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March, April, and June went to a party for March and April's Mom, May. May came to the party for herself as did sundry other familial riff raff celebrating May's birthday. Who knew such fun could be had.
June's house was clean thanks to the cleaner.
Very clean. And tidy.
First in was April's other half, the shopper, chopper and chef. And food there was...boxes and coolers and bags of food. Food galore! This other half immediately began slicing cheese and setting bowls of olive tapenade and red pepper hummous out for bread and crackers to be nibbled on later as soon the shindig began.
Next April, and daughter brought bits of beautiful, ceramic, dinnerware or, in this case, lunchware, and set out much of it onto a table made HUGE by ALL 4 leafs. (what is the plural noun for table leaf? Leaves?) Various early party participants set the table including June who oversaw the dragging of chairs from around the house seeing as there were to be 15 guests and every chair in the whole place was needed pronto.
June had been assured that her only job was to enjoy the party. It was her house and she had cleaned it and that was her part. Well she had arranged someone to clean it for her, because June's not into cleaning. She just doesn't clean and never has, sadly enough for her husband who likes things clean, thus the hiring of the cleaner.
Work began in earnest while lots of hanging around ensued.
April's adult child and said adult child's friend helped set out snacks and snips of this and that, including pate and salmon with little yummy capers were that had been set out and decorative wheels of red slices of tomato sprinkled with fresh basil as well. June learned the meaning of a "groaning sideboard" though she had no idea where that term had come from nor when it had landed into her head.
April had to run home to change so as to make several trips which is more active than making one boring trip to June's house. And June's husband's house, by the way. Soon after a call informed of a coffee clatch with April and child and child's friend. The pater familial groaned at the news. June thought he needed a nappy clatch as did her own husband and hoped they'd go lie down on the dual napper, but really, who would nap at the beginning of efforts to set up a party at which they each were, truly, hosts, if you thought about it.
March and husband stepped in, greeted by one and all, bringing presents, especially a homemade braided tea bag necklace with Japanese origami paper details. May may never need tea bags again, but we hope she won't be wearing her charming, hand made, artisan necklace in the next tropical rain shower.
May appeared with her attending sons and sons' wife and son's son, as guest of honor, with hugs.
June had left all the windows open all night to cool off from yesterday's heat and slammed them all closed to keep that cool air in, though somehow the heater had gone off and June had had to run frantically through the house to turn it down and whine argumentatively to her husband, "Why, why? Why would the heater start in hot, hot Indian Summer!" There were answers, but June was irritated enough to not care.
March, April, and June went to a party for March and April's Mom, May. May came to the party for herself as did sundry other familial riff raff celebrating May's birthday. Who knew such fun could be had.
June's house was clean thanks to the cleaner.
Very clean. And tidy.
First in was April's other half, the shopper, chopper and chef. And food there was...boxes and coolers and bags of food. Food galore! This other half immediately began slicing cheese and setting bowls of olive tapenade and red pepper hummous out for bread and crackers to be nibbled on later as soon the shindig began.
Next April, and daughter brought bits of beautiful, ceramic, dinnerware or, in this case, lunchware, and set out much of it onto a table made HUGE by ALL 4 leafs. (what is the plural noun for table leaf? Leaves?) Various early party participants set the table including June who oversaw the dragging of chairs from around the house seeing as there were to be 15 guests and every chair in the whole place was needed pronto.
June had been assured that her only job was to enjoy the party. It was her house and she had cleaned it and that was her part. Well she had arranged someone to clean it for her, because June's not into cleaning. She just doesn't clean and never has, sadly enough for her husband who likes things clean, thus the hiring of the cleaner.
Work began in earnest while lots of hanging around ensued.
April's adult child and said adult child's friend helped set out snacks and snips of this and that, including pate and salmon with little yummy capers were that had been set out and decorative wheels of red slices of tomato sprinkled with fresh basil as well. June learned the meaning of a "groaning sideboard" though she had no idea where that term had come from nor when it had landed into her head.
