A Wonderful Sunday Afternoon

 By Belinda


We left for the nearby  Warwick the county town famous for its castle late Sunday morning.


Just to give some context; in 2009 I wrote a post entitled Family of the Heart about the history of two very special lifetime friends of Mum's. The Birthday Surprise (2010) and We Went to Wales Today (2011) are two other posts written about this special friendship.


Although we have been married for almost 43 years, Paul had never  met Uncle Tommy and Auntie May. I said to Auntie May that if he didn't pass muster it was too late to send him back!  :) I needn't have worried. Uncle Tommy and Paul had an instant connection. Once they started talking there was no stopping them.


Auntie May and Uncle Tommy are from South Shields in the north east of England, but their daughter Diane, 5 years younger than me, has just moved for her work as a business analyst, from Holt, in Wales, to Warwick, a mere half an hour from Alvechurch.

After a cup of tea with a delicious slice of lime ginger cake we all set out for the nearby village of Hatton where there is a dry dock and the The Hatton Arms, a pub where we had reservations for lunch.


The weather was glorious; the relationships deep and precious; the surroundings interesting; and the food great!


There was a moment, when we were having our first cup of tea and, as we always do before too many moments pass, laughing out loud about a funny story from the past, that I missed Mum deeply. How she would have enjoyed the laughter, her eyes dancing with humour, giggling at memories shared. But as the bittersweet wave of emotion flowed over me; momentarily, I felt her very close.

Here are some moments from our wonderful Sunday afternoon.




Diane and I chose Coriander Chicken with Sticky Rice. Everyone else had gammon steaks with eggs and chips. All was delicious!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Great shots - made me want to float down the river. Then, I got hungry! Thanks for sharing. You carry the memory of mom in your heart - so she was with you!
3:46 AM
Susan said…
What are "gammon steaks". My paternal grandmother was a Gammon, so you'd think I would know...

What a special day. I see that even the sun showed up for the occasion!
6:35 AM
Dave Hingsburger said…
Oh, I love a bit of chip and egg!
7:02 AM
Belinda said…
So glad everyone is enjoying along with us! Anonymous you are right about Mum of course! :)
1:04 PM
Belinda said…
Susan, gammon is a ham steak--this is what yahoo has to say:
"For those who are unaware Gammon is from an Old Northern French word "Gambe" for hind- leg of the pig or ham. However, if one wants a whole ham then a ham is ordered, if one wants part of the ham (usually boned and rolled or cut into steaks) that portion of the ham is usually called Gammon."
1:04 PM
Belinda said…
Dave, Paul and I lived on egg and chips for the first few years of married life! It's amazing to think of the 50 1b sacks of potatoes that I used to buy and wrestle home, and the bottles of cooking oil I got through. It's a wonder our arteries weren't clogged at thirty! :) And, like you, I still enjoy egg and chips as much as any other meal.
1:07 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Voyage

Image
Note from Belinda: I read this prayer yesterday and again today--and then I read it to Susan after cell group, when we were having our "second cup" of decaff coffee together. I knew that she'd love it. She has a framed picture on her office wall of a little blond haired girl in a sail boat on a stormy sea. A fatherly sailor,with a weather beaten face; in a gray sou'wester, holds her close, as he capably mans the tiller. This prayer reminds me of that picture and influenced what I wrote earlier today, when I used the metaphor of ebbing waves to describe a lack of consistency and my desire to crash over the sandbar into the peaceful pool on the other side.  ( Susan sent me a link to the painting, which was done by American impressionist Robert Reid in 1888.  It hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in NYC.) Be bless ed by the beauty of this prayer. OH LORD OF THE OCEANS, My little bark sails on a restless sea, Grant that Jesus may sit at the ...
Read more

Samson Beaver and his Family

Image
I first posted this in 2009, a little show and tell about one of my favourite photographs. Back then it hung on a wall, but now it's in my bathroom where I see it every morning! I'd forgotten the history behind the story, researched when I first posted this and thought that current readers might enjoy it--a story from a time when this land was still being discovered, not so very long ago. This photograph was taken by Mary Schaffer; artist, photographer, writer and naturalist, in 1907. It is of a Stoney Indian named Samson Beaver, with his wife Leah and daughter, Frances Louise. I bought the photo on a postcard, on a trip to British Columbia and it hangs framed, on the wall I face when sitting at my laptop. I love it. Don't you just feel as if you could gather Frances Louise up in your arms and cuddle her? I get a deep sense of peace and happiness when I look at this family, sitting in the grass of a long ago fall. They are dressed in their best, beautiful c...
Read more

Ere Zij God--Glory to God in the Highest! A Dutch Carol

Image
By Belinda This beautiful Dutch carol was shared today by a friend of Dutch ancestry, on Facebook. I had never heard it before but absolutely loved it. It moved me deeply, especially at the end after the crowd leaves the church and then breaks into spontaneous singing again around a brazier, with the sound of chiming church bells in the background. Listen to it with headphones or a good speaker to get the full effect of the harmonies. And happy first Sunday in Advent!
Read more