Skip to main content

Into my thirties

I've been thirty for nearly a month now, so I thought it was about time to admit it to the world! Or that small portion of it which reads this blog, at least. Also to brag about my husband, who organised a surprise birthday party for the occasion. At least, it was a surprise until three days beforehand when he said, "I might need your help making your birthday cake."

I said, "OK".

He said, "This is probably a good time to mention that we need to be in on Sunday afternoon."

"Oh yes?"

"And the cake needs to feed at least 30 people."

"Oh-kaaaayyy!"

I went off to dig out my wedding cake tins from their box in the garage.

I decided on a lemon cake and we got busy zesting and juicing nine lemons. We both mixed the cake, I iced it and Graham wrote on top. I think I might have a rival in cake decorating if he can do such a good job on his first attempt!




On Sunday morning, believe it or not, it started snowing and in an hour or so the garden looked like this.
We wondered if we should call the whole thing off, but the idea of eating 6 plates of sandwiches and an enormous cake all by ourselves deterred us - and in fact the roads weren't too bad, and most people were able to come. In fact exactly 30 people were here - very neat! It was lovely to see everybody and the time went way too quickly. Toby got passed around like a box of chocolates, and I accumulated a small mountain of actual chocolate and many other very generous gifts. Thank you everyone!



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Supercars and Selfies on the South Coast

We drove south on a wet, wet Saturday in August. The windscreen wipers swished endlessly back and forth, as we debated whether it was worth stopping anywhere except for the overcrowded motorway services. By the time we reached Winchester, the wipers had subsided to an occasional flick across the screen. We decided to stop. Of course, as soon as we left the car park there was a brief shower, but we ducked into the City Mill, now a National Trust property. There was a large room full of the usual kind of displays about flour milling; a recently renovated garden; and downstairs, the mill race running at full tilt. The mill is built right across the River Itchen. Winchester City Mill garden The mill race Water wheel (awaiting renovation) We stayed dry as we explored further into Winchester. There was even some blue sky for our selfie by the cathedral! But as we walked back to the car the rain hit us like a hose on full blast. An overhanging building provided some slight shelter, but the wa
Post a Comment
Read more

National Forest Way: Calke Abbey to Ashby de la Zouch

All the best walking blogs have maps on. I finally figured out how to add a route map to mine. If I get time, I'll add them to the previous posts as well, so you can see where I went. So, here are the two walks which made up the next stretch of the NFW. Walk 1  I started from the National Trust property and walked along by the lake, up the hill by the deer park, and down to Staunton Harold reservoir - all very familiar. Calke village postbox featured a highland cow on top. Lake at Calke Abbey Herd of deer   A short stretch on the road took me to Dimminsdale, which was new to me. There are records of mining at the site from the 13th century until the end of the 19th century. It's incredible to think that people worked there for so many hundreds of years. Now it is a secluded landscape of still pools and shaggy trees. Dimminsdale   I crossed a small section of the Staunton Harold estate, then went up a private lane with some rather nice houses. My turning point was where the Nati
Post a Comment
Read more

Reading for Spiritual Formation 2023-24

I wasn't sure whether to read another set of theology books this year. Could the time I spend on it be better spent on something else? At what point does it become reading for the sake of it, without having much impact on my wider life? It's difficult to tell. However, as usual, I had a growing list of books I wanted to read. I do need to think about what I'm doing as well as what I'm reading, and I don't expect to continue this specific discipline indefinitely. But I decided there was space for at least one more year of Reading for Spiritual Formation. So, without further soul-searching: The Books. Three Mile an Hour God Kosuke Koyama Japanese theologians are few and far between; Christianity is still very much a niche religion in Japan. Kosuke Koyama was Japanese and appears to be both influential and accessible. Not every theologian is both! So I'm excited to read his recently republished book Three Mile an Hour God. It was originally written in 1979, and is
Post a Comment
Read more