Nigel organised food from The Casual Foodie in Birkenhead, and it was all great. He also did some prawns on the BBQ to provide something freshly cooked. Of course, we also provided the obligatory chip and dip, along with nuts.
Nigel told me later that one of the most fun aspects for him was taking around platters of food to our guests. Several kept telling him to sit down and let someone else do it, but he enjoyed it.
The roses in the close-up above were given to us by our good friend Pauline, who also organised the cake, below (as she did for the cakes for the celebration of our civil union and my 50th). The cake tasted as good as it looked! The flowers in the other close-up above are part of a lovely large bouquet given to us by our “honorary niece" (she’s not technically a niece, though she’s a cousin to our niece; I think that makes sense…).
We bought too much wine and beer, probably because guests also brought some. On the upside, I won’t have to buy any for myself for weeks—probably not until the holidays. On the downside, the abundance, along with small glasses and an early start, meant I had a wee bit too much wine.
I’m really lucky in that I always realise it when I’ve had too much, and I put myself to bed. This has only happened twice that I can recall, but I’m pleased that at least I’m not one of those people who goes too far and passes out in a chair or something.
Anyway, I basically felt okay the next day—a little seedy, maybe, but nothing a little more sleep and water couldn’t fix. My voice, however, was shot from talking over the music. It’s only now coming right.
The weirdest part of the night was a power failure—a rare event, but especially inconvenient right then. Apparently, someone set off a Guy Fawkes firework that launched itself into a power line connection. It cut power to the entire area because its aluminium coating caused a short in the wires. Or, so I heard—none of us knew what precisely was wrong at the time. But the power did eventually return.
Our house guests were all gone the following morning, probably by 10am (I didn’t look at the clock). A couple more naps and some more tidying filled the day.
This week is taken up with my big monthly work project, but I wanted to take time to post these last photos from the party. This also concludes the Season of Celebrations, as I sometimes call it, stretching from September 12 (the anniversary of my arrival in New Zealand as a tourist), followed by September 13 and my blogoversary, and right on to November 2 and my expataversary. I bet that next year our wedding anniversary will replace November 2 as our main anniversary celebration, and will become a part of the Season of Celebrations.
Oh yeah, the Labour Day public holiday falls in that time, too. Our next public holiday isn’t until Christmas Day/Boxing Day, but the Season of Holidays that starts then is a topic for another time.
It’s been an especially full Season of Celebrations this year, with plenty of memories made. A good time was had by all involved, and that in itself makes me happy.
But our marriage tops everything else, of course.
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