Celebrations #2

The second part of Mum and Dad's 150th birthday celebrations took place in Amanda's garden on Sunday afternoon - her first garden party in her new-ish house.  We'd collectively all spent a few weeks before hand chopping back shrubs and trees, bagging up weeds, tidying up and planting the garden to get it ship shape for the occasion.  And a few more relatives turned up that couldn't make it to the Saturday night meal.  

More nonsense ensued - we had crochet lessons; we had a sing song; we had enough food to make packed lunches for us for the whole week; and we had a modelling session with what was actually a cushion and NOT a hat!   We don't care, we'll wear anything!

A really lovely afternoon - lots of fun.   This is the second year in a row that we've had a garden party - last year I had a jubilee party at my house where we all got rigged up with Royal Family masks which was pretty hysterical.  I'm wondering whether we might have unknowingly instigated another family tradition?

Celebrations #1

This photo was taken ten years ago at Mum and Dad's 130th birthday party.  At the time, Mum and Dad had a big old house with a massive garden on the seafront at Bacton - a brilliant place for entertaining.  We had about sixty or seventy people in attendance and were able to put lots of people up - in our houses, in tents in the garden, or in local B&Bs.  We had caterers do all the food and we had gazebos and tables and chairs from Heathrow which we managed to transport to Norfolk in an Amec pick up truck.  We had a DJ.  We had portaloos.  We really went to town and had an amazing time.

Because we've all moved now and don't have the room to put people up, and because our financial situations have changed, we didn't really have the time, money or wherewithal to put on the same sort of party for Mum and Dad's 150th party.  So we scaled it right down, but still had an absolutely brilliant time.  In fact, I would go so far as to say I enjoyed it more this time, because we didn't have the stress of making sure everything went according to plan and that everyone was having a good time.   This time it was more about family and friends, and less about event planning!

This time, it was more about having fun, shrieking with laughter, taking the mickey out of each other and hamming it up for the cameras - we're good at that!   A lovely lovely evening and only the start of the celebrations ..... more to follow!

Nicholas makes me laugh - whenever we tell him to "say cheese", he tells us that he's smiling inside! 

Walking

Two weeks ago, on what was then the hottest day of the year so far, Finn and I walked fourteen miles from Windsor to Marlow on the Thames Path.   The original plan was set aside - again! - because we were supposed to walk from Shiplake to Marlow - slap bang in the middle of the Henley Regatta.  Not a great idea for either parking, public transport or a highly exciteable dog who loves nothing better than jumping in the river at every given opportunity.  So plans were changed - as always - and we skipped a section and then walked the next section backwards.  If you're going to break your own rules, you might as well break them properly!

Although it was very hot, the path afforded a lot of shade - most of the route was tree lined with lots of branches overhanging the water - and there were plenty of fairly shallow bits for Finn to jump in and have a swim.  There were even little "beaches" where I had a paddle too - beautifully refreshing.  I walked in my walking sandals rather than boots and, boy, am I glad I did so.  I carried three litres of water and made sure we had plenty of sit downs for drinks and shade - normally, we go hell for leather to get to the end of the walk as soon as possible, but we did these fourteen miles in six and a bit hours which was very casual and comfortable for us both.

The houses we walked past were stunning - and, at one point, we were actually walking through gardens - the owners had fenced or hedged off the bit by the river so I had to put Finn back on the lead periodically to stop him running up to the houses - although he'd have had a long run to get there.  These properties and gardens were huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge!

Maidenhead was about half way on our walk and things got a bit busier here - as expected.  Plenty of people sitting by the river having barbecues and picnics and lots of people swimming in the river.  We carried on as I wanted to have lunch somewhere quiet and without temptation for Finn - he's a bugger around other people's picnics!   As we headed towards Cookham, we came to a lovely little beach looking over to Cliveden National Trust property.  Finn went for a swim and I had a paddle and then sat and had my lunch, while sitting with my feet in the river.  Bliss.

We were flagging a bit in the afternoon - a combination of the heat and the mileage, but it didn't take us long to get to Marlow.  The houses here were a bit smaller than those we had passed so far, but the houses on this stretch had the benefit of beautiful views with the Chiltern Hills behind them.  If I had a choice, I would rather live in these houses than the ones I had seen earlier.  Although I can't imagine I'll ever have a choice like this one!

Heatwave

We are in the middle of a heatwave - temperatures over the past couple of weeks have soared - some places in the UK have seen temperatures of thirty degrees.  We haven't had it quite so hot in East Anglia and some days we've even had some lovely sea mist to cool us down.

Everything in the garden has gone a bit bonkers and I have to remember to water all the foody things out there each day.  In fact, the only watering that gets done here is for food and herbs - there is an unwritten rule of my garden that flowers do not get watered.  If they cannot fend for themselves in extremes of weather, then they don't deserve a place in my garden anyway.  I am an eco gardener! 

Ninnies

It's been a very busy few weeks which is why I'm playing catch up with this, my on line photo album.  I was thinking about this today - in the good old days when we got our photos developed for our scrapbooks, it always took me ages then to catalogue them.  Nothing changes, even with new technology.

Our lovely little knitting group seems to be becoming more productive and industrious.   Even Shirley needed no intervention this time and, in fact, started creating before the rest of us had finished our puddings!  We've discovered that the more effort we put into food, the less we put into our knitting, so we're on pizzas and finger food again! 

First to arrive was Ruth, who rushed in to watch the tennis with Amanda - no sense out of them for a little while at least!   Ruth has been buying wool on the internet apparently - this is the start of a slippery slope.  But Ruth is in very good company!

Amanda trotted out all her makes since the last time we met and put us all to shame.  How the rest of us didn't just give up and hit the cheesecake again, I have no idea.

Shannon has been hectoring me for more hexipuffs and I have to admit that I'm a bit bored of them and want a new project now.  Shannon has, however, sewn up three beautiful hexipuff cushions so far for our craft fairs - you never know, I may find some more inspiration once I've got over my current granny blanket obsession.  Shannon did spend some time measuring up my back garden for her new project - I am hoping to have a mosaic path and steps some time soon.   Shannon had to reign in my enthusiasm and silly ideas - apparently unicorns, hot air balloons and pink flamingoes are not suitable subjects for a cottage or seaside garden.  I think I was just giddy with excitement!

Michele has finished her beautiful throw but hasn't strictly started a new project yet.  Michele will not make anything that doesn't use a certain size of needle, which is quite interesting!  We'll soon convert her, I'm sure.

Mo is still making the gorgeous scarf, but that's because she seems to have taken up journalism/ magazine editorship since we last all met up and has been busy with that.  Mo tried to teach us a different style of casting on, but I was lost almost immediately.  It looks way too complicated for my poor little brain to cope with. 

Topics of conversation this week included the porters at Colman Hospital - this is a standing item on our agenda! - chefs-turned-make up artists-turned-medical students; knitted knickers and crochet triangular bikinis.  Another lovely evening - where gorgeous things were made; much food was consumed; and nonsense was spoken.  A perfect evening, if you ask me.

Poppies

My garden has now been taken over by poppies and they are beautiful.  I've been reading a lot about a Facebook campaign - next year marks a hundred years since the outbreak of World War 1 and we're all being encouraged to buy a packet of poppy seeds and go and sprinkle them in hedgerows and country lanes to commemorate this milestone.  I've got tonnes of packets of poppy seeds so I just need to work out where I'm going to sow them now.  I'm always astounded that poppy seeds - which are teeny tiny - can lay dormant and not get blown away in the wind, but that they just lay where they are month in, month out, and still flower prolifically each year.  How does that happen?