OOOOOOOOps I posted the wrong age-----I'm really only 80 and 1/2--

LOL-------Now that I can walk again, I feel about 18-----at least in my heart but the body is a little wrinkly

Florence

Florence, you are SO CUTE, SO CUTE!

mendocino_rose, I can't remember the last time I danced till midnight. D:

Wow, Zeffy! Not only do you look incredible I never assumed you were over 80 from your posts.

In fact, most people who've posted are older than I expected.

I'm 43 and have been gardening since I was a kid but only seriously for maybe the last few years.

I'm 23...24 in October.......but I feel as if I'm 125 lol.

There's NO WAY I'm going to be 60 in July. The idea is absurd, and my brain just doesn't get it!! The last 10 years feel like they didn't happen, or maybe someone else's 10 years got added to mine by mistake. Yeah, that must be it. I demand a recount.

60??? No way. This is just crazy. I like 30x2 better. Yeah, double 30. I feel like I'm still 30, but the edifice is crumbling around me. Better keep digging or one day I won't be able to.

Sherry

Hmmm. Whatever we write here can be found on Google.
Age, religion, politics, money, yada yada yada aren't necessary to discuas so that we can share our passion for gardening.

I have always loved the outdoors, and outdoor activities.
I love outdoor sports, gardening, and many outdoor activities.

Sammy

campanula, if you ask my daughter this question about me, she'll answer "old but not wise."

I on the other hand would say, young and hopeful...

When people ask me how old I am, I answer 29 with a big grin....

I've been 29 for 7 years now...

Audrey, Wii Fit age 47 -- I hate electronics!!!!!!

Yeah, but who's going to Google me?

I'm in my 50's. Like Sammy, I won't tell too much. My identity was stolen, and so I now put a fake birthdate on everything internet. :) 'They' have used it (the fake birthdate), too! Just last week, another credit card was 'compromised'. It gets quite frustrating.

I'll say, though, that I think gardening keeps me young. DH is a few years younger than I, yet I get around a lot better than he does. I contribute it to all the digging, shoveling, hauling, bending, stooping, pulling, pushing, carrying, etc., etc., etc.

Sammy, it's pretty easy to find out about me already, I'm telling far less here than you can find by an easy search. I don't tell anything that I don't want known by everyone and their third brother. I think a lot of people have credit cards compromised, and it might not even have anything to do with what you do online, just make sure to watch your credit card bills and report or look into any strange charges.

I am old and have learned many things from Father William and Mr. Carroll

1. My body is decaying but I still like to have fun. Knowing I have an empty head is rather freeing -

"You are old, Father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your headÂ
Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again."

2. I try not to let my aged self stand in the way of what I want to do. And always try to have fun at the same time.

"You are old," said the youth, "As I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the doorÂ
Pray, what is the reason of that?"

"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointmentÂone shilling the boxÂ
Allow me to sell you a couple?"

3. See #2

"You are old," said the youth, "And your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beakÂ
Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life."

4. Don't tell all your secrets at one time- the fun is in the doing and always look forward to another adventure tomorrow.

"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your noseÂ
What made you so awfully clever?"

"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
Said his father; "don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!"

Well since my last jobs were very public and I do have public CVs online, it is not a big secret that I will be 33 this year. x) I feel young and sleep deprived (having a baby does that to people), then again I remember my friends telling me already 10 years back that I should stop playing online games and gardening, and get a life - or rather, suburbia existence. :D

Florence, I am much younger, but I can relate to that finally able to walk thing - I had issues with joints during pregnancy, so for half a year all walking felt like my hip bones are going to fall apart, painfully. I was so happy to finally be able to do heavy gardening work this spring!

I really admire the forum members twice my age. That's the spirit! :)

49 this March. Started gardening when I was 43.

I am 28 years old and have always loved gardens, especially with roses.

Juliet

Harborrose, you made my day. Thank you for that contribution. It is very appropriate.

