After a busy morning taking my mum for a booster jab and to pick up some plants for her garden pots there was one last thing left to do, call in at the butchers for our weekly supply.  It was lunch time so we decided to have lunch in Kinch’s Bistro in the butcher’s before purchasing our meat. I loved the option of picking my own toastie fillings and chose turkey and apple sauce. The sandwich was delicious and to my delight my favourite tipple, Elderflower Presse was available.

In the afternoon we had reason for a brief visit to  Ironbridge.  Brief visit concluded, I had a small window of opportunity for a short walk before it was time to get ready for an 80th birthday celebration meal.

Before I set of on my walk I dusted off my ‘old’ Tilley for the sunny afternoon adventure. I have missed her.

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.