Sometimes you see a pleasant lady enjoying her senior years at Carolina Meadows and imagine she has had a nice quiet comfortable life, contented now to enjoy her grandchildren. Then you meet her—Bunny Norwood—and sit down for a chat.

When she was widowed as a young mother with four children, Bunny says she went to work. She has designed children’s clothing, worked in hospitals, and has been the Residence Director of a retirement community. After 14 years, she married again and entered an academic life in Philadelphia.

By the time she had grandchildren, Bunny owned a woodworking set complete with saw, drills, routers and sanders. She made dollhouses and furniture for her granddaughters, and castles with crenelated towers, ladders, and moats for her grandsons. She carved a Noah’s Ark, accompanied by 70 animals.

She still weaves baskets—orders her reeds from Ashville. When she starts her sewing machine, out come quilts and ladies’ handbags. She knits argyles, makes slipcovers, and has even done upholstering.

When Bunny talks about gardening, you discover that she does not believe in chemicals—believes in soap instead. (You’ll have to ask her!) She raised a lilac bush here in the south by putting ice trays at the roots during the hot days. It is now multiplying. And you’ll find a small sign among her plants: “The last dog that pooped on my flowers is buried here.”

Her front door entertains her neighbors during the seasons. At Christmas—a slew of Santa Clauses (carved and sewn by herself). At Easter, she fills it with all kinds of bunnies, naturally. Then come Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and July the Fourth, with all the expected decorations. The garden doesn’t suffer either. On Easter, it gets 15-inch eggs and lots of “oohs” and “ahs”.

As the sign on her door says, ”Age is only a number.” It sure has nothing to do with Bunny!