Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 16

Now I will have to be quick writing this as I have spent most of the afternoon chatting with my sister Jean, which was nice.

When I commented on your posts last week I said I was preparing for a busy weekend, and it was just that. It really started on Friday. Late the night before, our eldest son Jim arrived with his family for a short break back on their home turf. They had an airbnb just around the corner from us, which was aptly named "Duck cottage" because they had to duck to get through the doors! They all came to see us on Friday, and then much later, early Saturday morning in fact, son number three arrived. Tom had flown in from Denmark to London and then driven down to us. He slept until mid morning when our youngest, Ben, arrived driving down from Cheshire. The other two boys, Mike, son number two, and number four, Jonathan, both live locally. It is a rare occasion when we have all five boys together so it was a very special day.

All the lads went over to Mike's house to share lunch and watch the Arsenal match, and then they drove back to Jonathan's house. Ben stopped off to collect Chris and I on the way. We had intended to all meet in the park but the weather didn't cooperate so Jonathan offered his house as there was room for everyone there. We spent a few happy hours chatting together, playing with our grand-daughter Aisling, and playing "pass the parcel" with baby Niamh around her uncles. She is such a contented little soul and didn't so much as cry at any of the new faces.

Jonathan also has a very laid back 'staffie' who wasn't disturbed by all the extra people in her house, and she just squeezed in beside anyone sitting on her favourite sofa, and watched all that was going on. She doesn't look too impressed but she liked the extra fuss she got.

Just before the sky darkened for another shower, we managed to get outside to take some photos. One of the boys with their dad, and then one of the 'girls'. we are usually outnumbered at family dos, and rarely get our photo taken, so it was nice to get this one, even though, sadly our other grand-daughter and her family were unable to be there.

And of course, we had to take one of all of us together.

Chris needed to go home after this. He is making slow progress but still gets very tired, and he was glad to go home and rest, while I stayed to continue chatting until well into the evening.

Ben drove home that night and Tom flew back to Denmark on Sunday ready for work the next day. Jim's family went home on Monday so now we are back to our usual , but we made some lovely memories to hold on to.

Since then another week has drifted by with plenty of April showers and some nice sunshine too. The park is really coming back to life with leaves sprouting on the trees, and many covered in blossom too.

I have made a start on the garden, cutting back, and then digging out two shrubs so that I have a border to plany some perennials in. Then I will be able to see the flowers from my kitchen window.

And that, I think, is quite enough for this week.