English Visitors!

     This week is rather special in that we have guests scheduled for dinner every night from Wednesday to Saturday.  Those guests run the gamut from neighbors who live just down the street to visitors from England. 
     We get to start with the English visitors first.  Tonight one of Tim's old work colleagues from his RAF days came to dinner.  She had come to San Diego on business, and Tim managed to persuade her to come eat at our house.  Brave woman!  I had never met her personally, but she had been a great support to Tim in his last job, so it was nice to meet her at last.  And it was so nice for all of us to have someone connected to our past life in England in our house. 
     She has moved to the US for a time as well, so we commiserated about the challenges of moving from Britain to the US.  At dinner we ended up taking about the royal family and the royal wedding, and the kids reminisced about what we were doing on that day (I made them a royal tea party with little canapés and cakes and tarts, etc.).  We talked about what a mistake it is for Britain to continue to cut its military forces.  And, because we're parents and the kids were there, we also talked about minions and Frozen and the Lego Movie.
     Then I had the distinct pleasure of sitting up with my sobbing seven year old while she finished off her homework for tomorrow.  This happens a lot in our house, actually.  There is a lot of sobbing over unfinished homework late at night.  There is no sobbing over unfinished homework right when they get home from school, of course.  The sobbing begins the minute they realize they are up against a wall and running away from me is no longer an option.  Aaahh, joy.

     It's been a good weekend.  It started early because Abigail was invited by some friends to go see a preview of the new movie Divergent on Thursday night.  The showing was at 9pm, so better than a midnight showing, but still it was a school night.  I racked my brains for a reason to not let her go but couldn't think of one, other than the fact that it was a late showing on a school night.  So, she went. 
     I didn't see her until Friday afternoon, when she came home from school, packed an overnight bag, and went straight back out again to attend an overnight 'youth conference' with our church.  All of the teenagers in our church between the ages of 14-18 who live in about a 30 mile radius from Poway were invited to attend this event.  It was at a campout-type place near here.  They had all sorts of activities, which included team building exercises, a dance, and religious devotionals where the teenagers had a chance to express their faith in what we call a 'testimony'.  They don't have to, of course, but it is very encouraging as a parent when you hear that your teenager gave their testimony.  Today Abigail said to me, 'I bore my testimony at youth conference.  You're welcome!' 
     Abigail came home late last night, having had VERY little sleep on both Thursday and Friday nights. She was exhausted!  This happens to her a lot, actually.  She goes to these events and she comes home with fatigue and some kind of illness.  Being a social butterfly, she just wears herself out.
     Imogen also had a big weekend. She had an all-day track meet up in Los Angeles.  I think she ran very well.  It was her first ever track meet.  I dropped her off at the school at 5am, and she didn't come home until 9pm.  Then it was off to a sleepover at friend's house. 
     We had a great blessing this weekend.  We had been looking for a double bed, but couldn't find anything in our price range.  On Saturday Tim found a double bed, a mattress, a box spring, a dresser, a bedside table, and bedding, all for 200 dollars.  Fabulous!  We also bought some bunk beds for the little girls.  So, all of the children have beds, and it no longer looks like we are camping in our new home.
     This morning we had choir practice before church.  I am the choir director, and we are working on a big Easter program, which has songs and scripture readings detailing the events of Easter from the Last Supper to the Resurrection.  I love the songs we are singing.  I've selected some songs from Bach's St. Matthew's Passion, and others from Mormon composers.
     Then it was off to church - for three hours!  Imogen gave a talk in church about the importance of choosing good friends, and being a good friend.  She did really well.

