Yesterday we were invited to a BBQ in Preuilly-sur-Claise at the home of our friends Susan and Simon. They had organised the event so that Martine (from Belgium), who is on holiday in the Loire valley with her friends Mats and Vera (from Sweden), could meet up with a bunch of people who live in the area, and others who live further afield in St-Aignan, Arlington Virginia (via Paris), Antwerp and the Charente. We were amazed at how easily our friends moved from language to language. Even Florence managed three!
The rogues gallery!
Back L-R Mats, Simon, CHM, Martine, Gaynor, Antoinette, Ken, Nigel, Diane, Florence and Alexander
Front L-R Tim, Susan, Walt, Vera, Caroline and Niall.
Thanks to Simon for the photograph, who manfully set the timer and then sprinted into position!
Susan co-ordinated the food contributions and the result was a magnificent and delicious table of food and wines.
Simon manned the BBQ and we all sat around and chatted for the whole afternoon.
We met friends old and new and there was always someone interesting to chat with.
Martine had brought gifts of some exquisite Belgian chocolates.
Martine had brought gifts of some exquisite Belgian chocolates.
At the time of writing you can read and see more here (Simon and Susan), here (Ken) and quite possibly here (Walt), here (Niall and Antoinette), here (Diane) or here (Martine).
Susan even kept her guests comfortable by holding up the sun/rain canopy!
A big thank you to Susan and Simon for hosting the event and making the bar-blog-que bleet possible.
And a wonderful time was had by all! Congratulations to all of you for getting together and having such a wonderful time. Well done!
ReplyDeleteThe credit should go to Susan, Simon and martine for organising it all. All we did was turn up with a contribution!
DeleteI think you mean 'masterfully set the timer...' don't you? :-)
ReplyDeleteWe definitely have a pic of the meat, the BBQ and Simon!
DeleteGaynor: I think you mustn't have been in on the joke about Simon being 'masterful'. One of our clients described his driving of Célestine as 'masterful' so now whenever he is mentioned, you have to mention that. I was rewording the caption to your 'official team photo', where you describe him as 'manfully setting the timer'.
DeleteGlad you had a great time and good weather for it, which always helps.....a real blogfest !!
ReplyDeleteThe grub looks good too.........
Thanks, Jean.
DeleteIt was ... and it was...!
Looks like a reet good do, as we (translocated) Yorkshire folk say...
ReplyDeleteHi Pauline,
DeleteIt certainly was!
BTW we called to see you today and saw you blasting down the road in the opposite direction! Will try to pop in before we leave.
Can you use a lettuce? We are embarrased by quantity... yet again! Can deliver...
DeleteWhat a nice idea to have a bloggers get-together! Glad it went so well! And as Jean said the grub really does look good too...
ReplyDeleteIt was superb. We must do another one at LP-P!
DeleteHad a wonderful time! It was great to finally meet you and Tim. :)
ReplyDeleteThe food looks superb and more importantly you had the weather for the occasion.
ReplyDeleteI wondered why it was a 'bleet', but PG explains in her comment on Chez Charnizay. I'd never heard the word.
ReplyDeleteIt was great to meet you and Tim and everyone else of course. We had a great day and thoroughly enjoyed also seeing part of the world we have never seen before. Take care Diane
ReplyDeleteExcellent post on so many levels, Gaynor! Food, blogging, language, getting folks together, new links - just great! Axxx
ReplyDeleteCan't get much better than good friends and good food.
ReplyDeleteHello Gaynor, thank you for your lovely comments and encouraging words. I never knew you were at Susan and Simon's too. I have been following Martine's blog for quite a while.
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe you met my lovely friend Diane and Nigel. Their house in the UK was in my village, (we found each other through blogging) I asked her once if she could send me something from France, she asked for my address ..and when she saw it , she couldn't believe it. They hadn't made the full move then, and so we met at a cafe for coffee .. then she came to my house :-) :-) take care Anne
Hi Anne,
ReplyDeleteAs they say 'it's a very small world'! We've known Simon and Susan for a while as our house in France is about 10 minutes away from their thouse in Preilly, but although I've been in contact with Diane and martine via blog it was our first meeting.
They are both lovely, interesting, genuine and friendly people so I hope we can meet up again, sometime.
Thanks for your comment and I look forward to reading your blog again.
Take care.
Gaynor x