Last week I attended a 40 year reunion for a class I taught in my earliest years on Norfolk Island. Such events always make you reflect on how quickly the years have passed. But I was not quite prepared for the comment from one former pupil who had lived away from the island since leaving school, and had returned for the occasion,
"I didn't think you would still be with us" she told me bluntly/ Well that makes you feel OLD! And so does having the first of your offspring turn 40!!!!
Miriam, who is the only one of our five kids to live away from Norfolk Island, was very keen to have a big island style celebration for this special occasion. Fortunately her birthday is just a couple of weeks after Christmas, so it was a great time to have a party while she and the girls were over on their Christmas visit, and everyone was still in a holiday mood!
Above is a picture of Miriam with Sarah and Emily, and the love of her life Tony, who was on his first visit to Norfolk Island. In the background is our son John, preparing for a big Fish Fry, which was to be part of the catering and festivities.
In fact, everyone pitched in to help get ready and make sure it was a great occasion.
The girls and their friends blew up hundreds of balloons to make this grand arch.
Charles and his offsiders put fairy lights through the trees.
We put citronella flares and lanterns all about in case the mozzies gatecrashed the party.
There were welcoming jelly shots as people arrived.
It really was a feast - and that was before we started on the sweets and the cake!
Then it was time to bring on the dancing girls!
I have no idea how they managed to persude the usually reticent Peter to join in - too many jelly shots, perhaps?
And we even managed a family photo or two - although it took a bit of effort. I think this is the first time in the history of our family we have been able to get the kids to more or less co-operate! They musy be getting more mature!
Tina took lots of photos for us, and I am looking forward to seeing hers!
Later in the evening, the KAVA bar was in action - set up by Charles, with Ernie doing the ceremonial honours.
The next day it was just a lovely memory - and leftovers!!!
2 comments:
Good morning how are you?
My name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favour:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Norfolk Island? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Norfolk Island in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and a original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39 Bajo C
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com, where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Wonderful celebration everyone looks like they had such a marvellous time, very nice.
Post a Comment