     We have moved to our new home - San Diego, CA.  If all goes well, we shall be here for a very long time.
     The kids for the most part seem happy, but it is fair to say that I didn't realize how much of an adjustment this move to the States would be for them, and in fact for me as well.  Indeed, the only one who doesn't seem to need much adjustment is Tim, the only pure-blooded Brit among us. 'I just live in the moment - I'm happy wherever I am', he says. 
     I, on the other hand, have frequent, vivid memories of the UK, which make me feel as if I'm being pulled back there.  Yet, I know that after 18 years in a foreign country, living away from my family, it was time to come home.  It's just that things here are a little bit foreign for me now, which is a very strange feeling.
     Anyway, the adjustment for the kids is in everything - the accent (even though they are used to mine), the television shows (they miss Horrible Histories SO MUCH), the food (don't even get me started!), the design of the house ('Why don't American houses have doors?'), and most especially, the schools.
     Yes, the schools.  There have been a lot of factors out of my control concerning this move - for instance, the timing of the move - and I just had to go with it.  We moved right before Abigail, our oldest, was due to embark upon her GCSE exams in England.  On the one hand, the move was a good thing, because Abigail was really struggling in school and I wasn't sure what her GCSE experience was going to be.  On the other hand, she was in a system in which she understood the expectations and was somewhat on track to at least pass her exams. 
     When we moved here, however, it was clear that, at least as high school is concerned, Britain and California have two very different approaches.  Abigail can cope somewhat with the humanities, but when it comes to math and science, unfortunately the material is completely unfamiliar.  We've had a spate of conversations and phone calls and emails this week between Abigail, her school counselor, her chemistry teacher, her math teacher, and myself.  Abigail's chemistry teacher is almost certain that she will fail the class.  Her math teacher is shocked at her lack of skill.  Her counselor, although lovely, blamed me for encouraging her to put Abigail into the wrong classes (as I really had no idea how Abigail's English education was going to match up with her California one, I just did my best).
     So, if things don't improve rapidly, Abigail could very well lose a year of high school.  The other problem is that Abigail never really takes these kinds of situations seriously.  I'm usually the one pushing for a solution to these kinds of issues, and that just makes her even more uninterested and in denial about the gravity of it all.  I think now it might be sinking in.  But whether that leads her to push herself enough academically remains to be seen - her endurance level was never very high in these matters.
     Part of me considers at times the idea that maybe I have ruined her future by having her change schools at such a critical juncture.  But I also know that God sent us here, to this particular place at this particular time, and so I have faith that things will work out.

   This new year has started out well for us.  We had a fabulous, busy Christmas, with a head count of I think 26 or 27 on Christmas day.  I made a traditional English Christmas dinner, complete with turkey, gingerbread stuffing, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, mashed carrot and swede, red cabbage, roasted brussel sprouts, sausages wrapped in bacon, and cranberry sauce.  We also had a proper Christmas pudding, with figs, dates, raisins, and currants.  I don't know how I fed 27 people, but I did!  
     The rest of Christmas was wonderful - kids waking up to open their stockings, opening presents and etc.  This was the first Christmas that I had been home since 1999, and I was soaking it up.  We did our traditional nativity play on Christmas Eve, and Mandy organized it well so that every kid seemed to have a part.  We also sang Christmas carols, and as the kids went to bed, my dad played Christmas carols on his violin in the hallway so our kids could have that great experience of anticipating Christmas morning while drifting off to sleep with the best Christmas music in the background.
     Since this was the first Christmas I had at home for a very long time, my mom spoiled me a bit!  She gave me a book which I have come to absolutely love - it's called 'How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare'.  It goes through how to teach children 25 different passages from Shakespeare, while at the same time giving background on the plays, explaining how Shakespeare is developing his characters in the passages, etc.  We have started memorizing the first passage he suggests, from A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the kids love it!  We have been trying to memorize a little bit every night, and I am so inspired by the whole project.  I love Shakespeare anyway, but this book has given me a reason  - and a way - to introduce it to my kids in a really effective way.
     My mom also gave me some exercise tops, a gift card to Macy's, and a griddle for our new home!  And Tim really surprised me this year - he gave me a new KitchenAid mixer, AND a new baby grand digital piano!  I couldn't believe it!  I didn't think we had enough money to get a piano, but he managed to move some funds around get the money he needed for this piano.  It was by far the best Christmas I have had in years.
     It was also great to be with Julienne and Keith, Mandy and Dave, Heather and Matt and Brett and Raini.  Bart and Kristi came on the 26th, and it was great to see them as well.
     As far as movies ... well, Frozen and The Hobbit Part II were the best things to see this year.  The Hobbit far exceeded my expectations.  Part I of The Hobbit I thought was a bit slow, but the one this year was excellent.
     One by one everyone left, until finally Tim left on New Year's Eve.  New Year's Day was kind of fun, in that Matt had given me some goose he had shot, so I was able to use it to make a cassoulet!  I used sausage, bacon, onions, beans and goose in the cassoulet, and it was awesome!
     The day after New Year's I took the kids up to Sun Valley to go ice-skating.  The weather was perfect - sunny, no wind.  I had never been ice skating before, and it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. 



