Hemel Hempstead with Lyn and family - 90th birthday celebration

 

What a stunning view it is from Lyn and Norman’s house over the slopes and forests. Fortunately, the temperature has dropped and evenings are perfect for eating on the terrace on top of the garage roof . It’s lovely to be back again.

There was plenty to be done to prepare the seating for the family gathering the next day. It would have been a simple task on flat ground, but the ant hills under the lawn made finding flat areas for tables and chairs quite challenging! To say the least!
Anyway, success. Norman and I also had a lot of laughs, and swearing, erecting the tent for the drinks. It’s quite a tricky job for two people, and even once the tent was up, it was impossible to find a place to hammer in the pegs to stabilise it. Luckily, it stayed up.
Andrew and Ali brought an incredible tent with them, providing shade for the majority of the party. Great.
The caterers did a phenomenal job - quiche, salmon, salads and hundreds of new potatoes. I think they were catering for twenty per person, it was all delicious.
The desserts were equally as tasty, especially the lemon posset - an old favourite of my mother’s. Chocolate Black Forest cake, fruit salad, plus berry salad and meringues from Ali, everything was incredible.
After all the food, of course there was a birthday cake too with a wonderful rendition of Happy Birthday sung by so many good singers!
My great nieces and nephews plus very competitive parents thoroughly enjoyed the Swedish game of Kubb, which was very difficult on the undulating lawn!
Alex, Becky’s husband, wrote and read out a brilliant, cryptic poem to Lyn.
It was a perfect day, and for me a fantastic chance to catch up with the English side of my family, most of whom I hadn’t seen for a couple of years.
And here below is the entire English family. What a pity Mark and David couldn’t have joined us.
Happy Birthday Lyn. It was a fantastic stay with you and Norman and a wonderful party to mark your 90 amazing years.








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