70th Birthday Lunch

We met with old friends Shirley and Lewis, and Robyn and Barrie yesterday to celebrate Shirley’s 70th birthday. The drive around the Paremata side of Pauatahanui Inlet was glorious with the surrounding hills reflected in the calm waters of the estuary.

Reflections in the Inlet

The venue was “The Winemaker’s Daughter”, at Otaki, on the Kapiti Coast,  good food  with the extra attraction of $10 lunches.  How could six “golden oldies” pass that reasonable price up?

  The setting was so pretty, with a flowering bougainvillea climbing in the rafters of the gazebo.

There was plenty of chatting, as to be expected when we all get together, and reminiscing too of just how many years now we have all been friends.  We all met in the years when we our hair was so much darker, and we were all a bit slimmer back then too.  As it turned out, we ladies have all taken up quilting now, so that is another bond we share.

Jenny, birthday girl Shirley, and Robyn – all quilters

Checking the photos – are we really that grey these days?

Our lunch choices were nice and tasty, and we all managed to tuck away a dessert too – after all it was a special occasion!  The husbands were firmly told that after such a big lunch there would not be a big cooked meal in the evening, they would all be making do with a sandwich.  It is so nice to get together with old friends, and although we all now live in different areas we resolved to do it more regularly.  On the way home we took a detour down to Waikanae Beach to check out the damage caused by the recent tornado from a couple of weeks ago.  The damage to a stand of pine trees was mind boggling, trees were toppled over and some were snapped right in half part way up the trunks.  It was just so lucky that no one was killed.

Damage caused by recent tornado