I was 42 this week. This is apparently the cut-off date for youth, as my mother gave me one of those magnetic arthritis bracelets*, and my optician expressed amazement that I did not require reading glasses. My mother in law, however, gave me a very welcome fifty quid to spend on clothes, and I am tempted to spend some of it ordering a t-shirt with the slogan 'Still Got All Me Own Teeth You Know!' on the front. :-D

We took a day off and went to the beach - and for a change, it was brilliant sunshine all day. I would have taken photos, only having remembered camera, spare batteries, and a whole bag of lenses, I forgot the camera card. So you will just have to imagine Chloe paddling joyfully in rockpools, Az stealing an unguarded chip at the beach cafe, Amber being a *very* good dog and Brythen bouncing pretty much non-stop, and making friends with every person and dog on the beach. Also my seafood salad at the beach cafe, which came with THREE sorts of prawns, and crab, and was delicious. Az, at 14, finally seems to have got over his terror of cafes! Another fear conquered, well done Az!

We didn't make a cake, but Pp bought me some cake pops (made by his hairdresser as a charity fundraiser, I think). Cake pops seem to be a strange phenomenon. They are like tiny cakes on sticks. They are quite pretty, but what an odd idea!

Speaking of cake, I am determined at some point to have a go at this rainbow cake flavoured with natural ingredients. I love the look of rainbow cake but the idea that all the colours are just dyes is a bit offputting, I think. Though I'm a little dubious about whether beetroot will really work as a dye. Every time I've tried making cake with beetroot it's gone either brown or orange. :-/

*to be fair, it is a very pretty bracelet, all anglo-saxon swirly birds. I am wearing it right now. You never know when arthritis might be lurking! If it leaps on me (I imagine it as a sort of long-legged shaggy sloth thing), I shall parry it dramatically with the Power of Magnets.