     We had the kids sit down and set some New Year's resolutions, but this year is different for us in that it really is a new beginning since we are moving to a new home and a new life this month.  In a way it seemed strange to set resolutions, because we don't know very much about what our lives are going to be like in our new home.  I think Abigail set a resolution to learn to drive, and I set a resolution to launch and develop my blog.  I don't remember much of the other resolutions - as the mom, I think I better look them up so I can remember what people are supposed to be working on!
     So, this week we have two birthdays:  Samuel and Eleanor.  So, that means two parties.  Yea.  Samuel had his party yesterday.  9 screaming, hyper, loud boys came to our house yesterday.  I took them swimming, and then to a pizza place.  I survived is all I have to say.  Eleanor has her part tomorrow.  I think I'm still in denial.about it.
     And then, in six days from now, we move to California!  I am getting so excited.  I can't wait to be living together as a family again!

 
    

 

     As soon as we left Coningsby, we headed straight for the 2013 Bleakley Family Reunion, which was to be held at Knockerdown in the Peak District from July 26 until August 1.  We had sent about half of our stuff on the shipping container and gotten rid of most of the other stuff - either by selling it, begging other people to take it, or just desperately dropping it off at the dump.  What remained was now in our Toyota Estima, along with eight people.  It was a tight squeeze, but we were blessed and there was some kind of miracle going on where Tim was able to fit a enormous pile of stuff into our not so enormous car.

     Anyway, so, we headed toward the Peak District with a very full car.  The drive was beautiful, and the weather was, once again, beautiful.  We arrived at Knockerdown at the same time as most of the other numerous Bleakley relatives, so the parking lot was full of lots of greetings and hugs and 'how are you's?' and unpacking cars and etc.

     Knockerdown was gorgeous - a wonderful choice for a reunion.  It was a set of cottages built around a central little courtyard, with a little activity center in the middle.  I think it housed about 100 people, which was perfect for the Bleakley extended family.  I know it was quite expensive but I think it was worth every penny.  Peter and Lynn stayed with us in our cottage, and that was nice to get to spend some time with them.

     Friday night was taken up with just unpacking and setting ourselves up in our own cottages.  On Saturday morning, the reunion started in earnest, with a 'Silly Olympics' event.  We were randomly put on different teams and competed in all sorts of events that made us all look, well, silly.  Here's me and Sam competing in the bouncy ball competition, which is surprisingly challenging for the legs (don't remember bouncy balls being that much exercise when I was little):     

 

      Here's Abigail, Imogen and Eleanor with Bleakley cousins, getting ready for the next event of the competition:

 

 

