How terribly strange to be seventy...
Mar. 13th, 2017 10:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustThe Bears have been with us since Thursday, helping to celebrate ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
durham_rambler's birthday. What with one and another of these things, I haven't been online all weekend, which is strange enough in itself.
We had played around with the idea of having a big party - we've had some splendid parties in the past - until we had to admit that the party wasn't going to organise itself, and it didn't look as if we were going to organise it either. At this point we conceded, and invited some friends to lunch - not more people than we could fit around the dining table and the kitchen table pushed together, and no-one (other than the Bears) who would need to stay over. Once that was decided, the pressure was off and the whole thing felt much more manageable - so we could relax and enjoy the weekend.
On Friday we drove out to Frosterley, and lunched at the Black Bull. On Saturday, BoyBear spent the day training with a t'ai chi friend in Newcastle, and the rest of us went into Durham and did some necessary shopping, mostly at the market and at the greengrocer's, before joining him for dinner.
Yesterday was the great day, and we partied. We were a dozen altogether, though not all together, because of early departures and late arrivals. I made salads, and people brought additional foodstuffs - with the inevitable and not unwelcome result that despite twelve people spending an entire evening eating and drinking with enthusiasm, we still have a cheese mountain, and there was chocolate mousse for dinner this evening. Eleven of the twelve had been atdurham_rambler's fiftieth birthday party, twenty years ago, and we got out the giant birthday card that GirlBear made for him then, with the lyrics of many number one hits of the '60s, and tried to identify them. There was heated debate about whether the Beatles were really important, and there was a quiz, and disclaimers (which subjects were we unlikely to be able to answer questions on? sport, and Roman emperors post-200 CE).
The Bears' train was not until after lunch, so GirlBear and I had time for a quick visit to the Cathedral. We sat in the Galilee chapel and watched the sun move across the gold lettering of the Alington memorial over Bede's tomn: Christus est stella matutina... Outside, the daffodils are beginning to open, and the little tulips in the flowerbeds: maybe it really is spring.
durham_rambler's birthday. What with one and another of these things, I haven't been online all weekend, which is strange enough in itself.We had played around with the idea of having a big party - we've had some splendid parties in the past - until we had to admit that the party wasn't going to organise itself, and it didn't look as if we were going to organise it either. At this point we conceded, and invited some friends to lunch - not more people than we could fit around the dining table and the kitchen table pushed together, and no-one (other than the Bears) who would need to stay over. Once that was decided, the pressure was off and the whole thing felt much more manageable - so we could relax and enjoy the weekend.
On Friday we drove out to Frosterley, and lunched at the Black Bull. On Saturday, BoyBear spent the day training with a t'ai chi friend in Newcastle, and the rest of us went into Durham and did some necessary shopping, mostly at the market and at the greengrocer's, before joining him for dinner.
Yesterday was the great day, and we partied. We were a dozen altogether, though not all together, because of early departures and late arrivals. I made salads, and people brought additional foodstuffs - with the inevitable and not unwelcome result that despite twelve people spending an entire evening eating and drinking with enthusiasm, we still have a cheese mountain, and there was chocolate mousse for dinner this evening. Eleven of the twelve had been at
durham_rambler's fiftieth birthday party, twenty years ago, and we got out the giant birthday card that GirlBear made for him then, with the lyrics of many number one hits of the '60s, and tried to identify them. There was heated debate about whether the Beatles were really important, and there was a quiz, and disclaimers (which subjects were we unlikely to be able to answer questions on? sport, and Roman emperors post-200 CE).The Bears' train was not until after lunch, so GirlBear and I had time for a quick visit to the Cathedral. We sat in the Galilee chapel and watched the sun move across the gold lettering of the Alington memorial over Bede's tomn: Christus est stella matutina... Outside, the daffodils are beginning to open, and the little tulips in the flowerbeds: maybe it really is spring.
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no subject
Date: 2017-03-14 06:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-14 09:27 am (UTC)But no, we have neither grandchildren nor children ourselves.
works both ways...
Date: 2017-03-14 08:49 pm (UTC)as they say, it takes a community to raise a child (or a family)
; )
no subject
Date: 2017-03-20 03:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-20 02:34 pm (UTC)I don't know whether it's the lazies, or advancing age, or just feeling that once you've done something really successful, you can't top it and you don't want to do it again less well...
We are in the process of booking a holiday which will take us away from home for my birthday, just because why not? But it's not a special one this year!
no subject
Date: 2017-03-21 02:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-21 09:31 am (UTC)