It’s May Day weekend – a pinch and a punch for the first of the month (white rabbits), Gabriella. 
In Queensland where I live, we have a long weekend to celebrate Labour Day. On Saturday, the extended family (my siblings and most of their children, Paul, my three eldest children and I) went to Palmwoods in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast to help celebrate my youngest sister, Carla’s, nuptials. What a glorious day it was! The weather was warm and sunny, the views from the top of the hill were spectacular, the champagne flowed and the bride simply glowed with happiness. I caught up with my mother’s sister and brother-in-law and their daughter, son-in-law and grandson and many of Carla’s long time friends and all their latest gossip. I have to admit that I was pleased to go simply to ‘show off’ my darling new husband to everyone (hehe).
It rained yesterday afternoon for the first time in 25 days. It was so soothing and created the perfect ambiance for Paul and me as we wobbled our way through our first Body Balance class at the gym. Body Balance is a mixture of yoga, pilates and tai chi. Anyone who knows me at all will tell you that anything that calms my mind must be good for the rest of the world. Ha! Anyway, as a result of this class (which I plan to return to again on Tuesday and maybe Thursday depending on other commitments), I’m expecting an improvement of balance, strength and muscles tone and flexibility as well as relaxation therapy. I felt great afterwards!
This morning, we are ‘doing’ the postponed birthday breakfast from last weekend. Birthday breakfast traditions started way back in 1993 as a result of wanting to celebrate my ex-husband’s 40th birthday. William had decided earlier four months earlier that daily family life was not for him and he had moved out into an apartment around the corner. The children were aged between 4 and 11 years so birthdays were a big deal. The complication to the day was that we had lots of things on that afternoon/evening (ballet and music classes from what I remember of the era) and we were not sure what Will had planned for his special day, so I ordered a pink-iced heart shaped cake from the baker (even after all these years the probability of my getting a cake out of a cake tin without breaking are not high), bought a packet of salt and vinegar chips, a selection of the children’s favourite lollies, some cheerio cocktail sausages, a tub of ice-cream and a bottle of red creaming soda and descended on chez William at 6am.
Hence, a Sue Yek family tradition was born. Nearly every family birthday since has been celebrated in this fashion. The best part is, of course, that the birthday person feels special from the very beginning of the day and thus the day seems to last longer than it otherwise would (let’s not let logic come into this and mention that 6am starts to the celebration means that someone or a group of people were out of bed at 5.30am to make pancakes, so of course, the day seems long for everyone concerned). This year, I found myself willing my whole birthday away just so that I could get to birthday cake with the children at the other end. What a waste!
Surprisingly, the sophistication of birthday breakfast has not evolved a great deal. Red creaming soda will always be on the menu of any special meal we have (I’m not sure how it became the choice of beverage for the family – Coca Cola was never allowed to be an option). So will cheerio cocktail sausages, birthday cake and ice-cream. If it’s a weekend, champagne, bacon and eggs and toast are added and friends and family invited.
Life’s too short not to ‘do’ birthday celebrations!
Happiness & laughter always,
Bliss
In Queensland where I live, we have a long weekend to celebrate Labour Day. On Saturday, the extended family (my siblings and most of their children, Paul, my three eldest children and I) went to Palmwoods in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast to help celebrate my youngest sister, Carla’s, nuptials. What a glorious day it was! The weather was warm and sunny, the views from the top of the hill were spectacular, the champagne flowed and the bride simply glowed with happiness. I caught up with my mother’s sister and brother-in-law and their daughter, son-in-law and grandson and many of Carla’s long time friends and all their latest gossip. I have to admit that I was pleased to go simply to ‘show off’ my darling new husband to everyone (hehe).It rained yesterday afternoon for the first time in 25 days. It was so soothing and created the perfect ambiance for Paul and me as we wobbled our way through our first Body Balance class at the gym. Body Balance is a mixture of yoga, pilates and tai chi. Anyone who knows me at all will tell you that anything that calms my mind must be good for the rest of the world. Ha! Anyway, as a result of this class (which I plan to return to again on Tuesday and maybe Thursday depending on other commitments), I’m expecting an improvement of balance, strength and muscles tone and flexibility as well as relaxation therapy. I felt great afterwards!
This morning, we are ‘doing’ the postponed birthday breakfast from last weekend. Birthday breakfast traditions started way back in 1993 as a result of wanting to celebrate my ex-husband’s 40th birthday. William had decided earlier four months earlier that daily family life was not for him and he had moved out into an apartment around the corner. The children were aged between 4 and 11 years so birthdays were a big deal. The complication to the day was that we had lots of things on that afternoon/evening (ballet and music classes from what I remember of the era) and we were not sure what Will had planned for his special day, so I ordered a pink-iced heart shaped cake from the baker (even after all these years the probability of my getting a cake out of a cake tin without breaking are not high), bought a packet of salt and vinegar chips, a selection of the children’s favourite lollies, some cheerio cocktail sausages, a tub of ice-cream and a bottle of red creaming soda and descended on chez William at 6am.
Hence, a Sue Yek family tradition was born. Nearly every family birthday since has been celebrated in this fashion. The best part is, of course, that the birthday person feels special from the very beginning of the day and thus the day seems to last longer than it otherwise would (let’s not let logic come into this and mention that 6am starts to the celebration means that someone or a group of people were out of bed at 5.30am to make pancakes, so of course, the day seems long for everyone concerned). This year, I found myself willing my whole birthday away just so that I could get to birthday cake with the children at the other end. What a waste!
Surprisingly, the sophistication of birthday breakfast has not evolved a great deal. Red creaming soda will always be on the menu of any special meal we have (I’m not sure how it became the choice of beverage for the family – Coca Cola was never allowed to be an option). So will cheerio cocktail sausages, birthday cake and ice-cream. If it’s a weekend, champagne, bacon and eggs and toast are added and friends and family invited.
Life’s too short not to ‘do’ birthday celebrations!
Happiness & laughter always,
Bliss
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