Turning 102 tomorrow, Ivy O'Brien has seen just about everything.
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But she says 2020, the year of the great COVID pandemic, has been unlike anything she's seen before.
"But you know I'm feeling alright, and I still give plenty of cheek and have a laugh," she joked to the delight and agreement of those joining the festivities.
She celebrated with close family and friends at a birthday lunch at West League's Club on Thursday, thrilled to finally be able to catch up with them all again.
"I have missed my bowls," she lamented.
An avid bowler, many around the table agreed when she was described as "one of the best".
"This is the first time I've seen them this year!"
However Ms O'Brien's passion for bowling has not been misplaced, and while expressing a deep regret for not being able to get out on the green, says she harnessed her green thumb instead.
I'm feeling alright, and I still give plenty of cheek and have a laugh.
- Ivy O'Brien
"I've spent time in the garden instead. I've always continued with my veggie garden."
Her daughter Kate O'Brien said it was almost something of an "addiction", but as she and others reaped the benefits, bequeathed with "bouquets of veggies" at most visits.
Tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, beetroot, beans, zucchini, eggplant, pumpkins, silver beet: you name it and she's probably got it.
When asked if she enjoyed cooking them as much as growing them, she laughed and said she "had two daughters for that!"
The O'Brien matriarch now has 28 great-grand children and 16 grand children from six children of her own.
Always looking on the bright side, one of the highlights for her this year was the birth of her 28th great-grand-child, Hannah May.
May for Ivy's mother, and her own middle name.
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Ms O'Brien was born in Gunnedah in 1918 and lived around the region before moving to Tamworth in the late-1960s.
Born in time for the Spanish Flu, she also lived through the Polio epidemic, and says this year is "the worst we've had so far".
Living in Gunnedah while polio was about, she remembers going into town once and being told to go back out to the country and not come back for a while.
"It was a kind of social distancing I guess - but this year is like nothing before, polio was nothing like this," she mused.
