send your BEST WISHES
This is your space. Send your greetings and best wishes to Diana. If you want to write something a bit longer, email it me craig-spence@shaw.ca and I'll post if for you (a couple of people have had problems posting to the comments section). If you have some photos you'd like to share, email them too and I'll post them. If you find these instructions more confusing than the contest rules on a Cornflakes box, let me know. But whatever you do, send. We pass through the town of Sixty but once in a lifetime, it's nice if the streets are lined with familiar faces cheering us on...
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Happy 6oth Diana. I've had the honour and joy of sharing one-third of your 60 years with you. As a partner, lover, collaborator and friend I am looking forward to sharing the coming chapters, too. Love Craig.
ReplyDeleteOh my. Sweet 60 ! Diana, it has been so wonderful having you in my yoga class for so many years. Your presence has always added so much brightness, sparkle and laughter to our times together. And meeting your family has been a real treat for me, as well ! How did I get to be so lucky to have such a special person in my life ??? Wishing you a great birthday and a year filled with awe, wonder and delight ! Much love, edie
ReplyDeleteI remember the first time i saw you was a warm summer's night and you and Craig were coming out of the penthouse palace building in East Van where you both lived [more or less in separate apartments at the time]. The two of you were on your way to a party. Your hair was a tangle of copper and you were carrying that classic white Corningware dish with the blue cornflower decoration, ever-nurturing woman that you are, and the contents had steamed up the lid. Even in the dark you lit up the night. I thought, oh man, is she special -- perfect for Craig. And you still are.
ReplyDeleteHAPPY Happy 60th, you amazing soul! And many many more.
Lots of love and a big hug,
xooxoxxxoo Glenda and Pedro, too
PS: good thing you are over there or I'd throw you a party and really piss you off ! ;-)
Betty Spackman asked me to post the following message for her...
ReplyDeleteDiana is one of those unassuming gifts under the Dec 25 Christmas tree some people pay little attention to. At first glance one might expect this package to be an ordinary box of chocolates or something generic and polite from a pleasant old aunt. A lace tablecloth perhaps, or a gardening book. The parcel doesn’t demand immediate attention with giant bows and glitter and fancy wrapping paper. It is just there, quietly waiting to be unwrapped, yet somehow showing off more garish parcels by its simple, elegant and understated demeanour. I was immediately drawn to it, charmed by it.
Diana Noel appeared as a gift in my life a few years ago after I helped give birth to the Fort gallery in Fort Langley, BC. It was a time when I had come to not expect too much from under the tree of life. Gifts, I was learning, are a bonus, and I was starting to grow up enough to know the wonder of the tree itself. But there she was among the other generous gifts God always gives - and fortunately, unlike Santa, whether we deserve them or not.
Diana was a small and well put together little package full of wonder - decorated with a broad smile and a genuine laugh that has the same affect as a Christmas bell; delightful, clear and delicate. But when I saw inside this parcel, I discovered, and am still discovering, a lot more wonderful surprises.
The gift of Diana comes with a bounty of delicate treasures and power tools! It is something like receiving a hand painted porcelain chain saw or a shotgun that shoots cinnamon hearts or an army tank made of feathers and silk flowers. She is gentle and sensitive but she is also a little powerhouse; practical, forceful and dedicated to whatever task is in front of her. She gave to the gallery, and to me personally, many hours of her time and energy without recompense. She cheered on the more feeble hearted and shared the work load as a professional team player and as a good friend.
And as one of those ‘gifts that keep on giving’ Diana’s artistic talent keeps giving ever more and more to those around her. Her work is head and shoulders above the mainstream. It is rigorous, insightful and technically proficient. It carries the rare mix of the tender and the terrible and deserves much more recognition than it has had to date. But she’s no where near finished expressing herself and I expect we “aint seen nothin’ yet”!
All to say, I am so grateful for the wonderful gift of you Diana on this Christmas occasion of your 60th year and pray you will be so much more recognized, appreciated and cared for in the years ahead.
I wish you a very Happy Birthday. Joyeux, Diana Noel!.
betty spackman
from Dana
ReplyDeleteDearest Diana
If Craig has known you for 1/3 of his life – I’ve got him beat. You and I have known each other for over 50% of our lives!
We’ve known each other through work and play; through successes & failures, thru marriages and kids – we’ve shared our heartaches and our hearts bursting with joy! I am overjoyed that you will be in Victoria! What it means is we can jump back into regular coffee chats, and maybe I can learn a thing or 10 from you in the ‘artist department’. We get to ‘tight weave’ into each other’s lives again. How exciting is that!!
