She's No April Fool!

Martha turned 101 today. A couple of days earlier we celebrated her birthday, along with Ruby's and Dorothy's, after our regular Tuesday morning Robertson Manor meeting.

We sang her favourite song:

How good is the God we adore

Our faithful, unchangeable friend

Whose love is as great as His power

And knows neither measure nor end!

'Tis Jesus, the First and the Last,

Whose spirit shall guide us safe home

We'll praise Him for all that is past

And trust Him for all that's to come.

Martha sang along with gusto, conducting us with her magnifying glass. At the end she commented, "That is my testimony!"

Martha knows whereof she sings. A missionary to Ireland for many years, she worked with orphaned children.  Never married, nevertheless she has people all over the world who love her. A hip replacement at age 98 ("98 and a half," she will correct you!), she quoted the words to her surgeon and the nurses. They all loved her and said to my parents that they had never met anyone like her.

We sang the benediction as grace, Martha's beautiful face a picture of gratitude and praise to God. And then we all settled down to eat lunch.

Last year - for the big 100 - we had an enormous cake with candles and sparklers, and soon we also had the fire department - we had set off the smoke detector! Martha got her picture taken with them and gave them some cake, much to their delight. 

As Dad cut this year's beautiful chocolate cake covered with pink fondant icing and created lovingly for her by Deborah Joy, Martha asked me what we could do to top that. I told her that I didn't dare alert the fire department again; and just at that moment, MLA Richard Marz happened to walk up to the Manor's main entrance. I called out to him, and he willingly came over to the doorway leading into the "tea room".

Blast from the past: Martha and the firemen

Upon his entering, the room burst into spontaneous applause. I introduced him to Martha, and he took her hand, wishing her a happy birthday. Martha is fairly hard of hearing. "What was your name?" she asked. When he told her, she sat up straighter and sparkled. "WELL!" she exclaimed, in the way that only Martha can. "BLESS you!!" 

Everyone laughed, and Richard stayed and had a piece of cake with us. The excitement as he chatted to people!

When he left, Martha declared that that was even better than the firemen of the year before, and she asked me what I would be doing for next year. "I'll try for Stephen Harper," I promised.

"Better shoot for Stelmach first, and Harper the year after," advised Dad.

Betty, irrepressible Betty, got the last word, as always: "And the year after that, the Queen!"

Martha telling Dave about a previous birthday celebration with Shirley

95-year-old Lydia helping 101-year-old Martha with her coat!