Sammy

Fifty-two, and like most people here my mental age is about half that. I'm not particularly fond of being creaky, and I have NO IDEA how we'll be maintaining the garden in ten years, but I like being who I am, and I certainly am happier--and nicer--than I was when I was young and cute. Part of the trick, I think, is to stop looking in the mirror and start looking around. When I did that I found the world was mightily interesting, and worthier of my attention than I had ever realized in my egotistical youth.
I always liked gardens and nature, but only began to get interested in gardening as I approached thirty.
Melissa

Sherry----60 was easy----wait till you have to write 80 after your name !!!!----It just doesn't look right !!LOL must be talking about somebody else----BTW my present DH is 8 years younger than I am----LOL LOL--
In the past 10 years I've had 4 surgeries and Bob gets a big kick when the nurses etc question my age --- we always have a good chuckle about that--
My mother was very young at heart---she was going to the dances at the firehouse well into her 80's--I miss her !!

Zeffy: You look great. DH is not too shabby, either!

Melissa: "I like being who I am, and I certainly am happier--and nicer--than I was when I was young and cute"... that's exactly how I feel, too.

Jeffcat: I think yours is the reply to this post that I cherish the most! Delightful!

Laura

Old, Old...who's getting old. Au contrare...grey in my hair oh my...thought it was sugar. Wrinkles say thee..nah just blessed with extra skin. The ol' bod is creekin...gee and I thought it was music.
Nine more months and I retire. Can't wait. I'll take all the above. So looking forward to having the time to spoil myself in my garden. Sure hope the health holds out too.
62 and counting.
Jeannie

Fast approaching 58. My garden is 7. A lush Cottage Garden with many roses had always been a dream of mine. I look forward to being able to say "My garden is 35 years old" and be able to sit under the shade of my Winter King Hawthorn tree that I planted 2 years ago. Life is good in the garden. In the garden I am not an age, I'm just more me.

47 wonderful years in July. Each day a blessing.

Blendguy:
So nice to see you back on the forum! You must be happy over there in England.

I'm 37, but with 2 very active kids aged 6 and 8 I feel 87 sometimes. My day starts at 5.30, to get things organised for work and get the kids off to school, by 9.30 I am totally tired out with all the rushing around. Then I have a few hours to get organised (on the days I'm at home) with cleaning, and cooking and some gardening until its time to pick them up. I spend the whole evening with the kids at different activities. By 8.30 I feel dead tired and crash out. So I think its you people with the older kids who seem to feel young and full of life (the lack of responsibilities might be the reason). Not that I'm complaining, I love doing all that I do, but my time in the garden is my favourite time, weeding, deadheading roses, and generally spending some time outside.

Florence, you are one gorgeous lady. Can't believe you are 81. If I could look so good at that age! Your DH looks lovely too and you make a wonderful couple.
Sanju

sanju,
dh and I adopted an 8 year old three years ago, having raised two in their 20's now and gone from our home. Raising another in these later years is different and has helped keep us young and tired too. I totally identify! My favorite times are in the garden too. Being older now I don't stress as much about raising her. poor child, it's like being raised by grandparents, I know.

A crazy gandmother who visits roses in her pajamas and robe in the early am!

Gean

organic tosca, thanks so much for the shout. Lovely to see you too, I visit the forum fairly regularly, although I don't post as much as I still feel like I'm starting all over again and am very much in a learning phase. Gardening is very different here than in California, but I do love it. I love the seasons here, and what feels like a constant progression of blooms. Roses are just starting now, I had my first bloom this week (The Ingenious Mr Fairchild, fabulous), and most of my roses are covered with buds just waiting to explode. I'm very excited. On top of all that, I love living in Oxford, which is just stunningly beautiful. We went punting on the river two weeks ago and then had a riverside picnic by the botanic garden, it was postcard perfect. At one point, a punt went by with a group of people drinking Pimms (a delightful English summer drink) and they had a victrola in the punt playing 78s.. and I thought.. "I've found my people!"

harbourrose, good for you for adopting a child! I was adopted, and my parents were "older", but I think it was a good thing actually. It's all about the love anyway, and it sounds like you have lots to give... and crazy grandmothers are fantastic role models. :)

One should never trust a woman who tells one her real age. A woman who would tell one that, would tell one anything.
Oscar Wilde

I am middle-aged and hopeful, having one of the best years of my life and it's only half over. What? The year or my life? Yes.

