m stopped at the first post.
” Skinny Milk? ” she says. ” Love this is dairy country. Don’t you want the real stuff. It tastes so much better.”
Read More
Instagram ‘s a funny thing. As I scrolled and liked my way through the day’s posts I came across Retiring_Not_Shy and smiled. Clever. Funny. A woman who models my kind of clothes. Months pass and I post a shout-out for people to be interviewed for my book 50 Faces: 50…
16 August 2021 | 50 Faces 50 Lives
This week I met a remarkable man. Let me set the scene. It’s my first interview in over a year for my Ageing Well book. For the past year a Covid world made meeting people a risky business. So today I’m as excited as a kid at Christmas as I…
26 March 2021 | 50 Faces 50 Lives
I published this article after an interview with Petrus Spronk in November 2019..it seems like light years ago! It was one of the highlights of the research for my book and I’ll never forget encountering the creative mind in all its purity and the outstanding talent of this great artist….
19 February 2021 | 50 Faces 50 Lives
The perfect film for the holiday season has just hit the big screen. House of Gucci directed by Ridley Scott is delightful, beautiful to look at and with a story that is gently intriguing. It’s a film that demands little emotional energy from the viewer. Just sit back, relax and…
2 January 2022 | Arts
Ok….. Some questions for you…… What are the books you read this year that you enjoyed? What are the memorable TV programs, films or streamed programming? What music/ podcasts/ courses did you enjoy in 2021 Summer is my favourite time to catch up on ” distractions.” As the mid-day heat…
15 December 2021 | Arts
I do like a great photo! Cartier- Bresson, Richard Avedon, Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Annie Liebowitz, Diane Arbus….wonderful! Art exhibitions have been severely affected by the restrictions of this Covid year but in the midst of the chaos, Ballarat Art Gallery in regional Victoria managed to open its doors to…
19 November 2021 | Arts
” Perch where the wind comes at you full-force. Let it blow you apart till your feathers fly and you look like hell. Then abandon yourself. The wind is not your enemy, Nothing in life is. Go where the wind takes you- backwards- higher, lower. The wind to carry you…
9 June 2022 | Life-Style
Let me set the scene. Lesley and I returned from a L_O_N_G 5 – day trip through the Scottish Highlands late last night. The days started early and the schedule was strenuous, so we agreed to have a couple of days to ourselves before leaving for Inverness. And it’s raining…..
17 May 2022 | Life-Style
” What will my ventures entail, as I begin on this unknown trail, even through the rain and clouds, nature’s beauty still shines proud. The vivid greens and ice-cold streams is what true beauty means.” (The Yorkshire Dales by Gemma Alexander) My obsession with TV programs like All Creatures Great…
6 May 2022 | Life-Style
On the day Qantas re-opened International flights after 2 years of Covid, I faced a major dilemma. My shower kept blocking up. I could fix it with one of those rubber suction squashy things, but I knew that I should probably call the plumber. Then there’s the dodgy drain-pipe that…
7 June 2022 | Living Well
How are those New Year’s resolutions going? A Forbes magazine article from 2019 reports that after one week 25% of people have given up their resolutions and after 6 months only 46% of people are keeping their resolutions. And guess what?……. 80% of new year resolutions were about losing weight…
3 February 2022 | Living Well
Dear Viva70 Readers It’s been nearly 3 years since a glimmer in my eye and a half – baked idea about a magazine for the over 50’s bounced into my consciousness. ” What if…..?” are two of the most powerful words in our language. When imagination and passion meet, they…
15 December 2021 | Living Well