I love you dearly, Diana, and cherish our relationship. It is something I take for granted, that we will be ‘soul sisters’ for all our lives – and it comforts me.
You give of yourself freely – without reservation – from your heart in your own very unique style! I am a better person for knowing you! Happy 60th, dear friend! Big Love, Dana XOXO
On bahalf of my Sister Lynda and family:
ReplyDeleteDearest Diana,
May your 60th grant you the opportunity to celebrate how special you are. Your spirit, your honesty, your talent, your compassion, your humour, your zest for life that inspires us all.
I am so fortunate to have a sister in law who is more a sister to me.Soak it all in Diana, we will celebrate when together next.....hopefully before you turn 61.
So much love from us all
Lynda, Barclay, Shaena and Reid
Don’t worry about your future; we are sure yours will be bright.
ReplyDeleteDon’t worry about the past; you can't change it.
Don’t worry about the present; we didn’t get you one.
(Credit to the ever witty Anon E. Mouse.)
Warmest wishes for your birthday, Diana.
We share your enthusiasm about the new adventures you and your family are embarking on but will miss you and the many engaging and entertaining pizza suppers at your place. In the months and years ahead, we will be on alert for times and places we can gather—whether it be on the Island or the Mainland.
We are honoured and delighted to call you one of our dearest friends.
Love, Leslie and Shane
P.S. To Craig...what an amazing tribute to a very deserving person. True love does exist.
Dearest Diana,
ReplyDeleteYour kind heart and gentle spirit deserve another 60 years. Our world is short on people of your wonderful quality. I am proud to call you my aunt. Have a wonderful birthday, and keep in mind that numbers are simply that: numbers.
Much love,
Shaena.
Janet I-J writes:
ReplyDeleteI was going to say that I come late to the party that is Diana's circle of family and friends. But then Diana isn't having a party, so I'll have to try to come up with more than the obvious comment, that Diana is a warmly wonderful person and supremely talented artist with whom it has been an enormous pleasure to share time on water as well as on land.
So here's an itty-bitty ditty, or a something-pome:
They say wisdom comes with age. How
does it come? Holding
hands with your younger self, smiling softly
at things you knew all along but couldn’t
put a name to?
They say age is in one’s mind, but not
in whose mind. What happens to age
when minds go missing?
They say 60 is the new 40, but then
what is 40? How do any double digits
quantify a life?
They say friends formed
in youth are friends for life, but
I say friendships formed clasping
the hand of wisdom can
ignore the hands
of time.
Happy 60th, Diana! Look forward to seeing you long before you turn 61! Janet xo
Diana, what a special friend you have become since I first met you at the Fort Gallery. I am very proud to have shared those gallery walls with you and your art. Your versatility and genius with materials and your sense of humour and thoughtfulness that shows up in all your work is inspirational. I have loved all our chats about art, family and how to save the world!
ReplyDeleteJohn O'Donohue, an Irish poet, wrote a little Book of Blessings, "To Bless the Space Between Us" and I want to post this little one for your birthday morning:
"On Waking
I give thanks for arriving
Safely in a new dawn,
For the gift of eyes
To see the world,
The gift of mind
To feel at home
In my life.
The waves of possibility
Breaking on the shore of dawn,
The harvest of the past
That awaits my hunger,
And all the furtherings
This new day will bring."
Will be raising my glass to you on your birthday,
Cheers, Jo-Ann
Happy birthday Mom, i hope life on the island will be exactly as you imagined.
ReplyDeletesee you soon, Ian
Donna Cullus writes:
ReplyDeleteFor Di,
I guess we can thank the Cumberbirch family, Di, for our connection. Almost 40 years ago - and I`m forever grateful that you knew Neil and that I knew Peter!! What tangled webs we weave!
I have a fridge magnet that says - " A faithful friend is the medicine of life" which comes from the Bible - Ecclesiastes, I believe. This sums up my feelings about you, Di, because of the "thickness and thinness" of our life experiences as we`ve gone through our respective lives - the knowledge that we`d be able to share whatever came our way, with the other. Truly, a priceless gift, among friends. I`ve so admired your honesty, your courage, your wondrous sense of humour, and your innate desire to 'LIVE' the life you`ve been given.
I am so lucky to have you in my life, Di, and I`m counting on our friendship continuing for a long, long time to come.