     Two other noteworthy events:  the first one was where you run to a baseball bat, put your forehead on the bat, spin around three times, and then run back to where you started.  A very entertaining exercise for those watching people like me, who get dizzy doing half a turn, let along three!  I'm getting dizzy just thinking about it.  Anyway, I did find it impossible to run in a straight line after the turns.  include one where you divide the team on two sides of the field, one person starts running from one side to the other and takes one team member by the hand, then the two of them, holding hands, run back to the other side, and pick up another team member, and then run back with that team member to the other side, etc., until at the end the whole team is running together holding hands.  It actually creates a lot of inertia and a lot of speed - and a lot of fun!  Here is Abigail, Imogen, Sam and Nelly running to pick up another team member, and running back again:

 

 



     After a while it was too much for Verity, who needed a cuddle:

 

 

     That night we had a big family barbeque which Marcello and Heather did.  The next day was Sunday.  We went to church with the Derby ward, which was actually in the same stake as the Boston ward, so we got to see some familiar faces.  In the late afternoon we had a family history fireside, where we learned more about Samuel Davidson, John and Nancy Bleakley, and Joyce Bleakley Anderson.  Peter did most of the presentations, with some input from Auntie Jill, Julie Gardener, and Carla Anderson (Joyce's daughter in law).



     The next day, the big event on the calendar was a visit to Chatsworth house.  You know you are doing something right (or wrong?) when your older children decide not to go into Chatsworth house because they have already seen it so many times.  So Abigail and Imogen we to the farmyard, while I took Samuel, Georgiana and Eleanor into the house.  They did really well - sufficiently interested in things and not too much complaining.  They loved the random collections which the house has, especially the rock crystals ... :

      .... and the many Greek statues.  They wanted me to take a picture of this enormous foot for Abigail, who, for some reason, has a phobia of other people's feet: 
   

     Here they are pouring over a letter written by Elizabeth the first concerning some dispute which involved some of the founders of Chatsworth (that would be the first Chatsworth house, which burnt in a fire in the 17th century).  They were trying desparately to decipher Elizabeth's handwriting - it was so cute:

     Here they are with Hercules's shield:

1

  
  And, lest we forget, our Georgiana shares a name with a very famous Duchess of Devonshire from the 18th century, who lived here in Chatsworth house.  Here is Georgie posing under a portrait of the Duchess:

 
     Like any respectable stately home, Chatsworth has period costumes that the children can try on. Here are Eleanor and Georgiana dressed as servant girls:

     Usually, my favorite part of a stately home is the dining room.  I love food, I love entertaining, I love dinner parties, and when I go into these old dining rooms I love imagining what kind of meals were served here, who came to the dinner parties they had, and what kind of conversations took place here over dinner.  Here are Samuel, Georgie and Eleanor, who I think would make great guests at any dinner party:

     Then, it was off to the spectacular gardens at Chatsworth.  Fountains, landscaping, mazes - it's all here.

 

     After a fabulous day out at Chatsworth, we went back home for the customary Bleakley Family Barn Dance, which was at a local village hall.  Outside the hall, up above the front door, there was a nest with were some very scary looking new little birds, which fascinated the kids all evening.

     
     Anyway, the barn dance was great fun, as always.

     On Wednesday, Dave, Shirley and I went to Kedelston Hall, another stately home in Darbyshire.  I don't remember why I went without Tim or any of the children - or what they were doing instead while I was doing this - but it was definitely a house not to be missed.  I found it especially interesting because this was an 18th-century house built in the neo-classical style, so much of the design of the house was a copy of what we saw in Rome.  For instance, the marble design over the doors:
 

     And they had a circular room which, as far as I could tell, was meant to be a replica of the Pantheon, complete with a carved ceiling with the open circle at the top, and little alcoves all the way around:

     This is the screen that you walk through as you go out of the circular room - completely unnecessary, but adds to the Roman feel of the place:

     Here is the main room, modeled after a Roman temple, including alcoves all the way around the room, with statues of Roman gods and goddesses, and a beautifully ceiling and pillars.

     In the evening we had a chance to drive up to Preston to see the very first British LDS pageant!  Here we are, in our seats, waiting for the pageant to start.


