Katja's 40th Birthday Party

Disappointing start to the day, no stones but then a dear friend we haven't seen in person for nearly 20 years, phoned to say she should be moving back to the Munich area in a few weeks which is fantastic news. I hope she will feature in Blip regularly in the years to come. Mona has had to bear years of bad knocks and it's time for her luck to change.

Re-motivated, I set about getting the stones rolling. Horseriding or rough track mountain biking would be great but not physically possible, so the next best was mowing all the fields, with the 1965 tractor, a job that badly needed doing before the long awaited rain arrives. Several technical problems which meant I didn't get finished until 18:00. In the meantime Angie had to leave to be at the 16:00 party kick-off and I had to follow later, so annoyingly neither could drink & waste of diesel for the two car, 50 mile round trip.

Katja & her husband Sascha live in the house/stable complex we once also owned from 1995-2002. Always nice to go back & remember the good times we had there and see all the work (blood, sweat and money) we "left" there. Many of our helpers have recently been in Blip- Sepp (the planner & foreman), Gerhard (the wood & water work) & Manfred (the electrics) with Sigi & Brigitte mixing concrete and making sure we got fed & watered.

The event started with a small riding display by Katja's group of Spanish horse (Andalusian) riders, including the two painted zebras in the photo. Then a brief thunderstorm came and part 2 had to be cancelled, a shame as it was very interesting & different. Angie took the photo with her ancient mobile, hence poor quality. They adjourned to the stables and the party began at which point I arrived with the dogs having briefly visited our old horse Silvan who now lives back in the village. Suckling pig and paella, even vegetarian dish, salads, puds, cheese etc and no shortage of fluids. Evening stayed dry and temperature didn't drop as much as feared. At some point after midnight, we pointed the cars homeward. Some impression on Flickr.

Thanks, Katja and Sascha for a very pleasant evening and hopefully "bis bald".