Friday 23rd May - yesterday explains today...

 What has happened today?

BB went off to the dentist in the afternoon (we can skip over the morning because apart from breakfast and lunch NOTHING happened) and then...

well that was the day.

If you are enjoying the sun, you can thank me, if you like. The morning was grey and chilly so I went and put on a thick jumper. By the time I had come back down the sun was shining... some perverse magic? I kept the jumper on, which must be why the sun stayed out.

Yesterday, however, was Full-On!

Blog readers will know my father died at the beginning of January this year. We had the funeral on one very cold day in February, for close family only so I could attend. However he was involved in a number of local organisations and clubs, as well has having a huge friendship/family network through his family history researches, reaching through his own name, his mother's family, grandparent's (on both sides) families... when he started back in the 1960s his first step was to send a postcard to everyone with his surname in all the telephone directories (it's a good job his surname wasn't Smith or Jones!)

Anyway, back to yesterday; we must have sent out 160 invitations, mostly by email. We didn't expect the family and friends in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Bolivia, France etc to come, and many people were too elderly or frail to travel. Even so, 60 came to tea at Nymans Gardens, and enjoyed meeting and talking and consuming an excellent tea catered by the Nymans team.

There were speeches (4, all brief, amusing and illuminating different aspects of his life) and it was lovely to hear how much he was appreciated. The speeches were followed by toasts, browsing through the memorabilia people brought, and eventually a gentle drifting away to enjoy the gardens after hours in the evening sunshine.

We were lucky with the weather; although it was cloudy for most of the afternoon it didn't rain, so we could be in the courtyard as well as indoors. 

BB and I were so tired when we got home at about 7, that I went upstairs to change into pyjamas and we didn't bother with supper. Instead we had a coffee and ate chocolate biscuits and an early night!

Which all explains why very little was accomplished today.

Music

No teddy bears were involved yesterday, and the tea was laid out as a help yourself buffet, but I chose this little ditty anyway. Fontanella is a professional recorder group, and I remember this video from Spring 2020. One of the group is a member of my church, and is a talented performer and teacher. 

Do you remember that put teddy bears in their downstairs windows to amuse passers-by in lockdown, when people had to stay home apart from taking a short walk for exercise?  My friend used create a little tableau, one week a picnic, another week a little school...