A landmark birthday

Thank you all so much for the warm birthday wishes I received yesterday. They meant the world - I’m truly blessed to have so many wonderful friends. It’s not every day a girl turns 70. Huge thanks to my love and life partner, Shane Jones, not just for making the day especially memorable, but for his strength and support, particularly over the past 12 months. I couldn’t have managed a quarter of what I’ve achieved without him. Needless to add, Alice was on hand to help us celebrate. Although Shane and I did get out and about (our very full day was sandwiched between breakfast at the Yacht Club on Lake Wendouree and dinner at historic Craig’s Hotel) these photos were snapped in our upstairs cinema room. The flowers are from Sue and Barbara, two very dear friends in London. For health reasons, I’m not supposed to be going overboard with cake, so we comprised with two cupcakes. They are rather dwarfed by the candles - after all, 70 is a big number. 

A true Renaissance man, Shane has been studying guitar and musical composition over the past year. As a surprise birthday gift, he composed a short, exquisite work for guitar, Deborah’s Pictures, and commissioned his music teacher, guitar virtuoso Daniel Nistico, to perform the work against a backdrop of my prints and paintings, thanks to the wonders of technology. Directly below is a fragment of the music, followed by a screenshot of the recital. The link to Daniel’s superb performance is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdCwXi3bdLI 

Thanks again, everyone.