Denise

Betty---you must have really loved your DH to take on the care of 6 kids--but it sounds like it all worked out great and you had the joy of watching them grow up----I only have two children--sure wish I had six .

sounds great to me

Lucky you with a big, young guy to dig the holes-----

Florence

"Youth is fleeting. However, immaturity can be eternal."

I turn 62 next month. My employer is currently offering a nice retirement incentive. If I have any courage, I could pull the trigger.

My well died this weekend. The well contractor said that it was necessary to dig down 5' to reach the connection and the hole had to be 4' x 4' at the bottom. He explained that he was too old to do it and that we'd have hire a young guy to dig it. I had it done by 2:00.

Refuse to give up.

What a wonderful thread and a pleasure to know each of your stories. I'm SCHOCKED to say I'm nearly 49. I feel like I stopped aging mentally at 37 so I tell people I quit counting then. My body has good days and bad days because I was hit by a drunk driver about 9 years ago and spent months in re-hab learning to walk and recover so each day is a blessing. My best times are in when I'm outside in the yard working. We recently sold our home of 19 years and I left my beloved gardens but now have a blank canvas to create new lovelies! I dug up about half of my yard and have it waiting and ready for new flower beds once we are closer to being finished with our new house. Not a big house just a peaceful country home so I can walk around in my PJ's, too!! lol
I love gardening so much my children would come outside when it was near dark and ask "what is for dinner?" I get so lost in the dirt that the time would fly by and we'd come in and have grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. It's my true love for the past 15 years.
Sunny

sanju, my day also starts at 5:30, what usually means two zombie parents and one kid in a very good mood. I work in the garden when she is having a midday nap. :D

Someone old: Someone who is 10 years older than you are.

My bedtime is the same as it was when I was 11 years old.

OK! I lied. I read in bed and then fall asleep sometime later, depending on the book.

Wise is something an Owl is -- I think! Or - Wise Potato Chips?

F.L.

I turned 39 this year, but my kids are 19 and 17, and having teenaged boys at home( plus all the stray boys they bring home)keeps me young at heart. Gardening, (or rather landscaping)on the other hand, is killing me. :o/

I'd hope for Old and hopeful, with a dash of wisdom,
It is gardening that makes me feel younger than my age.
I appear older and wrinkled, and yet I still feel renewed and refreshed after having breakfasted with my yellow and pink Old Garden Tea roses, on the back patio.
"Duchess de Brabant" though quite ancient now, always appears fresh and lovely due to her clear pink complexion, and rounded curves, and "Mme. Berkeley" always appears in splendid form, in several hues of cameo pink, edged with rose-red. Beside her, with a rather upright posture becoming a young person, stands "Rosette Delizzy" garbed in cheddar-yellow and rich rose today. She is the youngest, by far, yet shouldn't prate about it.
The Old Garden Teas are as familiar as old freinds to me.
Tea roses are my favorite group of roses, and they've endured far longer than I have, yet they remain breathtakenly beautiful, each blossom poised and elegant.
There is hope in the blooming of Old Roses, such as Alba, Scotch, and Gallica, as well as my beloved Tea roses, for I know that they've survived for centuries, whether pampered in the garden of Empress Josephine, or a hillside in China, or neglected near the old ghost goldtowns of California, and still blooming beside the roadside, abandoned.

I hope I may still feel young within,
when natural decline unfolds.
May my spirit linger on
in some garden then,
fresh as an old garden rose.

