Monday 31 August 2009

Family and Friends

It was my son-in-law's 50th birthday this weekend, and to celebrate, he had a big party. Family, new friends, friends from work and long-time friends all gathered for lunch and a tea party. Fify people ate, drank, chatted and dashed in and out of the garden as the rain came and went!



Daughter Sue had cooked a fantastic spread for lunch, with quiches, salad and a yummy cheese board.



Cups of tea came later,




with scones, cream and jam. Did I mention Sue is a great cook? And a far better scone maker than I am! They were delicious!



And, of course, a birthday cake, with sparklers in the shape of '50', though that is hard to see from my photo!




Another view of the cake and party-goers - cleverly (?) done in the mirror!



Then there is always the aftermath! My eldest grandson cheerfully mucked in with his hands in the bowl, carefully washing the very pretty cups.

I think such gatherings are fun, but also good at keeping friendships and family relationships alive. We can't always see as much of each other as we would wish. Lives are busy, and people get scattered, moving futher away from home. It was a lovely afternoon. I met people I didn't know, and gave hugs to family I hadn't seen since Christmas! The youngest member was 3 months old, and the oldest in her 80's. A great time was had by all!

11 comments:

Sue said...

Ha - you can see Imogen's bottles lined up on the windowsill! She is nearly 4 months now! You have made it all look very nice, glad you enjoyed yourself :-)

Cloudhands said...

How nice to celebrate you son-in-law coming of age.(0:
50 seems young to me these days.
I love happy gatherings to celebrate family and our shared history.
The food looked delicious. And I can almost taste the cheese and fruit, in fact I may put mine out for a treat later today.

Hollace said...

How absolutely beautiful! I like the fifty guests for fifty years idea. The scones are beautiful and I wish mine could look like that. Would you share your recipe (Sue)? There's nothing quite like getting people we like together to remind us of all the good things in life.

Thanks for showing it, Gilly; Sue might not have told on herself :)

Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

Those teacups are so pretty! And those scones look wonderful! Wish I could have one!

www.GreenerPastures--ACityGirlGoesCountry.blogspot.com

Diane said...

There's a lot of this 50 year old malarky around at the mo!! Does Sue want to host a party for me? Looks like you all had a great time.

Connie said...

What a wonderful time for all! Everything looked so yummy! Loved that pile of scones ...

kenju said...

The food looks great, Gilly, and I know you must have had a great time! Happy birthday to your SIL!

theMuddledMarketPlace said...

just loving the wine glasses and the baby's bottles!

Sweet Virginia Breeze said...

Everything looks so delicious! So glad you all had a chance to get together, celebrate a birthday, and enjoy each other's company.

VioletSky said...

Milestone birthdays are great for gathering old friends together.

And those teacups are great - we (well, my crowd of friends!) hardly see anyone using them anymore.

Anonymous said...

Looks wonderful! Sue did a fab job, didn't she? :)