Anniversaries galore

Wednesday last week (13th) was our 43rd wedding anniversary and on the 14th it was 3 years since we moved into Cafe Rata! Neither of them seem possible - the first because I don't think I am old enough or mature enough to have been married 43 years, evidence of a 42 year old son and a 40 year old daughter notwithstanding; the second because the three years have whizzed by.

There is further evidence that we have been married a long time - I asked David if he could access our wedding photos in his store of 44,000 photos, and he said 'not today, as it'll take a few hours ...' Then I remembered that they were originally not digitised so I can probably find them myself in all their photographic paper splendour!

I was looking back at this blog recently and came across some of the posts from late 2014 and early 2015 when we were just in here and doing lots of work to sort the section out, and a fair bit to make the house our own.

Last Friday, after Rob had been working in the garden in the afternoon, and Kay had been weeding and mulch spreading in the morning, I realised that after three years, the garden is now in a maintenance state - for a long time it has been in construction mode after an intense period of deconstruction throughout much of 2015. So, well done, Luke (tree feller and chainsaw maven), Rob (man with the vision and the commitment to the clearing, the design, and the planting) and Kay (a recent 'hire' whose weeding capability is second to none, and whose advice on plantings and the care of the garden has led to the purchase and laying down of drip hoses front and back ...)

There have also been other anniversaries of the birthday kind:

• mine on 4 December
• my lovely sister Dee's on 11 Decmeber
• her son Jonathan's 40th on 8 December (back in 1977 mum and dad went from having two grandkids to having five within the space of three months: Kirsty, then Joe my brother's firstborn, and then Jonathan)
• and ON 14 December, it was the lovely Melita's 42nd birthday - an old young friend who has been part of our lives since she was 18
• and on 18 December it was Jo B's birthday - I don't know how old she is now, however she has been in our lives since she ruled mine as my PA back in 1994 ...

Obviously celebrations were in order. So on the 14th we had dinner here at Cafe Rata and while most of the guests were thinking in terms of the 3 years we have lived in this wonderful place, David and I will have these other anniversaries in mind too. (And I will be thinking of my mum who died 20 years ago - on Jonathan's birthday and whose funeral was on Dee's 40th - timing, Mum, timing!!)

So here we all are (except me cos I was taking the photo) at the dinner on a lovely warm evening.

Friends and neighbours who are also friends - we had a great evening and only moved inside for dessert.