I'll be 54, this June 13th. I wonder who painted those wrinkles on my face, when I was napping? It seems to have happened quite suddenly.
zeffy rose, If I had your good looks when I was 45 I'd have counted myself lucky. I'm not kidding, when did you find the fountain of youth?

Lux.

How wonderful to know all your stories. Gean, it is great that you adopted a child at your age! How lucky she must be to have a Mum who loves her but doesn't stress about things and enjoys having her. I can totally relate, I am crazy enough to sometimes be sad that my little one started school this year and wish I could have one more!

Elemire, I can totally understand your phase in life. I was exactly going through it at 30, with a 1 year old and another on the way. Its great that you still manage to find some time for your garden. Having some hobby of our own keeps us sane. I only started gardening 3 years ago, when my little one started kinder. I remember my husband coming home late after a hard day's work and sometimes I would be so tired of looking after two little ones that I would snap at him for something silly. Luckily, he is the most patient and wonderful guy in the world and would always be as calm as ever. It gets easier after a few years as they grow up. We still do everything we can to still make them as happy and comfortable in life as possible. But they get independent and start doing a few things on their own now. Since I started gardening, I feel a sense of calm and peace with the world and all the other stresses don't matter as much when I see the beauty of my roses and garden.

Harryshoe, you sound exactly like the kind of guy I admire.

Sanju

Great thread Campanula! I'll be turning 46 this month. Teaching 9 and 10 year olds keeps me young. Gardening and all the awesome responses on gardenweb keeps me happy!

You all are amazing people with a healthy outlook-yee ha!

I'll be 38 this year...

Whoever said, "Youth is wasted on the young.", is obviously old and wise!

I started gardening with my mother when I was 16... never roses though, mostly annuals and perennials; roses were the realm of the old and mysterious Czechoslovakian woman two doors down. I used to tell everyone how I would see her go around her roses with a lit candle singing something in the old tongue, but noone ever believed me! 15 years later when I figured out she was sealing pruning cuts, I had to stop telling people that she was also waving a dead chicken around in the other hand. :0)

Hopefully I will always be able to garden and that my 11 year old will continue to show interest as well.

I have never found anything more pleasurable in life as gardening and growing roses.

Rob

so, it looks like Jeffcat and Zeffy are our bookends. Hats off to those of you with children to care for - I could barely manage a houseplant when mine were young. Oh yeah, I'm going to be 54 in October.

Sanju, I totally agree, having a hobby helps us to stay sane. Although, I always enjoyed working in the garden as a mean to put my thoughts in order, weeding and thinking about a structure of an article goes well together. :D I am glad that we moved from the city to the village, it is nice to go out on the Sunday morning and enjoy the silence (with the roosters of the neighbors in the background). But I have to admit, getting up in the middle of the night is not as easy as it was in my 20-ties. :)

Campanula, I am really not that good with house plants, with or without kids... If I don't kill them, my cats chew on them... The nasty furry criters actually were even nibbing on the cactus before we moved and provided a lawn for their "nom grass now, puke in the living room later" campaign...

As others have said, Florence you are gorgeous and amazing,
but then I already knew that! But I am also thinking that your DH is a real cutie too....LOL.
I like the attitudes of all of you here and see that I am
in great company.

I am turning 50 this month and am taking this opportunity to announce quite proudly that I finally became a GRAMMY last month.....and it is wonderful! I'm still taking care of my 87-yr.
old mom with Alzheimer's (been 2 yrs. now that she's been here) and will be babysitting my grandson while my son and DIL work. I also help look after my Dad, and still have a teenage daughter at home and DH.....and about 350 rosebushes and too many other plants to count that need me too. (Oh, and a little double-pawed angel cat that is my joy). I don't mind one bit, this turning 50-thing. I don't really understand why people dread it so much. Its
no big deal to me, and I disregard the number. My outlook has not changed since I was a teenager. Just be happy with the small things, with what you have and who you love.
Some people never get the chance to turn 50, so every day
should be a celebration. No matter that most days I stay home pulling weeds and taking care of everybody. Life is a gift, and I am grateful.

