Matthew’s birthday is on 27th June, and Steven’s on the 29th, and so for some years the closest weekend has been the excuse for all the “children” (and nowadays grandchildren) to join us for a family get together. This year Chris, Lucy and the girls had visitors but otherwise it was a full turnout. The Hands travelled down from Leeds on Friday night – Si wanted to watch an England-Australia rugby game on Sky on Saturday morning. He tried to persuade me to join him, but with family arriving at lunchtime this was never an option. Si went off to watch the game at Hinckley Rugby Club, leaving Chantal, Claire, Bess and Florence to join me on a dog walk. The ladies of all ages managed the first half mile and then turned back while the dogs and I had a longer walk.
Matthew joined us soon after 1, followed by Simon and Kate, Si, after the Rugby game, and eventually Steven, Sherry and Keith, Keith having collected them from the station. It was a glorious afternoon, and we sat outside on the patio enjoying a meal
before sitting in the garden chatting, drinking and playing with the girls.
By the late evening Simon and Kate were at Kilworth House Theatre, and the Hands had headed back north, leaving the birthday boys, Sherry and ourselves enjoying a glass of wine or two (or was it a bottle or two?) sitting around the chiminea at the end of the garden, chatting until bedtime.
Today Matthew went mountain-biking in Shropshire with a couple of local friends, leaving by 8am despite the late night, while the rest of us had a relaxed day. We sat outside playing “Times Up”, a board game given to Steven by Simon and Kate. We played in pairs, with one person trying to establish the identity of a famous person on the card from clues given by his/her partner. I use the word “famous” in its loosest sense – has anyone heard of Gumby? Or Anderson Cooper? Turns out that one is a weird American cartoon character and the other an American TV journalist. However, the cards get put back into the pack until someone eventually works it out, and as a result the skill is remembering what you may have read on a card earlier, or remembering earlier clues and building on them. It’s quite clever really.
The girls had trouble with the 30 second time limit. I have long known that Chantal does not use one word when 20 will do. This is not good in this game. “Right then, it’s a man, and he’s got two names, a first name and a second name, only the first name is in brackets and so you don’t have to get that if you can’t and I have never heard of him so I’m not sure how I’m going to do this and what is that noise?” That’s the 30 second alarm, dear. Sherry, on the other hand, is minimalist. Typical clues included “Oh My God Oh My God!” and “Its two words”. It all got a bit raucus, which was a bit embarrassing, since three of the neighbouring gardens were taking part in Croft Open Gardens, and were filled with genteel horticulturalists. Chantal and I won comfortably.
After Steven and Sherry had been dropped at the station Matthew returned from his mountain biking trip, joining us briefly for a cup of tea, before visiting grandparents and heading home. More photos will appear in “Recent Photos” in due course.
Technically we live in Oaktree House, but sadly the tree had to go.
We now have a thriving Oakstump at the front of the house.
