Tuesday 6 September 2016

Au Revoir to Good Friends


A gluten free feast.

Our friends Colin and Elizabeth have sold their house in Braye sous Faye. All their belongings are packed up and are heading for the UK. We will miss them for their kindness, generosity, good company and good advice.

The cake.

Lots of other people will miss them too, so Gaynor organised a party at her place so we could celebrate our friendship. Everyone contributed food and Jean made a cake. Jim stood up and made a speech. He has a fine singing voice and cleverly reworded Aulde Lang Syne to fit the situation.

Elizabeth, Gayle, Colin and Nick as they listen to Jim speaking for all of us.

Colin and Elizabeth will be back to visit I am sure. They know they have places to stay all over the Touraine.

Jim putting into words what we all felt.

Meanwhile, we will all be keeping an eye on their blog to see how the next part of the adventure turns out.

Colin and Elizabeth cut the cake.

And every time any of us open a bag of redcurrants from the freezer we will think of Colin and Elizabeth.
The group photo.
From top to bottom, left to right: Chris T, Annie, Tom, Niall, Sweetpea, Gaynor, Pauline C, Mike, Antoinette, Simon, Dennis, Gayle, Angela, Liz, Pauline McA, Chris H, Nick, me, Tim F, Jean, Colin, Elizabeth and Tim B.

For those of you who asked, here are the recipes for the carrot dip and orange punch that I brought.

Update: Here is a link to Colin and Elizabeth's blog post on the evening.

10 comments:

Le Pré de la Forge said...

It shows how well one can eat gluten-free...
and I'll be visiting the carrot dip page next!!

Yes, sad to see them leave...
but a lovely send off and we'll be seeing them again!!

GaynorB said...

Very sad to see them go but new adventures lie ahead for them both.

Ken Broadhurst said...

All the best to Colin and Elizabeth -- and to all of you.

melinda said...

are they leaving because of brexit?

Susan said...

No.

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Susan, Thank you so much for such an eloquent description of such a wonderful evening. We have been - and will continue to be - blessed to have you as friends because without you all, we'd have been eating redcurrants until they came out of our ears!
Seriously though, you, Susan and Simon, helped confirm our decision to move to the France. Without your example we wouldn't have started blogging and without blogging, we wouldn't have met a brilliant group of friends with whom we've shared so many happy times. We will certainly be back to check up on you and the red currant consumption but in the meantime, we think of you often and talk about you to family and friends here with affection and humour, reflecting our relationship. (By the way, we've not seen any of the aforementioned male beetles here - yet!!) Love Elizabeth and Colin xxx

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Thank you Ken! xx

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Absolutely! xx

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Sad to leave, too, but as you say, Gaynor new adventures ahead.... but we need a rest first!!! xx

Susan said...

Many thanks for your kind words. We'll try to consume the redcurrants responsibly. I don't think you'll see the aforementioned beetles where you are -- too far north, they've only just started colonising the south a bit.

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