   
     Well, the pageant was one of the highlights of the week, I think!  It told the story of the beginning of the church in Britain, to the time when the British saints were encouraged to leave Britain to come to America and build up the church here.  Actually, it starts out talking about the struggle for religious freedom in Britain, starting with John Wyclif, and going through to the Reformation and beyond - my ancestor, John Lothrop, got a mention!  It showed beautifully how the British responded to the restored gospel, and how faithful the British saints were.  Tim and I both shed a tear during the scene where the British saints decide to leave their homes to come to America.  To those saints, Britain was their home, a beautiful place that they didn't want to leave, but to fulfill the Lord's purposes, they knew they had to go.  It was the same for Tim, watching that scene.  Britain is his home, and he loves it, but to fulfill what the Lord has in store for us, it's time to go elsewhere.

 

     The weekend after our farewell parties, we found ourselves congregating with family and, friends yet again.  During the week the movers had come and taken the slightly nicer part of our junk to put into a shipping container.  Our house was in disarray, and we had 7 days to get it all sorted.  But over the weekend we had another social engagement, this one was because of the joyous occasion of Peter and Lynn's temple sealing.  Tim and I went inside, while Kate helped to look after our kids.  The sealing was beautiful and spiritual.  I was really pleased for them.

     When we came out, our kids were having a whale of a time, as they always seem to do on the temple grounds.  The London temple seems to be a bit like their second home - it's familiar to them, and they love going.  We also always seem to meet people that we haven't seen in a while, so it's a very sociable place.  Here are Abigail and Imogen, looking very elegant:

 

 

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     I'd like to say that my children are always super reverent on the temple grounds, but this time they couldn't resist running up and down the flower beds:

     Peter and Lynn coming out of the temple for the first time as husband and wife for time and all eternity.

     All the children with Auntie Kate and Auntie Laura, on the stairs of the temple:

     The Bleakley women, great at chatting, laughing, socializing ....

   
    Did I say the temple was a sociable place?  I meant it!  Grant and Margaret are down there now on a mission, so the kids were able to spend a little bit of time with them before we had to say our proper goodbye's, which would be a few weeks later.
       We ended the day going out to eat at a really nice restaurant, which I think was called 'The Mill', because that's what it was.  After a long, sociable meal, and further socializing with unkept promises that we would 'be leaving soon',  we finally left to go back to Lincolnshire.
     And then it really was, this time, a very scary last couple of days to move out the stuff that wasn't going with us, and clean the house.  The housing officer had told us not to worry about loads of things - for instance, we didn't have to paint any of the walls, and we didn't have to worry about cleaning the bathrooms up to march-out standard because they were going to rip them out and put new ones in. But still, the cleaning took forever, and we needed lots and lots of people to help us.
     The missionaries were especially great.  They came and sorted out our garden for us.  We had done a lot of it ourselves, but we were no where near getting it done.
     Then, we had lots and lots of help from the ward.  People offered to do dump runs for us, to help clean the house, to bring over sandwiches when we were cleaning and didn't really have time to cook, etc.
     I don't need to document what happened from Monday until our march-out on Friday.  But basically, we worked our butts off, stayed up very late, got up very early, hardly every took breaks.  Thursday was a good turning point for us, and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.  But on Friday morning, just a few hours before the march-out, our music room still looked like this!!  Aauugghhh!  It was truly a miracle that we managed to either dump this stuff, give it away, or pack it in our car within a matter of hours.  At one point in desperation I just started taking stuff out of here and putting it on the lawn, because the house can pass inspection if stuff is still on the lawn, but not if there is stuff in the house.
    

     Anyway, on July 26, at 1pm, Tim and I passed our march-out, with no penalties for shoddy work or lateness.  We were both so relieved.  The children had been away from us for a few days, so we gathered them around and let them see the house all empty and sparkling clean.  Here are the children, saying goodbye to the living room at Lawn House.

