July Social

And July continued to be mostly hot, hot, hot. But luckily interspersed with lots of lovely social whirls to keep us more than entertained.

One of those was at a distance for me – the wedding of my cousin Adrian’s only daughter Scarlett, to her very handsome beau, Andrea. Rick & Cathy headed off to Rome for the festivities and it sounded like a corker. The bride and groom looked totally stunning (no wonder my teenage Dutch nieces were rather struck by Andrea when they met him at our house in March!) Congrats to the pair of them.

Back here, we were invited ‘over the road’ to Henry & Sandra’s pad, plus with Anita and Rob from ‘next door’, a little Dora get-together. Henry cooked a lamb tagine on what was a VERY hot evening, but the winner dish was Sandra’s green veg salad (I’m sure it has a more compelling name really). One which I have already stolen and re-made twice! We are always hugely grateful to be blessed with such great neighbours – and the next dinner will be at ours, when R&A’s younger daughter heads to uni in October, leaving their nest empty. A lot of alcohol will be required…

We then had a lightning visit from David & Mandy, who were en route to their family holiday in France. Less than 24 hours together but we made the most of it – and phew, their car was still here the next morning (Dora is a bit of a hotbed for car theft and theirs is very swish!) Margaritas were obviously required before the beef short rib meat mountain came off the BBQ…

And mid week also saw a visit to Maureen, with Ginny. Maureen had amazingly rallied – again – and was up and sat in her chair, which is always a bonus as she is often in bed. This time, one of the carers came in to trim her nails, which needed two of us as her fingers are curled round and very arthritic, but we managed to do a half decent job. Ginny & I chat to fill the time, trying to include Maureen as much as is possible. Though the only words she spoke this time were when we were heading off post coffee & cake and she very clearly said ‘bye bye’!

And we are just back from 2 nights at the cottage with Janine & Ross. Pitching in with some of the weeding and admiring the new garden workshop, spare room and – hurrah – second loo. Just a large swathe of lawn needing to be re-laid as a result. A different type of visit though, as Ross’s mother, the inimitable Majean, passed away this week at the amazing age of 101. Apparently still having managed to sip down one of her much enjoyed tots of whisky during her last days, bless her. We are so used to Ross making his 6pm phone call to her, with ‘hello Mother” always shouted loudly, as she was quite hard of hearing, that it will be a new way forward for everyone, but of course mostly for Ross and his lovely sister Hilary and hubby Jim. So here’s a massive toast to Majean – the matriarch of the family – may she rest in peace.

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