the big five O

I'm not sure how I feel about turning fifty, there's been so much other stuff going on that it has kind of snuck up on me. It does feel decidedly older than turning forty, forty is getting toward middle age where as fifty feels like I'm mighty close to 'old person' territory! The celebrations were purposefully low key. The girls organised morning tea and a trip to Heide Museum of Modern Art. We perused paintings by Sidney Nolan and John Blackman and learnt something of the history of the place. The gardens and sculptures were beautiful and the autumn trees magnificent - wherever my three girls are there is bound to be a bit of mischief...

of course they all climbed the massive tree

of course one got stuck

of course big sister came to the rescue

waiting for some leaves to fall, first person to catch one is the winner

posers

reality

We had a family birthday dinner at a local place in Barwon Heads last night and floated an idea, a no regrets kind of idea, a why not? kind of idea; a family pilgrimage to Italy in November.

I have never been to Italy, despite the fact that my father is Italian. He did not want to return to his homeland for a complicated set of reasons, I offered to take him a number of years ago. Although Colin and I have travelled overseas a number of times going to Italy just didn't feel right, I was waiting. November will be the anniversary of my father's death and visiting the place of his birth and childhood, meeting some of my relatives, getting a glimpse of the region and culture that helped shape the person he was feels right, a closure of some sorts (or perhaps it will be an opening). There is a whole side of myself, the Italian side, that is unexplored. Turning fifty feels like a good time for some exploration and doing this as a family, priceless. We are imagining a villa in Abruzzo, day tripping in a minivan, the coast and Adriatic Sea, the mountains and national parks, visiting relatives and small local villages and of course eating wonderful food. Now we have to figure out how to turn our fantasy into reality...