Yesterday, I wrote about my observation of the kids having ready made friends…today, I experienced the satisfaction of being accepted into an established family network.
Our trip to Adelaide this Christmas is to spend time with Dave’s family, who all live in the southern parts of Australia, around Adelaide and Melbourne. Now, this isn’t the first time I have met them all, as we also came down just after Christmas last year, but that was the first meeting and things were new and it was a lot to take in all at once. This year though it is easier as I already can put the name to the face and know where they fit into the family tree. Plus, we have been accepted as ‘part of the family’ with open arms…literally…which is a nice feeling.
The word family means different things to different people, and as we see and hear in our communities and on television, each one is a unique blend. This family is certainly a unique, blended family, though thankfully everyone is civil and courteous to each other, even if they have had their differences in the past…
…Ireland, is high on my list of places I want to visit, so while I haven’t been there yet and cannot be considered an expert on Irish cuisine by any means, I do like a good ‘bangers and mash’. Today, for lunch, we all (14 of us in total including Jamie’s parents-in-law who were also in town for the weekend) went to the local Irish Pub. Even though it was lunch time, they didn’t have a lunch menu due to it being so close to Christmas (…hmmm, do the Irish not eat lunch in December?!?!) anyway, Dave and I both opted for the ‘special’ of bangers and mash (trying to keep the budget manageable…we hadn’t expected to be eating out again). Perhaps my expectations were a bit high…but I had envisaged a bowl of nice, creamy mash, topped with a couple of fat sausages smothered in a thick onion gravy…..while technically that is what I received, it just didn’t live up to my ideal, the sausages were thin, the onion was thick, the gravy was runny and the potatoes were a little dry….but I ate it, it tasted okay and I didn’t feel hungry or ill afterward…so it wasn’t bad, just okay…The occasion ended nicely with free ice-creams for the kids and a group photo.
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