Celeste

(Here I am with my newborn grandson, Connor.....)
{{gwi:269204}}

Lucky Celeste. Beautiful baby! You're cute too.

I am also enjoying my first grandchild who is nine months old. DD brings him over three or four times a week. He loves garden walks. He doesn't make me feel any younger though. Holding 22 pounds of squirming baby for an hour is a lot more painful than digging in the garden.

This is a great post-----So many of us have had to work through pain to do our gardening-----but it is worth it.

Celeste----good to see you and your new grandbaby---you are gorgeous!!
so many beautiful people---it must be the roses and love of gardening that keeps us all going even during the painful episodes in our lives.

Jeffcat you are so young--it is a great time to garden---you have many young healthy years ahead of you to enjoy gardening.

You are all great people.

Florence

celeste - get out of here - NO way are you 50

I'm not sure how I missed this thread ... it's wonderful to get to know more about each of you. (Florence, Celeste, you are my heroes.)

In a couple of years I will reach my halfway point (my grandmother passed away at age 105 ... you do the math). Keeping with the title of this thread, I am old and hopeful. I am a lifelong gardener, but a relatively recent rose gardener ... having gardened mostly in shade until the last 7 or so years. Once we bought this place, with wide open spaces and sunshine everywhere, the decision to add roses (LOTS of roses) was inevitable. As with everything I do, I hit the ground running and quickly made an advanced effort out of a beginner project. I don't do anything halfway.

You can keep up with the happenings here, with me and with the garden, by reading my blog. It evolved from strictly rose gardening, to roses and old house stuff, and now it's whatever I want to share at the time.

Connie

Here is a link that might be useful: Blog link

Zeffy you look amazing! I would never have guessed in a millon years you were 81! I was looking at the first picture trying to figure out which was you as non of those people really look 81! Also the fact that you are computer savvy my grandmother who is about 10 years younger doesn't even know how to turn on a computer and work email never mind post pictures, ect.

Celeste- You too! You look great and so does your grandson, too cute. God bless you too for taking care of your mom. My moms mom had Alzheimer's and now her dad whom she has been taking care of also since Thanksgiving. It can be very hard at times.

Well, I am a 32 year old stay-at-home mom. I have two children ages 10 and 12 whom I have homeschooled since k-5. That keeps me pretty busy yet it also allows me time during the day to get out in my garden. I say gardening helps keep my sanity sometimes. lol I look to be one of the youngest on here! I didn't get into gardening till about 7 years ago or so. Never really had a place to garden. I don't even really know how I got started but when I did I was hooked. Everyone always laughs at me because everywhere I go I start pointing out plants by name. My sister and I took a trip back home to R.I and she said everywhere we would go whether in the car or walking around I would point out not places but plants and take pictures of them. lol I took a vacation to her place once when she was living in VA and she had this dead garden in the front of the house. Well every morning I would get up and look at it from the window. Well one morning I said let me rip out that monstrosity and make you a new one. She agreed and the rest of the vacation was ripping out the old garden and going plant shopping and creating a whole new garden. I was so proud of it and she sent me pictures of it all filled out. So see even on my vacations it's hard to get gardening out of my mind! :O)
~Meghan

ah Florence, looking good. I was going to put it down to great bones but I changed my mind - you really are proof of a generous nature bringing its own rewards. Handsome fella, too!

Campanula----what a sweet thing to say----You made my day.

It is always nice to hear something positive.

I appreciate your thoughtfulness.

BTW--have you ever posted your name? I don't know what to call you----

Florence

florence, it's suzy

Too soon old.... Too late smart! I'm 58 and have been gardening for 50 years.

Veronica

Thanks so much Suzy-----I can't type very fast so I always look for shortcuts---

I always get a big kick out of some of your comments about people---they make me chuckle.

Florence