Ten Years...

In late June, DH and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Compared to many of our friends, who are these days celebrating 40+ wedding anniversaries, I guess we could be classed as newlyweds! Lol. But considering I never expected to remarry as I was quite happy with my life, it just shows 'that you never can tell!'. And I can say in all honesty that it has been a wonderful 10 years!
So this year the bridal party from that ceremony in 2004, went out to lunch; DH's younger brother had been his Best Man and, his cousin, and also my best friend for over 30 years, was my bridesmaid.
Then and now photo...

My BiL and SiL were on 'grandparent duty' that day, so young Ashleigh had to tag along...she was so beautifully behaved...in the photo below, my BiL had left to go an pick up Ashleigh's brother from school...

Interestingly, my marriage to DH linked 2 branches of the family back together...a split had occurred 2 generations ago but no one knows the reason. For example, DH's branch had stayed in contact with one great aunt but  Pamela's side of the family did not, so her generation did not know a significant part of the family...they do now though! And conversely DH's family did not know the branch of the family in the US...they do now... :-)

Sitting between cousins who 12 years ago didn't know the other existed...

I love the view out of the windows at Eatons Hill Hotel...

Now over 10 years ago my friend and I purchased some fabric featuring hydrangeas and her plan was that she was going to make DH and I a quilt for a wedding gift. Time was her enemy so plans changed and the quilt was to be a first anniversary present....you know where I'm going with this don't you? A week before this year's anniversary, my friend and I went shopping for some homespun to complement the 2 fabrics that we already had...my friend was now determined to make this quilt in a week! The original pattern that she had selected with lots of pieced blocks was discarded in favour of sewing a series of borders around a large central panel of hydrangea fabric.

Thanks to a wonderful quilter at Taigum, the pieced top, batting and backing were dropped off on the Sunday, when I also chose a design for the quilting. The wonderful Toni had it all quilted and ready for Pamela to collect on the Wednesday. My friend then sewed the binding on this huge quilt and had it ready and waiting when we met for lunch on the Thursday! Phew....

The quilt is huge and so warm...well worth the wait as it's so special! And I can still see why Pam and I fell in love with that fabric all those years ago.

A celebration for a special lady...

On Sunday DH and I went to a 90th birthday celebration at the Eatons Hill Tavern.

The view from the windows in the area set up for the 90th

Bea/ Mrs C/ Granny is very much loved by friends and family. The birthday girl and DH go back a long way. DH and one of her sons used to be in a band together in the 1960s.  A number of the guests, like DH had also attended the same youth group in the 1960s. Before I came on the scene, DH and Bea's daughter used to go out together...so our lives are certainly intertwined. But there's more...

Mrs C enquires about what DH has been up to lately...

Ten years ago when we went to Bea's 80th party I saw a familiar face amongst the guests. It was someone whom I had met through my work when he came to complete an ascertainment for one of my students. He and his wife were at the 80th  because his wife's sister was one of Bea's daughters in law! Eventually we would work together at my last school and a firm friendship with both husband and wife would ensue.

DH and my former workmate David...

We got there a little early, so these 2 enjoyed a catch up chat and some 'clowning about' lol

Here's one of the young guests giving Bea a big smile ( my friends, David and Majella's latest grandson)

And here is Bea having a cuddle with our friends Liz and Glenn's latest grandson...

Here's the same baby being cuddled by his grandmother, Liz and admired by our friend Barbara. (these 2 ladies went to school with Bea's daughter)

My friend Majella was taking photos for the family...

There were 2 cakes...this was the first one to be cut...

I asked DH to take a photo of me with the 'official photographer' and she was very grateful later in the day when she discovered that she had no photos of herself...but I had also taken others of her so all was good :-)

Majella and I

Now I put in the title of this post that Mrs C was a special lady...she has had the most awful things happen to her and she has shown herself to be an amazingly resilient lady. Her husband, the manager of a large city hotel was shot on his way home from work in 1971. The family had the heartache of losing a husband and father as well as all the publicity and the trial of the man who was convicted.
Her son, who was a good friend of DH died young, as did another of her sons. Her surviving son died suddenly and therefore unexpectedly, last year. Her only daughter has been plagued by ill health for many years and awaits a liver transplant. So it was good to see Bea having a good time at her party...

 And it looks like she went home in a special car...' George Wolseley', David's car...love this photo!