     And here they are saying their final goodbyes to the garden.  I always felt so blessed to be able to live in Lawn House, and also to be able to enjoy this beautiful, spacious garden.

     The lavender was in full bloom when we left.  Because we were so busy with our move, I never got to fulfill my dream of making my own lavender soap! 

     Here are some pictures from the garden - it never looked so good!

     Here is our elderflower tree.  It was great having our own elderflower!  I picked many elderflower heads from this tree, as well as a few elder berries in the autumn!

    
     The Bleakley's at Lawn House:  2010-2013.  Lots of heartache and difficulty in this house, but also lots of discussion, laughter, socializing, music, entertaining, and of course, cooking and eating!!

     Here is Tim, leaving Lawn House for the last time, in Kate's Mercedes.

     I stayed behind after Tim left for a little while.  I dropped off a couple of good-bye notes.  One was to the butchers in Coningsby, who I had seen so often that I felt they had become friends of mine.  The other one was to Jo and Mark at the craft store Let's Create.  They were always so friendly and nice to me whenever I had gone in there, I felt I had to say goodbye.
     And then it was time to say goodbye to Lincolnshire.  I never particularly enjoyed living in Lincolnshire, so part of me couldn't wait to leave.  But there were people, and certain things, I knew I would miss.  Yet, after three difficult years of being badly treated by the RAF, I mostly wanted to just move on to the next phase of our lives.  

 

     The surprise farewell party which the Boston ward put on for us was only the beginning of our farewell tour.  Actually, it could be argued that it was right in the middle of the tour.  Our farewell tour really started around April, as that was when Tim and I were joined by his old Judd friends as we attended a big Navy/RAF ball on board a very old and impressive ship (can't remember the name!).

     And after that event, we started touring the country in earnest, seeing Neil and Jessica up north, and lots of Bleakleys and others down south, then seeing Helen and Scott and the Stiles.  Here is another good-bye, that took place in the second week of July.  Verity had to say goodbye to her lovely pre-school teachers at St. Hugh's.  After a year of attending a rather the crowded, inflexible, but very local Jacdor pre-school, I had to look for an alternative pre-school because Jacdor couldn't give me the schedule I needed to work on my academic article.  I called the pre-school associated with the lovely, but private and so very expensive St. Hugh's school.  It turned out that Verity was entitled to 10 free pre-school hours a week, even at a private school, and they could accommodate my schedule.  Thus commenced a blissful couple of months - for both Verity and me - where Verity was able to be in a small, quiet, relaxed, and happy setting for pre-school.  So, we were sad to leave that pre-school.  Here she is with her teachers on her last day: 

 

     And a week before school let out, both Eleanor and Samuel received the 'Superstar of the Week' award.



    
Here they are with the other 'Superstars of the Week'.  Now, every week one child is picked from among the 'Superstars of the Week' to be, well, I guess the 'Super-superstar of the week.'  For the first time in three years, one of my children was awarded the 'Super-superstar of the week, and it was Eleanor!  Here she is with her special 'star' trophy.

     Then, it was time for Tim's big surprise.  I had planned not one, but two surprise parties for Tim for the second weekend in July.  I had no idea how I was going to pull it off, because I had to get a very stressed out and busy husband to leave his house for two days, when he knew full well that he was supposed to be getting things ready to move.  I had to devise a plan to get him away from the house.  Anyway, I wrote him a 'James Bond' type letter, which sadly I don't think I saved on my computer.  I gave him breakfast in bed around 8am, with the letter on the tray.  He was told that he was going on a top secret mission and he would not know any of the details until later on.  He was to be dressed and ready to leave his house in his top secret mission vehicle by 10am, and he would not return home until late Sunday night.  Fortunately, Tim didn't argue and he seemed to understand that even though he had probably lots planned for that day, I was serious about going away for the weekend.  Yes, I think I said something in the letter about how the happiness of many people was dependent upon him following the instructions given to him.
     So, we were going to Alice and Paul Hearne's house first - yeaa!  It was a huge buffet, and Alice very kindly said I didn't have to bring anything.  But insisted on bringing my Raspberry and Lavender trifle.  It had to be perfect.  I remember trying very hard to make it perfect.  Here is the first layer - the lavender sponge cake, made up into sandwiches with raspberry and lavender jam, and then soaked in raspberry liquid, then topped with some just cooked, and some fresh, raspberries: 

