This month Viva 70 welcomes Graeme Leith as a guest writer to our pages.  Apart from being a talented winemaker and founder of Passing Clouds vineyard, Graeme is a prolific writer and published author. His storytelling and dry wit is legendary and I think I’ve nearly cajoled and harassed him…

The PBS News Hour program is fabulous. I stumbled across it here in Melbourne by accident channel surfing on a particularly bleak rainy day. It’s on SBS Viceland at 4.10pm weekdays. I’m sure its streamed on other media too. On Friday I saw an interview with Jane Fonda. It made…

In Australia’s cooler climes November is the last month of spring. In my garden the birch trees are laden with catkins, the ornamental grape has clusters of fine powdery seeds, lavenders and roses bloom and pollens abound. This month our resident wellness expert, Julia Richards has sent through a very…

In a recent 50 Faces 50 Lives article I wrote about the two most transformative events of my life- the birth of my son and having him in my life and the experience in 1998 of a complete physical and mental breakdown. Let me point out that these 2 events…

Welcome back to our Wellness expert  and Viva 70 contributor, Julia Richards. Julia is a medical herbalist in her practice in Yorkshire and patients often ask her for ways of improving their sleep. As we age, our sleeping patterns change and this month she provides some specific, practical advice about…

I recently reported on a Melbourne Fashion Week forum that I attended, where the issue of older women being invisible was raised and dismissed in the same breath. ” Invisible? Invisible to the male gaze? Who cares?!” suggested the  panel member. One of Viva70’s greatest supporters Maureen Moffat who lives…

Outside my window the garden is bursting with life while birds flit from tree to tree in the sunlight and chatter to each other incessantly. The sun shines vivaciously. But it’s teasing. Its companion is an icy wind that finds the folds and crevasses of my clothing and makes it…

This is another article in the series about love and relationships in later life. We’ve looked at the shape of relationships in our 60’s plus, living solo and Linda and Al’s beautiful article about finding love in 1970’s. Dating in your 60’s is a whole different world……… I googled dating…

This week we continue our romp through the land of love, dating and relationships. I’m so excited to welcome Al and Linda Straub to Viva 70 as creative contributors. We met some years ago. Our paths cross every few months and it doesn’t matter how long it’s been, our stories…