The Day After

Another year gone by.
Yesterday afternoon was my yearly Swap/Tea Party with my closest girlfriends.
The time came around so quickly that I couldn't believe it.
The official May Day holiday falls on May 1st, but since that was a Sunday this year, the following day (May 2nd) becomes the bank holiday. The invites were written for May 1st but some of the girls preferred the afternoon of May 2nd so the date was changed as requested.
May Day Bank holiday is my day to be surrounded by my "girls" to chat, share, uplift, console, laugh till we cry, tell funny stories, enjoy our sisterhood for one evening and give thanks for our incredible friendship.
Friends like these are very hard to come by and the relationships that we share have been nurtured over the years creating an indestructible bond.
I love them all for who they are and what they bring into my life....they are all special to me in their own way.
Once again, I don't have any decent photos of the event because I was so busy enjoying myself, even though I had chided myself that I would capture the event on camera this time around no matter what....well that didn't happen.

Three layer English Trifle - one slice leftover

Mini Cupcakes and one tiny piece of Lemon Fool

Other tasty snacks for the evening included Apple Cobbler, Fruit Cake, Sandwiches, Fish Cakes, Conkies, Pizza Sticks, Chocolate Mint Swirls.

To wash it all down there was Ginger Beer, Mango Juice, Guava Pineapple Juice, Herbal Basil Iced Tea and an assortment of sodas.

My dearest friend cruised in with a package in her hand and promptly placed it in the fridge exclaiming in one breath, "My husband sent this for you, he's into organic farming now if you please."
Thank you Leonard!

Another girlfriend gifted me with a large head of red leaf lettuce....thank you Eureka!!!
These are the friends that know me well and bestow the most appreciated hostess gifts.

 

My spoils from the evening.

I spent the day putting the house back together, tidying up and cleaning.
Entertaining is fun but it can be hard work...but hey I am not complaining, I love it.
I usually borrow my glass top desk from my office for the display of items in the swap. When I pulled it away from the wall a day ago, a large gecko ran out and started running all around and acting all crazy.
Grabbed my Citronella BOP insecticide and gave him a couple of sprays which made him run behind my other desk.... he stayed put.
I forgot all about him, but today as I began to tidy up, I got a big whiff of him....yes another dead gecko lizard I had to search around for.
Thank goodness I found him quickly this time.

He had crawled into the lower shelf of the book case behind my mum's old prayer books and expired.  After disposing of the body it was time to get rid of the scent.
Cleaned the shelf thoroughly with disinfectant but that dreaded smell remained.....until I remembered about vinegar.
Sprayed the entire shelf liberally a couple of times throughout the day until there was no hint of the scent at all.
Tomorrow I will pack the books back on the shelf and push the bookcase back into position beside my work desk.
Glad that Mr. Gecko is gone.
I am hoping that ten more don't show up for his wake...that would be just my luck.