An age worth celebrating......

Very very good friendK reached 70 last Friday and we were amongst the few special friends invited to celebrate with him.

His wifeL and daughterV started planning back in April and we were all sworn to secrecy. Birthday-boy knew nothing till that morning when his wife had said "wear golfing clothes and bring your clubs as I've booked you a lesson"

We got a message that they had arrived in the bar so the six of us hiding out in one of the rooms surprised came down and him there, and he definitely was surprised! Then we were all surprised when a friend from Florida came out of hiding too.

We were at the Manor of Groves Hotel, Sawbridgeworth a golf club and spa.
After a very noisy rendition of the birthday song, hugs and kisses all round we all got drinks and moved out to the conservatory where some of us had lunch.

Four of the men went off to play golf and six of us went off to the spa, sitting pool side, swimming, jacuzzi-ing, and one even having a beauty treatment. Of course there was constant chat between us all.

Dried and dressed we decided to educate our US friend with the English ritual of a cream tea (good excuse eh?), seated back in the conservatory with pots of tea and scones, jam and clotted cream. He loved it.

Later we all got changed for a yummy 3-course meal. Nothing was too much trouble for the staff and they were more than happy to take photos for us too.

A great evening ending in the bar around midnight. 

We all met up again at breakfast. A lovely noisy band of wonderful friends. 

Lots and lots of hugs kisses and farewells and we drove away more than 24 hours after we arrived. 

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Not a race but a steady amble.....

Finally getting round to my January catch-up, although there must be lots I've forgotten and even what I've remembered is totally out of any sequence.

...The first Thursday of the month is our Acorn craft day and as it was my first one since the op they made a fuss of me which was lovely.

...O had a sleep over this week. I love that he still climbs into bed with me for a cuddle in the morning. Bedtime story was a classic off my shelf

... We actually managed our family Christmas gathering in mid January, this time hosted by nieceV and her hubby D. They live in Surrey.

...Hubby for SERV has been three nights on rota this month and called out every time.

...lovely lunch out with friends L&K and L&M. Apparently Hubby and I missed the best bit as L&K have a hard-top 2-door convertable which I know from experience isn't the easiest when climbing in and out of the back, and when they arrived L did a most spectacular fall out of the back and was left sprawled across the car park! No help or sympathy just a lot of screaming laughter! They all had starters and desserts but I really can't manage that much any more so just had a main course and even left a little of that. Lots of news to share so a good catch-up all round.

...Our new mattress is deeper that the previous one and sheets don't tuck in so go baggy on top, so I've added a substantial border around all sides to the sheets so they fit better. Only done two so far but that's still a lot of machining.

...made some cards, first two was because I needed them before having time to go out and buy some, then I did three more because I'd been so pleased with the result. Yes they were all the same but three were birthdays, one was a get well soon and the third a sympathy card.

...I suffered a bit with BPPV for a week. This is a form of vertigo that mostly makes me dizzy when lying down in bed. I would normally do the Epley Maneuver but as I'm still getting a little internal pain I didn't want to chance it, but thankfully it went by itself.

...lovely lunch out with friends R&S. These are very good friends and we've always plenty to chat about.

...and our usual Wednesday night gang have had a bargain start to the year with the 2-4-1 discount vouchers at Prezzo used three weeks and a 2-4-1 carvery one week as well.

...and I've just redone the Crete holiday post from last October as I could only find scrappy notes in draft, which has now replaced the finished post I'd actually done but was hiding!!!
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