(Sean gave a deeply moving eulogy for which I am extremely proud of him. Mick would have been amazed.)
The weekend was planned quite some time ago for whoever was able to be there and really, that it took place the day after the funeral was perfect timing. A few friends gathered (with partners and children) at the spacious and welcoming home in northern Sydney of Kylie and her partner (and dogs). The plan was for a small, relaxed weekend wherein we would knit, eat, talk and swim. We did all that.
The boys were around sometimes, gone at others, entertaining children or manning the BBQ so that we had some quality down time.
RoseRed made a pavlova. It was spectacular. Her husby made an amazing paella on Sunday night and we drank sangria.
We had BBQ breakfasts courtesy mostly of Sean and Mr RoseRed. We drank champagne and talked for hours.
We swam in the pool for the better part of Saturday when it was 42 degrees (or 107 F) and were vastly entertained by the children.
Speaking of entertaining, young Princess Grace didn't want to be left out of the knitting fun.
She was rather taken with a ball of Bendigo cotton which I gave to her to replace the Zephyr silk of mine she'd spotted (the girl has taste inherited from her mother, obviously).
On the subject of my ebony zephyr, Kylie and I started our Myrtle Leaf Shawls from Victorian Lace Today. That was fun. Mine is a bit bigger than this now after a few hours in the car today.
We were both a little nail-bitingly nervous about starting this shawl. We've been discussing it for ages, have had our black laceweight yarn ready and have speculated about the right cast on, the length of time it will take and well, you get the idea. We started. We went well. Kylie started over but that's a story she can tell.
I'm desperately happy with mine and during the week off work which I'm about to begin (today was Australia Day so no work anyway) I plan to knit A LOT of this shawl. I imagine I'll become consumed. If you don't hear from me again this week (fat chance!) you'll know where I am.
So thanks to our friends for a wonderful weekend. I'm not sure it could have been improved upon. We got enough heat for swimming, enough of a cool change for knitting, the best possible company and all the good things in life at our disposal.
Perfect. Thanks Kylie (and Trent) for your hospitality and to all the other gathered there with us. It was, as RoseRed would say, tops.
Bells
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