*brilliant picnic

Isn't it funny how you can struggle to find a date to arrange for a few friends to come round for dinner due to clashing commitments and prior engagements yet sometimes all you need to do is say to people 'let's have a picnic on 20 August, we'll see how many people we can get' and about 40 folk (including kids) turn up!

I'd like to think it was down to my superior organising skills and stellar personality drawing people to the park across the road from my house but the reality was, freakishly, it was a date a lot of people could make and (this is the crucial bit) it was a day where it wasn't actually pishing down with rain.

Who cares why they came? They came and it was bloody marvellous. Everyone was to bring a dish to add to the communal picnic and as is rather typical with this lovely bunch of people - everybody really put in loads of effort.

Among other things, we had Wagamama noodles, asian salads, coronation chicken, pasta salads, potato salads, tortillas, muffins, ginger bread, cupcakes, brownies, chicken skewers, wraps, sausage rolls, soup - it was quite a feast let me tell ya.

My favourite part was watching the kids playing together. There were about 12 kids, from age 5 down to Ida and (the ones that could) all hung out together, playing at the park, making up games, using each other's scooters and bikes and balls.

A little gang within the gang. It's brilliant, they are a really amazing wee bunch of kids. We're very lucky to have so many friends with children - blessed really.

*I accidentally took this picture on a completely random setting, just before my battery ran out so I had to use it no matter what. Even though it's a completely dodgy, I really love it - to me, it shows exactly how brilliant and bright and positive the whole day was. Yeah!