     I didn't tell Tim where we were going.  I just told him to go south, and get on the A1.  Eventually he figured out where we were going.  We arrived on a beautiful, sunny, hot July afternoon at Alice and Paul's lovely home, and lots of people were waiting to greet us to bid us a fond farewell.

     

    








     There were Jo and Tom Barron, and Adam and Hannah Hurley, who had travelled especially from Swindon.  And there were Nina and Tony Langston, along with their boys Paul and Nick and their families.  And there were our good RAF LDS friends, Steve and Babs Loveridge.

     But the real surprise was when James Overthrow walked into the garden.  I had invited lots of Tim's RAF collegues from all his different tours, but most of them were unable to come due to the fact that they all live far away from High Wycombe, although there were all of them very sorry to miss Tim's party.  James, however, made the trip from Bristol.  Tim worked with James when we were at High Wycombe from 2003-2005, so it was a nice reunion.

 







 

     Thankfully, the trifle made it unscathed, and everyone was polite enough to rave about it .....

    

     .

     .... most especially, of course, our dear friend Rosemary Harding, whose speciality is giving people compliments and making people feel good about themselves!  She kept saying 'Isn't this gorgeous', and 'Holly's our Nigella', etc. etc.

 

     So while the children played in the garden, having water fights and etc ....

     We spent the rest of the day chatting, eating, singing, and prolonging our goodbyes.  Rosemary had just been to a 'Peace in the Park' event in Oxford and so she talked a lot about the importance of meditating.


 
 

















    Alice and Paul let us stay at their house for the night, and the next day we attending the High Wycombe ward for the last time for a long while.  After church we said goodbye to some of the best people on the planet - Alice, Paul, Rosemary and Nigel, and their families.
 

     Then, it was on to the second party. Again, Tim had no knowledge of this.  He thought we were going to Lynn Watford's house to dinner, because she had invited us a few weeks before.  And we were going to Lynn's house for dinner.  He just didn't know that after dinner there would be many people descending on Lynn's house to say goodbye to us.
     When people started arriving, he was surprised, but he was getting used to being surprised by now, I think.  But he wasn't expecting this:



    

     Bernie Dines walked into the garden, and Tim was truly amazed and happy to see his old friend.  Tim had worked with Bernie at High Wycombe.









     And if that wasn't enough, then Tim's old Group Captain, Gerard Bland and his wife walked into the garden.  I remember Tim saying something like 'I have no idea what's going to happen next.'







     The rest of the guests were the more usual suspects, who came and talked and laughed and ate, etc.  Here's Liz Knight with her boys, and James Kitsell - all gathered around Abigail, as usual!

     Our dear friend and once-awesome home teacher, Arnie Kitsell came:

     Imogen got to say goodbye to some old Brampton friends, including the ever-faithful Katherine Margaret Charmin.

     It was fun to see Richard and Emma Malachowski,

     As well as Emma and Matthew Wade,

     Charlotte and Alex Parker helped to host the event:

     Our dear long, long-time friends, the Knights,

     And our second family, the Dysons, managed to make a surprise appearance as well!

     Here we are with our gracious hosts, Lynn and Bethany and Robert Watford.

     It was a lot of work planning the parties, and I don't know if I could do it again, but the thing about these kinds of special social events is that, in my experience, they are 100% worth it.  They are important, unforgettable, and in this case, they helped us all - including the kids - to prepare emotionally to say goodbye to this lovely land.