Happy 86th Birthday Dad

My dad Ronnie's birthday is the same day as John's so although Mr Ron reached the super impressive milestone of 86 (each year after 80 becomes a super impressive milestone) it was somewhat overshadowed by John's paltry total of a mere 50.  Initially we had no idea how we were going to be celebrating John William's half century so erring on the side of caution had suggested that we mark the following day, Sunday, as Dad's special day as we always see one another on a Sunday anyway and Mum would dip in as it would have been her turn to cook.  Had we been parasailing or bungee jumping I could almost have been certain that Dad would have given it a miss but then you never know.  As it turned out our more sedate celebration of a trip to the winery on an old Cypriot charabanc suited Dad so in the end he dipped in with a double celebration!

When we first started our planning I thought it would be lovely to try and find somewhere for an intimate lunch together - over the years I have tried to do that and this year I asked my friend Elaine if we might organise a little lunch in the beautiful courtyard she has at her home.  This was of course long before she took on the running of the local Herb Garden and hiked her furniture down there!!!

We were joined by Di and Rob and Jane and John and had hand picked the menu to ensure that it met with every dietary requirement and taken the drinks down ourselves continuing where we left off yesterday by leaving the white wine for Di at home in the fridge!

We started by having some bucks fizz or just plain bucks for the drivers in the courtyard - the weather today was odd cloudy humid and warm but not scorchingly hot.  

Elaine's garden, although she says it is now neglected due to her commitment with the Herb Garden is still lovely, and people had an opportunity to take a wander round and have a look before the food was served.

The four boys - combined ages of about 275 years sat like a group of likely lads whilst Dad opened his presents and cards.  John also had a few gifts and envelopes to open which included a fabulous SUFC watch from Di and Rob and as they now know you can never have too many watches and sunglasses in John's book - I am guessing this will have to be surgically removed in future because he LOVED it!  He also loved the voucher for afternoon tea at the Elysium (but not quite as much as I am going to) and the money he received from his mum and my mum.

Elaine had turned her dining area into a lovely little bistro for the afternoon and Hadeel had taken a day off work in order to be there to help out for which we were extremely grateful.  It would seem that our menu choice was a big hit as there were 9 clean plates on all occasions.  We started with a home-made pate (negative mushrooms of course) followed by chicken in an absolutely delicious white wine sauce with little roast potatoes, carrots and peas.  Then a nice fresh fruit salad with cream followed by coffee and a celebratory slice of birthday carrot cake!

Dad sensibly sought out the quite corner by the pool where Elaine had placed a couple of sun loungers to take an afternoon nap.  Who could blame him?  We had eaten well and drunk well and the surroundings were so peaceful calm and beautiful - I was almost tempted to take the lounger next to him - it had been such an exhausting weekend trying to make sure that everything went to plan and then failing on a few points - not that anyone would have known but I knew and that makes all the difference.

I think, actually I know that everyone enjoyed the pop-up dining experience and I have to give a big 'THANK YOU' shout to Elaine and Hadeel for making it possible - it was the perfect end to the weekend.

I also know that it was a significant day for John's Mum but she held up well - 23 years ago today I got as far as the doors of the registry office with my brother in law Drew and we were barred entrance as we were late (couldn't find anywhere to park in Chesterfield) so we never actually saw Janet and Hadge take their vows.