Have a wondrous celebration, in whatever form, on your 60th birthday.
Love
Donna
Dear Diana,
ReplyDeleteI have just read the amazing comments posted to this site. YOU have inspired this outpouring of love and respect; what a testimony to how fabulous you are! I too stand in awe of your tremendous artistic talent and sparkling soul. Congratulations on your 60th birthday! Wishing you many blessings as you create your new home in Victoria. Here's to countless visits in the years to come.
With love, Alex
A very Happy 60th Diana. A "Christmas Baby" was a most cherished gift imaginable back on Xmas Day 1950 and every Xmas that gift gets more cherished. Many, many thanks for being who you are, my daughter. Lots of love, Dad.
ReplyDelete祝 戴安娜：
ReplyDelete生日快乐!!!
Hi Diana,
Happy birthday!!!
Love from
Henry =)
Anna Banana writes:
ReplyDeleteFirst and Foremost, Diana is the sister lost from my life over inheritance issues. Loving, joyful, creative, inspiring, energetic, talented, passionate, productive . . . a mover and shaker the likes of whom I've not met before. As I said in a recent email, she's NOT SuperWoman, (should have said Wonder Woman,) but you'd never know it from all her activities. I was trying to convince her she might try slowing down a bit over the holidays. Moving house, looking for paying work, buying a house, organizing it's renovation, getting her work up in two Victoria cafes . . . AND sending out Christmas cards!!! It exhausts me just thinking about it all. . . . (maybe she really IS Wonder Woman???)
We met through our artist group, the CVAA around ? '82-83? and became 'bicycle buddies' lugging Daniel around in a carrier. It was tough when Craig whisked her away to Sechelt, but I managed to follow in '95, only to have them move away within a ?year? So we've kept up by visiting which always involved walks; from the Binnacle house in Sechelt, up along the power lines with Daniel and Ian in tow, and where we dug fox gloves for me to plant around my new home. Out in Langley, it was walks along the riverside park, with Buddy. Always appreciating the natural environment and the dog.
I know this is supposed to be what's happening NOW, not in the past, but I'm not very IN Diana's now just now, so you're gonna have to put up with my reminisces, and know that I'm looking forward to being in the NOW in mid-January when I'll be visiting and catching up on the most recent changes. I am always amazed at Diana's ability to keep on creating new series of works, all the while keeping up with home and family, AND illustrating the covers for Craig's books and that entire book done for the school, about the Nicomekl River. That MacDonalds did not buy into the MoMono series is a perfect example of how short-sighted these corporate entities are.
Diana, I love you and your work . You are an inspiration to me.
Anna
Diana's sister Jo and Brother in Law Peter write:
ReplyDeleteHappy 60th Di! The gang will drink a toast to you from the cabin at Snow Road Station on the 25th. Best wishes for the next 60.
Jo and Pete
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBoots
ReplyDeleteIn the mid 1980s, when I was in high school in Ontario, I bought a series of postcards featuring boots painted to represent our provinces; I thought they were cool.
Skip ahead about seven years, and I found myself working for a small newspaper in Sechelt, B.C., called the Sunshine Press. My editor was a great guy, and his wife was an artist and the sweetest woman you'll ever meet. My girlfriend at the time (now my wife of 13 years) and I would babysit their little ones, Ian and Daniel. Turns out, Diana was the artist of those boots—she pulled them out of a closet one night we were babysitting to prove it, and we snapped a photo of me, Diana and the boots. It's a strange world.
Her art is just so interesting, creative and honest. She is the only person I know who could make something beautiful out of the work gloves she found abandoned on roads.
Hats
For Christmas in 1994, Craig got a new hat. Craig had this other hat, which he wore everywhere and which he gave to me, the young reporter he'd mentored. And here's the kind of person Diana is: a few days later she gave my girlfriend, Judy, a similar hat. We still have those hats, 17 years later.
Wishing you a very happy birthday, Diana!
Michael + Judy McKinnon, Toronto
Happy Birthday Diana! Remember, it is only a number after all and we are going to be there very very soon. lol
ReplyDeleteThis is a lovely site Craig has set up. You are blessed in so many way. Take good care of Uncle Fred for us all! (and I know you are)
Hope you are having a nice Christmas Eve!
Love,
Heather and family in Prince George
Dear Mom,
ReplyDeleteHappy 60th Birthday. I promise to put you in my list for the New Year.
Love, Daniel.