A busy weekend
It was Barry’s birthday
on February 3rd, a significant decade marker. He was born on the day
Stalingrad fell during the Second World War, though some authorities have it as
February 2nd.
We had a gathering
of the clan on Saturday and were only missing a few members. The oldest was, of
course, Barry, and the youngest, Luca, four months. There were seven under elevens,
eight in their twenties, eight forty to mid-fifties and two over seventy. We also
had three visiting dogs to add to our two. If everyone had brought their dogs
there would have been twelve in the house, rather too many and too much of a
trip hazard!
Since Jellicoe is
now an honorary Labrador, we had to shut him and his brother away in our
bedroom, otherwise he would have wrought havoc in the dining room, where food
was laid out on the table. Ariella, nearly two, and Jack, four, both love cats
so had a special trip to the bedroom to see Jellicoe and Herschel. The cats
were worried and wide-eyed at being shut out from proceedings.
We had opened the
double doors from the sitting room into the dining room so that people could wander
in and out at will, helping themselves to whatever took their fancy. Susannah took
control of feeding people and Callum was in charge of drinks. Barry and I relaxed
and enjoyed catching up with our extended family.
It was lovely to
have such a crowd of young people in the house, and so many of them very tall! The young adults were as amusing and
entertaining as ever and the little children were each caught in their own egocentric
worlds, and equally entertaining.
It is rare for us
all to get together and each time we say we must do it more often, but life is
busy. The next organised occasion will be Susannah and James’ wedding later
this year, in November. We are all looking forward to that.
