We made it this far

we bollied and wooded while the world crashed around us, originally uploaded by Ampersand Duck.

It's my wedding anniversary today.

Yesterday we had a party, not just to celebrate this fact, but to give our friends the party we promised them in lieu of a wedding. Anyone who has lurked here since I started blogging knows that we had a very very small, quiet wedding, and that I had a very horrid failed pregnancy at the time, the complicated aftermath of which dragged on for a boring number of weeks. So we didn't have a party last year. We had it last night.

The loudest, noisiest, most interfering guest was Mother Nature. Best Beloved said, around Thursday, that he feared it would rain on the weekend. Yesterday until 4 the weather looked like it could do anything, so we optimistically set up the back yard with bright-coloured tarps (good for shade and shelter), lanterns and chairs.

At 4.30 a HUGE freak storm hit the city. Hail, lightning, heavy rain... The street outside flooded up to cover the footpath and one friend stood on my verandah watching the water rise up the tyres of her ute -- all her final post-grad wood assessment pieces were in the back! All we could do was pour more champagne and watch. (I like to think they came out of it ok. She's a sensible girl who had wrapped them in tarps.)

The kids went out and stood knee-deep on the road. Cars came around the corner, hit the water, and either ploughed through (if they were 4-wheel drives) or beat a hasty retreat (if they were sane). Eventually the water went down the drains, with a fantastic suction whirlpool that kept everyone amused for ages.

Our tiny house filled with adults and kids. I was worried that we'd run out of space, and deeply impressed that they'd braved the weather to get to us.

Later on the weather cleared enough for the back yard to be used, the BBQ fired up for the Indian nibblies (it was a Bollywood theme, of course) and the world's soggiest game of Boule. The heavy silver balls span through the air and landed on the grass with a wet THUNK. As I'd imagine cannonballs would land on a muddy field. We were trying to make them land on the marker, which was one of Bumblebee's action figures (with his full permission and participation). It was a hoot.

Anyway, after 8 hours of champagne, bollywood music and curried nibbles, I feel like crap today. I tried to keep today free to recover and maybe see a soothing movie, but a number of emergencies have arisen involved a scholarly edition layout in the middle of a press run, so I have to work. This post is basically a desperate attempt to get the grey matter into gear before tackling the problems of missing footnotes and musical notation.

I may be back with more, or I may just spend tonight with my head under a pillow moaning...