I'm so glad this "weather event" we're experiencing today didn't come our way on Saturday.  There had been a heavy rain warning issued for later in the day but, unlike today's "event", that didn't eventuate.

Saturday was the opening morning of shooting season and that's the day the 'factory girls' gather.  They've been doing that since the mid-eighties so are hardly girls any longer.  Even the youngest of us is probably past 50.  

It started off when the girls who worked in the laboratory at a dairy factory in the mid 1980s decided they should have some fun while their boyfriends and husbands went off duck shooting and began to have champagne breakfasts on that morning. The invitation to attend was extended to all the females who worked at the factory.  I was one of them.  The tradition has continued although breakfast now happens at lunch time and duck shooters have left their maimais by the time we arrive.

I don't attend these gatherings every year, I always say I will but I let life get in the way.  I'm resolved to make them a priority in the future.  

Now some of our number are starting to experience serious health issues, a reminder that our numbers may dwindle sooner than we would like, to appreciate this connection we have developed over the years, to treasure this annual opportunity to rekindle our friendships.

Just a little aside.  I kept staring at one of the ladies, unable to put a name to her.  Every time I saw her, I kept telling myself I know those lovely blue eyes.  I tried to imagine how she might look with different hair.  I listened to hear anyone use her name.  Finally she came up to me and said hello in what I immediately knew to be her unique, gentle voice and I knew instantly who she was.  We worked out we hadn't seen each other since 1994.

 Thankfully someone remembered to call us together for a group photo.  There are a few missing, they must have still been talking.