Tony's Birthday

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One of the nice things about coming to Victoria, BC for the July wedding was it happened also to be my brother Tony's 80th birthday. His birthday is July 12, which was the day of Cai and Gillian's wedding! 

The morning of the wedding we had Tony and Pat over to our VrBO rental on Lake Florence where we had a bit of a celebration before heding out to the afternoon wedding. We bought a cake, with candles for Tony to blow out. We gave him a funny card, a tin of all sorts liquorice and a framed collage of some family photos. We think we saw him shed a tear. We shared a ride with Tony and Pat to the wedding.

The next day, July 13, there was a family birthday party arranged at Pat's daughter's home high on a hill across the lake from us. They are a very nice family, friendly, and put on a great meal for everyone. We stayed for a bit but headed out after the cake as we were on our way to Long Beach and Ocluelet on the west side of the island. Google tells us that's a four hour drive and we want to get there before dark.

There are pictures in the album of Tony and Pat, Ellen, Noelle and Grier, and many of Pat's family.

Ps. We always associate July 12 with the Orange Parade (King Billy, Battle of the Boyne and all the Fenian troubles). I've also just learned there's another reason to celebrate July 12; Google AI tells me

July 12 is celebrated as World Paper Bag Day to promote paper bags as an eco-friendly alternative to plastic, highlighting their biodegradability, recyclability, and positive impact on reducing pollution. The date also commemorates the inventions related to paper bag production, including Francis Wolle's 1852 patent for the first mass-producing paper bag machine and Margaret E. Knight's 1870 invention of the flat-bottomed grocery bag.

Now isn't that funny! Something else to celebrare.