Family re-union...

Three cousins and a first cousin once removed :-)

Two months ago when D and his sister Ele got an email from their cousin Cilla in Canada saying she'd be in Scotland in June, plans were hatched to arrange a get together and today was the day.

Joining Cilla and her husband Mick was Fiona, Cilla's friend from school, who they are staying with, and D's mum's and Cilla's dad's cousin Elsie.  D & Ele's mum and Cilla's dad were sister and brother.  Elsie is their cousin.  Hope you're keeping up :D ) and they all came to ours for afternoon tea.  Tom, another of D's mum's cousins was invited but couldn't come as he's on holiday in France. 

Kenny (Ele's husband) and I had never met Cilla or her husband before.  Cilla emigrated to Canada in 1981 and the only times David and Ele have seen her since was at her dad's then her mum's funerals around 15 years ago.  We reckon the last time we saw Elsie was at D's mum's funeral in 2007.

They arrived in glorious sunshine at 2.00pm with Elsie arriving around 10 minutes later.  Fiona had her gorgeous rough collie with her, a four year old boy called Ghillie who was gentle, calm and very fluffy.  Lola was spending the afternoon with R so Ghillie got all the attention for most of the afternoon :-)

After toasting our get together with glasses of bubbly, we settled down to afternoon tea and a proper catch up.  The weather was so lovely we were able to move outside for part two - cake, scones, Empire biscuits, and mini cupcakes.

And what a lovely afternoon we had.  Lots of reminiscing for Ele, D and Cilla.  So lovely to hear their memories, and lots of hilarious stories from Mick from his and Cilla's travelling adventures.  

Lola returned just after 5pm and was very happy to see Ghillie.  He wasn't sure quite what to make of this blonde whirlwind and decided the best thing to do was ignore her and lie at Fiona's feet in the shade.  Lola got the message and was unperturbed as she went from human to human seeking pats and praise.  She wasn't disappointed! 

The afternoon flew by and in a blink it was almost 7pm and time for our guests to depart.  Cilla and Mick are planning to return to the UK later in the year as they are going on a Norwegian Fjords cruise that leaves from Southampton.  If they make it north of the border either before or after their cruise, we will hopefully get the chance to meet up again.

Elsie only lives around 25 minutes from us so it's ridiculous that we don't see her but now she knows where we are, she has promised to visit again.

In the photo, Elsie, Cilla, Ele and D.