Giant Jenga Day

I need not have worried about the weather not being warm enough for today's picnic. It was Scorccio! When Bob, Mary, Steve, Steve's sister Rosie, me and Jane arrived on Minchinhampton common, Lea Anne, her partner and two children were there already, trying to erect a pop-up shelter to give us some shade. We got it up in the end, thanks to some nifty teamwork, and people trickled in from all directions, bearing food and drink, sun hats, children, and toys.

CleanSteve's picnic blip

My Cousin Zina was very disappointed that her cousin Jezreel was not there, but I had to explain that Jezreel lives 200 miles away and they don't have a car. She reconciled herself to this, and ran around with the two other children, trying to fly kites and frisbees in the non-existent wind. Everything got rather tangled...

Some heavy horses and a donkey strolled past; several random dogs tried to pinch Scotch eggs; the ice cream van tinkled in the distance. My cousin's husband, Stevie, drove all the way to the ice cream factory to buy a tub of vanilla to have with our cake and fruit salad! We forgot to put ice in our drinks, so used it as a giant cool-pack instead. Not everybody local made it to the common, which was sad, but we had a good gathering, and were in agreement that all of us who live near here should make the effort to picnic on the common, instead of just driving by on our way to Nailsworth or Cirencester. It is a unique space.

Eventually, when we'd all massively overheated, we packed up our picnic remains in a cardboard box mysteriously marked 'pyjamas' and headed back to our house for tea and more. Zina and several others played giant Jenga, then CleanSteve and I took Zina to the local park, Daisybank, at her request. She and I had a competition on the swings. CleanSteve taught her and her dad a few frisbee moves . The sun shone on, and on.

I couldn't take any pictures on the common because I was trying to be a good hostess. I asked Steve to take some instead, which he did. So here's my shot of Zina, aged 8, playing with the Jenga set. Her mother Fiona and I played together as cousins in Ireland, so it's great to continue the tradition.

All of us gathered together are getting older, and many are in imperfect health. But those who were there share
"that courageous spirit of adventure, which is the finest quality of youth. And by youth, I do not mean all those who are young in years, but I mean too all those who are young in heart, no matter how old they may be"

If that quote looks familiar, it is because it comes from Qneen Elizabeth II's first Christmas speech of 1952! I never thought me to quote a monarch, but some relative of mine embroidered this part of the speech over and over, on rectangles of linen. with floral embellishments. It has become engraved inside of me, I have a linen speech somewhere upstairs, with a black Parker ink stain on it. That shows how much time some people used to have ... embroidery just doesn't look the same on facebook