Family reunion or 'cousins day'

Saturday, 25 July 2015

Today we're having a family reunion at Wim and Gerrie's place.  Gerrie leaves early to pick up Chocolade bollen (a real treat for those who know them!) in 's-Hertogenbosch and Wim and I spend the time to set up for the guests.  Wim had a gazebo put up at the back of the garden, but the way the weather is looking it's not going to be used much.  Probably only by the smokers and IF the contraption is not going to get blown away before then.

This is what a Bossche Bol looks like:

 And this is how popular they are. People line up for them starting early in the morning at the bakery.

 

Setting up is done rather quickly. The weather is taking a turn for the worst after Gerrie has come home and it's not looking good.  On the radio we're told that we should prepare for code red which is the warning for extreme weather.  A summer storm is expected and everyone is advised to stay indoors.  A lot of summer holiday festivities are cancelled as well.  

After lunch my cousins arrive and we have a very pleasant afternoon.  It's great to see everyone and I am lucky, because this is the third reunion I have been able to attend.  It's a shame I haven't taken pictures of the crew.  My mother had three brothers and the children of each brother were all present, so there were 11 of us from the four families.  I'm not so sure we will still all be together again next time.  Especially me, living so far away.  Of the spouses a number were missing.  One cousin is still a bachelor and there were also 4 widows present.  Just showing that the female gender is still strong! :-)

After coffee and drinks it was time for dinner.  A plethora of delicious dishes had been delivered and we enjoyed a beautiful meal after which everyone slowly started to leave.  Because of the weather nobody knew what to expect and we heard afterwards that it had been very rough in some places, with many fallen trees, on houses and cars. It had been the worst summer storm since records had been kept.

This is one of the many trees (pinched from fb):

 After most of the family had left we chatted a bit with the youngest before he went on to yet another party! It's a hard life for some of us. :-)

We had a memorable day.  Thanks Wim and Gerrie for organising this.