Lantern Light

I have had a fun, interesting and emotional day.
I have been in touch for a while now, through Facebook, with a cousin, Issy, living in Ely (Cambridgeshire). She is one of five sisters and one brother, all children of my mother's older sister.  My aunt died a few years ago so my Mum is now the only surviving sibling from her family of three sisters.  
I discovered, again through Facebook, that there was a family celebration today - the Golden wedding anniversary of Issy's eldest sister and also the anniversary of her father's birthday (my uncle) who would have been 100 today - all the sisters were getting together for a celebratory meal. I offered to go along to take a group photo of this auspicious occasion - so important for future family history.

It is a disgrace that we, the cousins, have not met for more years than we can remember - with a few of them it is over 30 years and probably more.  Such a shame - time passes quickly and we have all moved apart and lived in different areas so just not made the effort. So I drove the couple of hours to my old town of Ely where I was born and lived there, or nearby, until my 40s. That is now quite a few years ago and today it was strange, exciting and emotional seeing the place again (I have visited briefly on a couple of occasions) with all the associated memories - good and not so good. It was lovely chatting to my cousins again.  I posed them all for a group photograph and then left them, although we have vowed to meet up again before too long.
Whilst there, I went into the magnificent cathedral (lots of memories here as well) taking in a tour to the top of the Tower and the opportunity to photograph in the building using a tripod.  I have done some sequences which I hope will work in a panorama - but they will take time to process another day.
A great day!