When I am old, I shall wear purple ...

So it's Friday already and I can almost hear you asking 'but where are the bears Paula'?! Knitting, doll craft ... did they really steal away an entire week? Well no, of course they didn't ... much as that would have been a pleasure for me! Have you heard the poem 'When I am old I shall wear purple?' Well, I don't quite qualify just yet (give me another couple of weeks and I'll be hunting around in my wardrobe I'm sure!) so in the meantime, I have been working with a rather striking purple mohair which shouts out cheekily, 'cooeeeee you guys, you sure had better notice me!'

'Blackbeary' will be winging his way across the Atlantic to meet his new owner next week!

And if you're wondering what on earth I'm talking about on this Friday afternoon (believe me, you wouldn't be the first!) here's the poem:

Warning - When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple
By Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
and satin candles, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired
and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
and run my stick along the public railings
and make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
and pick the flowers in other people's gardens
and learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
and eat three pounds of sausages at a go
or only bread and pickles for a week
and hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
and pay our rent and not swear in the street
and set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Have a carefree weekend!