Farewell Tea Party!

This week one of my work colleagues retired and her farewell was carefully planned by one and all. There was a collection from which we purchased a beautiful Waterford crystal cake stand, most appropriate as the lady in question is a keen baker. Her treats of a morning, just when you needed them the most, we will miss very much! There was a lovely lunch in a local restaurant with the colleagues she worked closely with and then a surprise retirement tea party on her last day! 

 

I was up at 6am that morning packing all the cake stands, candles, china and chintz I could find into the car.
 

 

 

Everyone assembled, bought or baked an offering and the resulting spread was fantastic!

 

 

 

 

The pièce de résistance however was the amazing chocolate box cake made by one of the girls.

 

 

Absolutely a work of art like none I have ever seen. It had a coffee cake inside somewhere! It went home with the retiree, uncut, who would have the heart?

 

 

As the afternoon wore on, the mood got a little sombre with her departure imminent. I think everyone felt a little sad including myself. She will be sadly missed, her good humour and quick wit in particular! She sees her retirement as just the next stage in her life. She won't stop working; the 'work' will just be different. The following morning her alarm would not be set for 7am but a little later. And the first item on the agenda... to swim more and why not? The plan seems to be to simply do all the things she wishes to do, that perhaps she hadn't the time for up to now, the things that truly make her happy whatever they might be.

 

 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Mark Twain