Today was a Sunday.
Technically, you may be right in reminding me that the monks may say otherwise, but I say in all other respects it felt like a Sunday!
And what a delightfully fine day it was too - for celebrating, belatedly, my mum's birthday. Andrew and I had organised lunch, at the cafe we discovered on our last trip to Mt Glorious. So, together with my godmother - Murph, family friend - Ted and Mum and Dad, we all trooped up to this glorious mountain retreat for a leisurely lunch. And, unlike last time, I had my camera with me to capture the moment (and the view).
The birthday 'troops'
The Birthday Girl's Sparkler Moment
My Godmother - Murph the Magnificent
The cafe has a spectacular view over the valley and you can see, on a fine day, all the way to the islands in the bay. We had a table on the verandah to take in the view to its fullest - and I was delighted to see they had made an extra effort for our birthday group - with lovely additional touches, such as flowers, tablecloth and candles!
A bird's eye view!
A few quintessential Hargreaves-isms from the day:
1) The heated horticultural conversations - One particularly extended conversation involved what the prolifically-fruiting citrus tree in the garden was. Mum swearing it was a Tangelo and grilling the waitress on this (not to her satisfaction) - while everyone else swore it was a grapefruit (Andrew, wisely, abstained from the heated discussion!). Dad brought up the leaf structure being closer to an orange in his debate (good point Dad), while Mum used the 'pimply' appearance of the skin and size of the fruit for her counter argument (hmm). Ted then disappeared to 'borrow' a fruit from the tree to take home for confirmatory testing - ie. taste testing! I tell you - I have no idea where I got my love of science from!
2) The Trivia King - aka: My Dad sharing with me his tips for remembering over 80 countries' flags! Apparently he's decided that 'flashcards' are the way to go - makes it a lot easier to train your memory that way. He's neatly printed out (all in work time of course) these flags and plans to test Andrew and I next time we come down to visit them...hmm now when is that again? 2009? Would love to see the government big-brother IT department looking through Dad's IT usage and seeing 'Azerbajahn, Quebec, Turkmenistan' and 'flags', coming up continually in his search records! I tell you - never a dull moment!
Actually, I have to admit that I'm secretly very impressed with Dad's mental ability and his voracious reading habits. Also, I'm continually awed by Mum's horticultural knowledge and wish I remembered half the things they told me. But alas, I've got the dreamer side of Dad's genes and the impatient side of Mum's genes - mix well until an even consistency, bake on high for 9 months and voila: a day-dreamer who loves to create and seek out new projects, but doesn't retain much from any nor really get a substantial lot done in the process!
Talking about projects - the beautiful rambling garden at the cafe inspired me, yet again, to look at my own poor backyard and get 'stuck-in'! Plus, the warm and cosy enclaves inside inspired further day dreams a la Martha Stewart!
The cosy enclave inside
So, all-in-all, the warm weather, the good food, the great company, the gorgeous surrounds combined to make me feel that Sunday had come early!
Mt Glorious - well worth the drive!
