This is lovely, Max. Happy Birthday. You have obviously done a lot of right
things with people - and boy did your party bring it back in spades, or, it
would seem, the touch of silk scarves. Thanks for spreading it around!
Stephen V
http://stephenvincent.net/blog/
> What I Got
>
> What did I get
> for my seventieth?
> Two sweet emails and two
> phone calls from New Zealand,
> my loved home country.
> A book voucher worth
> rather more than I am,
> still burning my pocket.
> Silk ties from Thailand,
> from my globetrotting son;
> gloves and scarves from Italy,
> from my globetrotting
> daughter and son-in-law;
> all just back home - there's
> a gift - safe and sound.
>
> Two desired recent
> books from New Zealand,
> fiction and verse,
> both by C.K.Stead,
> who taught me in '62 -
> from our mutual friend.
>
> A big party at our place
> with dozens of smiling faces.
> Bottles of good red wine
> in bright wrappers,
> one of scotch, and one (historic)
> of Pimms Number One Cup.
> A vroom-vroom toy car
> made of coca-cola tin.
>
> A statuette by my friend
> titled 'The Storyteller'
> but his face is featureless,
> Išll be tempted to add
> eyes and a smile.
>
> Graphic art by two other friends,
> one satirical of bookshops
> and their patrons like me,
> one of Beijing dogs on Beijing paper,
> with advice on how to frame it
> (not cheap), and an offer
> to do our pup's portrait -
> it would take two days.
>
> An hour of songs sung by
> Kate and Ruth, in tune with
> their guitars and banjo
> (see their website for their
> range and quality),
> their 'Boots of Spanish Leather'
> unaccompanied lovely-sad.
>
> A Lebanese banquet from
> Dunyazad in nearby Greythorn,
> much relished by every guest
> (scarcely sampled by me
> so busy talking).
>
> A round of offerings
> musical and poetical:
> starting with a song about me
> adapted from Mac the Knifeš;
> a wicked Tom Lehrer song
> sensational for those
> too young first time round;
>
> a prolonged skirl on the Scottish pipes
> which most wished longer;
> a Chopin mazurka with soul
> on our little-used piano.
> Three earnest poems from
> three earnest poets, including me.
>
> John Anderson my Još sung
> by Scotlandšs exported Burns expert;
> Theodorakis on CD, playing
> while our Greek friends
> brewed up a happy cyclone
> drawing us in to Zorba
> the dancing Greek.
>
> To mention only a few.
>
>
> Max Richards
> Doncaster, Victoria
>
> Wednesday 20 June 2007
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