City Memorial Pink bowler Mavis Haynes has a rosy attitude to life since life-saving surgery gave her a second life.
CITY Memorial lawn bowler Mavis Haynes has no complaints.
Haynes, 71, is enjoying her first season at the Western District Bowls Division club, despite her division one Pink side sitting at the foot of the table.
In March 2010, the former St John's bowler was fighting for her life.
"It is a special thanks to a wonderful surgeon in Melbourne who saved my life because I had a ruptured aneurysm in my brain," she said.
"Not many people survive and thanks to him I am still alive, so I am having a second life and I am as happy as can be."
Haynes was off the greens for 12 months.
"He said 'you have to get assessed to drive a car again' and it was about 15 months before I could do that and then he said 'you can do whatever you like after that'," she said.
Haynes prefers to focus on the future, rather than the past.
She said she is lucky and is happy to be playing bowls and travelling for annual Queensland holidays to visit family.
"I was at St John's just over eight years and I enjoyed it over there," she said.
"It was a good little club but we've all had to move to where we wanted to and we are lucky with bowls because you can choose which club you want to move to and you're made welcome."
Haynes, whose Pink side hosts fellow struggler Timboon today in round 10, is one of her side's three skippers. She and husband Doug, 73, spend four months each year in Queensland.
They've made the journey for the past 17 years, driving up each May and returning to Victoria in September.
"Where we are in a caravan park is close to a bowls club and we joined there," she said.
"We really enjoy it there. It is the same size as City Memorial club at Coolum Beach.
"What I like about it is you meet people from New Zealand, Adelaide, Victoria, New South Wales.
"It reminds us of Warrnambool because it is close to the beach and there is a breeze. We are not used to winter anymore."
Haynes said they enjoyed travelling and have lived in Mildura, Traralgon and Wangaratta.
"We have lived in 16 different houses because of Doug's work and this is the longest we've lived in a house since Doug's been retired," she said.
"Doug was with the ambulance service. We had lived in Warrnambool twice and when he retired we were in Gippsland."
In other round 10 match-ups, sixth-placed Warrnambool Blue meets red-hot City Memorial Green and City Memorial Gold meets Terang in a top-four battle.
Fifth-placed Port Fairy Gold must defeat third-placed Warrnambool Gold to keep its finals hopes flickering.
justine.mc@fairfaxmedia.com.au