A heady scent

Yesterday I sat on a bench facing this flower bed and ate a picnic lunch. The smell of the hyacinths was just lovely, wafted to us on a gentle breeze The clever planting means that in another few days Spring will bring forth a burst of bright tulips too.

This gentle and frightfully English lunchtime marked a quiet end to a busy weekend. My beloved parents celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary and we Dunnits were among the lucky invitees which meant a glorious weekend away in Cambridge. We've had a chance to catch up with Aunts and Uncles and met people who my parents have called friends for 50 years and more. Really, the love and support that this sort of celebration reveals has to be experienced to be believed; we all take it for granted don't we, that our family and friends are 'there for us', and I think somewhere in the back of our minds we can add 'when we need them'. For it is when chips are down that we turn to those that love us for support, huh? But Saturday was completely the opposite. A chance for 40 or so people to get together to show our love and admiration for a couple who have been happily married for fifty years. Some guests had nothing in common but their friendship with the Bride and Groom, but that did not matter. The whole day was bathed in goodwill as warm and strong as the spring sunshine that poured through the stained glass windows of the Wordsworth Room. Of course there was champagne and beautiful flowers and wonderful food and best clothes to add to the occasion. It truly was a happy day and celebration and occasion are perfect adjectives to apply to it.
That shared goodwill and genuine celebration, Mr Dunnit whispering that he thinks we'll make it that far too, and the wonderful location will forever be conjured up for me by the smell of hyacinths.