The Curious Rituals of the Valley People (Part 1)

Setting the table




















Preparing the feast






Accepting rare and exotic gifts







Welcoming the guests - all of us strayed and flung far from family (even we, in this rare gathering, are missing many many parts)






Hence the cell phone calls even as we sit down to eat





And as we toast absent family and friends our breath is ragged for a moment. We swallow throat lumps the size of marula pips




and turn our attention to cracker tricks

and crap cracker jokes

as beer and wine flow like a frolicsome river

and chatter layers over twitter over giggle and guffaw til we sound like an aviary of mad scurrilous birds



Presided over by the Queen of Orientar*









And then


Post-lunch silliness takes on bizarre forms:
1. Stand in a circle and throw a small bouncy ball randomly around the group.
2. If you miss once, you get given the letter B
3. If you miss twice you get given the letter U
4. If you miss thrice you get given the letter M
5. Now you stand against the wall and everyone in the group gets to throw the small bouncy ball at your bum.
6. ???? don't ask. Its a good spectator sport.








but the light fades too quickly









and we have to submit to the blurr of the end of a fine day


* Remember "we Three Kings Of Orient are.." and how many like me wondered "where's Orientar, mummy?"