My weekend has been rather hectic but a lot of fun.
On Saturday night I attended a small birthday gathering to celebrate the 14th birthday party of the daughter of one of my friends. On arriving at the small village where they live I noticed several men in fluorescent jackets standing around on street corners. They had large signs next to them stating in big black letters; Council Worker. Then I noticed a lorry that was parked up by the side of the road. On it was a small penguin wiggling about. Realisation dawned that the carnival must have taken place during the day. I was almost correct in that thought, the carnival was in fact going to take place that evening. You have to love the quirkiness of rural villages and I began to regret not taking my camera along. But as I watched the sunset fade into dusk before the carnival procession started I didn’t feel so bad about that, it was now too dark for photographs.
The floats were all excellent and the carnival parade was a good start for a birthday get together. After the procession had finished we returned to the house for a buffet, wine and a large slice of birthday cake that had been made by one of the other guests. Luckily, after such a lot of cake, the Wii emerged (as it tends to do on these occasions). When we all finally left for the evening I was told that my Wii bowling was awesome…
Sunday morning arrived rather too quickly because I had an earlier start than is usual in order to visit the Black Country Museum. A few days ago I had noticed that Ginnie, from Vision and Verb, was coming to England for a few days and had arranged a meet up with friends who blog at Shutterchance. The Black Country Museum, where the meet up was to take place, isn’t too far away from where I live. I had left her a comment to say I would try and meet up with her there.
The weather started off quite grey and mizzley but turned to glorious sunshine in the afternoon. After a slight mix up with the exact meeting place I managed to find Ginnie, Astrid and the Shutterchancers, none of whom I had met previously. It was lovely to meet Ginnie, Astrid and the other Shutterchancers and to spend a couple of enjoyable hours exploring the museum together and especially nice to meet up with a blog friend and get to know each other in person.
That was everything that was planned for the weekend until my brother phoned at the last minute, hoping to meet up on Sunday. So following the museum visit, we had a family get together which involved food and wine in a local pub. Another good time was had by all.
Ha! I like the word, Shutterchancer.
Midlands?!
I thought she said they were going to meet in Bath (maybe Bristol?)?
The stayed in Bath but the meet up was in the West Midlands
PS: So what do you call people like us who visit Shutterchance?
Shutterchancees?
Shutterchance-takers?
I quite like the thought of a Shutterchancee
One of the Shutterchancers did refer to me as a gate crasher!!
Ginnie mentioned to me that you two had met-up. How cool is that!! I love how our worlds grow smaller and smaller..and the connections we’ve made here!!! Can’t wait to hear more and all about it…
It was wonderful to meet up
Although the web is wide the world does seem to get smaller 
Sounds like a lovely weekend. Like the tale of the penguin!
It was a small child in a suit
A change from your usual gardens, but lovely to have a party and friends to share your weekend.
It was a great weekend all round. I was a little tired at the end of it though
Cherie, we just arrived home again.
It was a delight to meet you and it is wonderful that you felt at home at once with ‘Shutterchance’.
This is a wonderful picture, showing the wonderful boats and the steel factory.
Thank you for making/taking time to meet Ginnie, it meant the world to her.
I keep on saying ‘blame it on the Internet’.
Tomorrow I will go over my pictures, that will bring back memories.
Please say HI to Mark.
Hi Astrid, thanks for calling on on my blog and leaving a comment. It was wonderful to meet you both
I couldn’t possibly not have met up with Ginnie when I knew how close the meet up was to me.
I hope you enjoyed the rest of your holiday, I am sure you both have some great photos which I look forward to seeing. I have been checking out the other Shuttercancers blogs and have seen some good photos of the meet up.
I will say HI to Mark
Ah so now I realise who you were!!! I always read Ginnie’s piece on vision and verb. Pleased you enjoyed the day, i hope it will be an annual meet up with Ginnie and Astrid. It would be nice as they are such lovely people
Hi Bill, thanks for calling in on my blog
The annual meet up sounds wonderful, I can’t wait for the next one 
Yikes that was a busy weekend. I suggest you rest from Monday to Friday! Seriously I hope you had a great time
It was a wonderful time
The rest… sadly that was not possible!
You totally made my day by coming to Dudley, Cherry. THANK YOU for making that effort, along with Mark, too. Isn’t it wonderful when you can meet someone in real life and they’re even better than you’re expecting!!!
I loved every minute of it. And yes, that was a full weekend!
I was so lovely to meet you and Astrid too
I had a thoroughly good time and it was over far to quickly. I hope you enjoyed the rest of your holiday. I know you will enjoy sorting through all your photographs.
I know it’s not quite the same thing but I get a little disappointed at times when the weather is not great for photographs particularly when it’s either a rare event or there’s a chance that I may not be there for a long time to come. Always difficult trying to find people for the first time but great to get to know them over some food.
We were lucky the sun came out for us in the afternoon and it was glorious.
I was looking for the two people I would recognise from their photos and a group of people with cameras. Non of which I saw at the allotted meeting time. It all worked in the end though and we all had a great time