On Sunday we did a family get-together day at my cousins’ house. I had been warned June that there would be some people I hadn’t seen for while and I was looking forward to this surprise as well as seeing Derek and June. We live in the same city but at opposite ends and add to that the normal demands on our time; we never get to see that much of each other.
The surprise was my cousin Barbara and her partner Bruce. I hadn’t seen Barbara since we were at a family wedding about 4 years and I hadn’t met Bruce before. Barbara and Bruce live in the Cape and had been here for business.
There were about a dozen of us for lunch and as usual June produced a feast – but the thing I am always amazed with is how she managed to make salads into little impressionist masterpieces – almost too beautiful to mess up. So we sat around and ate, drank wine and laughed and told funny stories.
After lunch, June started moving the furniture around and out came Barbara with her cello and Bruce with a didgeridoo. You have no idea how complementary these two instruments are…really stunning. After the first little piece things hotted up and we listened to some music by pop group Hotwater – in one number Barbara provides some very beautiful cello backing….. pop and cello also goes together beautifully. And then Bruce brought out an instrument called a Hang (pronounced Hung). This thing looks like a weber braai! But the sounds that come out of it are magical…. From flute sounds to soft strings and mellow steel drum sounds. In the meantime June and Brenda couldn’t keep still and were dancing up a storm. Kevin leapt up every now and again, stomped his feet and let out a whoop or two. We were all laughing, clapping hands cheering on the dancers and musicians and joining in a chorus or two.
Would you believe it: Bruce brought out another couple of instruments – a bit of pvc piping tuned to C that he makes sing. And then he gave us nose flutes to practice on and after a bit Lisa managed to play along really well. I had a cold – you really can’t play a nose flute with a cold… but mostly everyone got the hang of it and was playing little ditties.
What a fantastic day. And what made it so special? We were with good friends and family; we had good wine and food. We had great conversation, amazing music, dancing and lots and lots of good laughs. Happiness is all of this.
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