Dad's into his 86th year

Today we celebrated Father's 85th birthday with a family lunch, cooked by his three daughters and surrounded by his family. It was a far cry from last year's birthday, which went by virtually unnoticed as we travelled the byways of Spain, meandering from town to town from Madrid down to Marbella.

We sat outside on the newly refurbished deck with its views up the mountain and later moved with the sun to the lower garden where we enjoyed the panoramic view across the Fish Hoek valley towards the West. The name of the family home is Belvedere, which means a building positioned to give a fine view of the surrounding area, and how aptly named it is. And my mother's maiden name is West, so there's another bit of synchronicity for you.

Family gatherings are events which are not for the uninitiated, as everybody always talks at once and we have so much to talk about, and the decibels can reach noise pollution levels if you are inside, so we usually sit outside to let it dissipate into the ether. The trouble is, when we are outside there are even more things to talk about - Has the cobra shed its skin yet and is it bigger than last year? Is that a booted eagle? Did you know the porcupine has started to eat the bromeliads? and such like. I come from a curious family and by that I mean we are all curious about lots of things.

I believe that is the secret of my parents' youthful approach to life - their interest in learning something new all the time. They belong to numerous societies - birds, astronomy, stamps, photography, University of the Third Age, Probus - and they are always out and about. I hope we will all be like them when we are in our 80s.

And I suspect that Dad would not have been averse to spending his 85th birthday in Spain either!