Juanita's Centenary year

The inspirational Juanita Casey would have been 100 years old on October 10th 2025.

Who could say what remarkable play on words she would have come up with to mark the commencement of her centenary year, or the flamboyant celebratory steed she would have undoubtedly painted. This is just one of them... she described Gorgio as:

'a rich mahogany-brown high stepper with four white stockings and a pure white tail...'

Two wild beings! Gorgio (rescued from a costermonger in London) and Juanita, who brought him back to life in Cripplesease just outside St. Ives, Cornwall.

So we thought we would show you some early and later photos to remind us of her long and wildly varied life, her free spirit and remember her many talents - writing, painting, drawing, her love of all things equestrian, fossils and gardening.

Below, clockwise if you click on the arrow, is Juanita pictured on Texas on Mornington Strand in Ireland in the early 1960s; with Anthony Green in her garden in Okehampton; in the New Forest at Brickiln with son Jasper and second husband Sven Berlin, and in our garden in Godshill with myself (Sonia), daughter Sheba and Sven's friend, John Paddy Browne.

Another little bonus, as someone who occasionally turns her hand to weaving and sewing, I had to share with you the following verses, just one of many clever and hilarious poems which flowed from Juanita's pen and continues to give us joy.

Ah: The Rich Tapestry of Life

At first he ribbed her so much he had her in stitches,

but gradually things became frayed at the edges,

and knitting his brow he continually needled her by

calling her petty-pointing out that she’d ecrued

no wisdom at all, darn it, all these years, that she was

a wool-gatherer - and look at all those yarns she spun -

now part of her very fabric.

Look at you - you’re so bloody plain now, Pearl; he carried on

to the end of the row, embroidering on the theme

and telling her how hemmed in and cast off he felt,

and how material she’d become - patterned on her Mother,

‘who was a great one at weaving tales’.

Pinking, she was very cut up, upbraiding him, and finally

t’ravelling to Jersey,

where she met an Aran fisherman.

But he turned out to be a darned heel, and soon left her,

reeling and warped.

Aren’t men sew and sews.

And a final treat, celebrating Juanita's love of small creatures, bugs and the life-long hunt for fossils, one of her delightful cartoons - Keep your head DOWN, Conceptua or we'll be spotted...!

As she would always say, add life to your days, not days to your life!

Thank you, Juanita Casey (1925 - 2012)