The Party...The Night Of

Megan in the dress that was finished the day before...

Pam and Viv

The Gibbs Family

The Cousins...

Desley and Mum

After all the planning, organising and setting up - it was all over in a matter of hours. It went so quickly. Desley was a huge help in getting the entree up and running; Andrew D ran the feeding of the hordes. I just seemed to stand around a lot. People ate, we had the speeches, Megan played the slideshow and the rest is a bit of a blur (not due to alcohol consumption - it just seemed to go). At midnight Mum and I served a cob loaf and about 35 cups of pumpkin soup and I crawled into bed at 1-30am. I dragged Drew inside at 1-00am to get him out of the cold night air in an attempt to preserve his throat for rehearsal at 9am.

And.......in the end, there's not that many photos of the actual night. We didn't cut the cake (it was just too beautiful) but nearly all the patty cakes disappeared. The only photo of the four of us together is one taken on Ben's camera, when we brought the cake out to show everyone. I haven't seen it yet. I don't even really have a great photo of Megan on her own, one that could be her 21st photo. I can't believe that - especially as I love to take photos and document events.

The Party...The Day Of

I went to town to take Drew to rehearsal and pick up the bread rolls, coleslaw and onion. I also picked up these magnificent little morsels from a lady who does a bit of catering. I'd sampled a biscuit when I had my hair done on Wednesday and tracked her down - actually, when I left the hairdresser I ran into her in the first shop I went into - so obviously it was meant to happen! They tasted as delicious as they look.

Megan and Ally put up balloons and relevant decorations on the road to the house.

The portaloos arrived.

So did the hay bales.

This is the SALOON sign from my 21st (in 1983!).

The set-up for music and photo slideshow.

The Party...The Week Leading Up To

I took the week off work leading up to the party. There was still a lot to do. I made and froze 67 medium patty cakes and 105 baby ones. On the Friday I defrosted them and began icing them.

Gibbo went to Brisbane on the Wednesday and picked up Megan and the alcohol; too much as it turned out. Way too much.

Drew took the Friday off school and helped by getting up a tree and cutting branches. The musical is pretty well all consuming so he had a mental health day at home. He had rehearsals all weekend - I was in and out of town like a yo-yo, dropping him off and picking him up.

Mum was a huge help; it was good to get her opinion and hear her thoughts on a lot of things and she was a big help with the dress as she confirmed or otherwise the direction I headed with it (no instructions).

I sanded and varnished the walls on the western side of the house, where the bore water from the sprinklers and the sun damage the wood. Megan finished off the last coat of three varnishes.

Ken and Des and Chris and Ally arrived Friday night; Mum stayed too. More hands on deck for tomorrow.

The Party...Leading Up To the Big Day

The weekend before the party, the Tarcoola Street boys came out and mulched the gardens on three sides of the yard, cleaned out the gutters and split wood. We paid them with an fl tour, thai chicken mince balls and some good wagyu steak. Their help saved me days and days in the garden.

There was more experimenting with icings - I think we finally found the right one!

Megan likes to compartmentalise the food on her plate - she doesn't like it touching. Hmmm.

I repotted some beautiful bright yellow chrysanthemums into glossy black glazed pots.

I started on THE DRESS - the pattern finally arrived in my hands and I started sewing. It was about two-thirds finished by the Sunday night. There's still no fringeing or zip on site yet.

Driving Away - Literally and Metaphorically

Drew had his first "official" drive today as a licenced driver. He was going to town to stay the night at a friends' place; Gibbo went with him. He is growing up and away more and more. He took a couple of drinks with him for the first time too. Everything is changing. I really struggled with letting him take alcohol and then with what to let him take. Maybe it's time to start letting him have a drink or two, maybe it's not. There's arguments on both sides of course. I don't want to introduce him to a life of binge drinking but I don't want to let him loose in the world after high school as a total novice either, where his first night out drinking ends badly. Part of the reason I don't want him drinking is that I still think of him as a boy - but in reality, he's not. I don't know whether I'm being REsponsible or IRREsponsible; at least this way I feel like there's a bit of "control" involved in introducing him to alcohol instead of just letting him loose with a bottle of rum and a bunch of friends.