Family, Friends, & Fowl

I went to my sister’s today for lunch and helped to celebrate my niece’s birthday. I think she was happy with the gift basket I put together (see yesterday’s blip). I won’t tell you how old my beautiful niece is, but she’s the mother of my sister’s two beautiful grandchildren AND she’s a busy paediatrician! She obviously takes after me with her youthful-looking genes!! Ha!

On my way home I went to visit some much-loved friends who live near my sister. It was meant to be a brief visit but we had LOTS of catching up to do so it was hard to pull myself away. When I did finally get near home the sky was ablaze with a beautiful sunset so I made a quick diversion to the river (Thames) near Reading. There is a huge population of ducks, geese and swans here, some with babies. I walked along the river a bit, enjoying the sunset, but as you can see from the surface of the water it was pretty windy and COLD! I hadn’t come prepared with extra layers so the walk was short and I was glad to get back to the warmth of my car! A beautiful 20 minutes or so, though!