Grillen

I was invited to a grill party last Saturday. It was at Nick and Julie's welcoming and relaxing home in Sutton-in-Craven. This is a small town up the valley towards Skipton and not far from Kildwick. The non-Silsdeners are probably thinking, 'Er, who are they?'.

Nicholas is Dianne and Ian's second son. As a baby/child I always said I was going to steal him. We've made many jokes about this over the years as he grew up.

Even so, I made the right choice! He met the fair Lady Julie, married and they had two charming children. Laura and Matthew. I have visited them regularly and for me a visit to Silsden and area was never complete without seeing them.

You may remember that they came to Berlin last summer and I posted a report and photos on my blog. Have a look in the posts from a year ago! Since then Laura has started university, Matthew has finished school and is having a break before he decides on the next move. Julie still teaches and Nicholas is about to take on a new job. We talked about all these things during the grill session'.

Here is a photo of Matthew preparing a gin 'n tonic. He is now working part-time in a club/bar to earn some pocket money. I challenged him to prepare a classic G&T. He made a good job of it and can only get better. Practice makes perfect Matthew! I just had to take a photo of big sister Laura. I noted she was permanently checking her smart phone and did not talk a lot. We had an interesting discussion about that. She is not alone in 'smart phone obsession' and need to be permanently in contact.

I always enjoy meeting the family and relaxing over a drink and something to eat. They are very hospitable and I look forward to further grill sessions with them. Of course, future meetings may be without Laura and Matthew for they are starting on a phase when they will want to spend more time with friends. I was the same and I am sure you were.