We enjoyed lunch out with friends yesterday, thanks Trish for planning the day for us. This entailed a drive down to the Hutt Valley, about a 90 minute drive. But of course we had to allow more time, in case our trip was slowed down with the ever present road works. I was born and brought up in Lower Hutt, and lived there in a former life with my first husband and two children. Later when Robin and I married we moved further up the valley to Upper Hutt and resided there for 30 years or so. So you can see the Hutt Valley holds a lot of memories for me.
After lunch out in a very nice cafe we went back to Trish's home for coffee and cake, a nice finish to the day. This group of friends – we call ourselves the Super Leisure Group, enjoys monthly outings which we all take turns organising. Each year we have a draw and choose a folded paper out of a bowl, and that is our month for the new year. So it will be thinking hats on when our own turn comes around. Believe it or not, we have been doing this for 25 plus years now! In the early days we were much more energetic and planned long walks with picnic lunches, tramps up and down hills and along the beach, trips to museums, exhibitions and shows, and visited many stunning gardens. These days, as age, bad backs and legs aand other medical problems have caught up with us all, we tend to “do lunch”
Look what I spotted on one of Trish chairs, a Shamrock cushion I had stitched many years ago – that certainly brought back memories.
Tom’s Shamrock cushion
I stitched the cushion for Tom, an Irishman of course, and Trish’s special friend, way back in 2001 for his 75th birthday. And I asked all our group to add their names to the label. Sadly, Tom passed away several months later and Trish has being looking after Tom’s Shamrock cushion ever since. It was quite sad reading the label as a number of our group who signed it have since passed away too.
Ours numbers have dropped from 12 to 7, but we still meet up each month, enjoy each other’s company, plan our new outings each month for the group and reminisce about the adventures we have had over the years and our of friends, gone but not forgotten.
Yvonne, Ashley, Robin, Trish, Calvin and Helen
Robin and me
We had a lovely day out, a tasty lunch at a local café, plenty of chat and putting the world to rights. We will meet again next month, December, and it will be my turn to host the day. It’s already in hand, I’ve made my plans – no long walks involved.
6 comments:
Lovely that your group still meets to catch up and enjoy a day out.
Hugs, Julierose
Doing lunch each month and catching up with dear friends sounds perfect…
Hmmm! Wonder what you have planned for December?
that is nice to spend the day with friends and to still being doing it after all this time - long time friends is something I don't have.
I love this post! Friendship requires work to keep it alive. I’m thrilled that you’ve held these monthly outings for 25 years. Kudos to everyone who goes the extra mile to keep the group together.
How wonderful that you are still meeting and enjoying each others company even after 25 years.
The cushion is lovely.
God bless.
How nice that you can spend time with friends like this, and have made such a long history with one another. I've never had that experience, having moved too often, so I'm not sure how I'd feel about knowing the same people for so long! I can't imagine. :-)
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