April had to run home to change so as to make several trips which is more active than making one boring trip to June's house. And June's husband's house, by the way. Soon after a call informed of a coffee clatch with April and child and child's friend. The pater familial groaned at the news. June thought he needed a nappy clatch as did her own husband and hoped they'd go lie down on the dual napper, but really, who would nap at the beginning of efforts to set up a party at which they each were, truly, hosts, if you thought about it.
March and husband stepped in, greeted by one and all, bringing presents, especially a homemade braided tea bag necklace with Japanese origami paper details. May may never need tea bags again, but we hope she won't be wearing her charming, hand made, artisan necklace in the next tropical rain shower.
May appeared with her attending sons and sons' wife and son's son, as guest of honor, with hugs.
June had left all the windows open all night to cool off from yesterday's heat and slammed them all closed to keep that cool air in, though somehow the heater had gone off and June had had to run frantically through the house to turn it down and whine argumentatively to her husband, "Why, why? Why would the heater start in hot, hot Indian Summer!" There were answers, but June was irritated enough to not care.
June's husband had washed down the patio to keep things cool on a promised hot, hot day, thereby getting June off his back, nice man that he was. June headed to old Lucky's for bags 'o ice.
She was more interested in picking a bunch of flowers from the garden, which she and her partner had tended all summer. She had noticed that most colorful flora were gone, but for a few; 3 vases (do you say vayse or vahz?) full of silly things like hollyhocks, roses, butterfly bush, and nasturtiums which really don't go together all that well, but as you can imagine, but June did not care about that kind of thing either.
Dogs nagged and bayed, after being thrust into a back room due to too much drooling and getting in the way; later these pets were allowed out after all party goers were seated, with little chance of being tripped by a canine criminal.
June was interested in getting this party going so she could partake of all the delicious food being set down. A little nagging got everyone to the table that had been varathaned (is that a word?) to prevent heart attacks when things were spilled damply onto the table cloth. Every guest fills up their plates with a colorful array of edibles, squishes around the table, searches for silverware and begins to sup. Ooohing, ahhhing and mmmming commences.
April's son arrives and chats everyone up in his cheerful, interesting way. June is getting pretty tired so she eats and eats and watches everyone eat and eat which is the main entertainment anyway. June finishes eating and begins to talk too much, but that is her way, especially when she is tired, so no one notices, she hopes or at least they take it gracefully.
So let's recap.
March arranged and decorated a beautiful cake, discarding red roses for raspberries and decorative foliage ringing the plate. Later she identified and gave garden advice to June, who had waited several years for this bit of help.
April purchased a cool cake, brought ceramic plates around and dried glasses needing a washing after the terrible job of the washing machine and helped deal out more meal options onto the side table so as to support her fine husband and daughter and heaved pretty botanical around the kitchen and dining room.
Dogs nagged and bayed, after being thrust into a back room due to too much drooling and getting in the way; later these pets were allowed out after all party goers were seated, with little chance of being tripped by a canine criminal.
June was interested in getting this party going so she could partake of all the delicious food being set down. A little nagging got everyone to the table that had been varathaned (is that a word?) to prevent heart attacks when things were spilled damply onto the table cloth. Every guest fills up their plates with a colorful array of edibles, squishes around the table, searches for silverware and begins to sup. Ooohing, ahhhing and mmmming commences.
April's son arrives and chats everyone up in his cheerful, interesting way. June is getting pretty tired so she eats and eats and watches everyone eat and eat which is the main entertainment anyway. June finishes eating and begins to talk too much, but that is her way, especially when she is tired, so no one notices, she hopes or at least they take it gracefully.
So let's recap.
March arranged and decorated a beautiful cake, discarding red roses for raspberries and decorative foliage ringing the plate. Later she identified and gave garden advice to June, who had waited several years for this bit of help.
April purchased a cool cake, brought ceramic plates around and dried glasses needing a washing after the terrible job of the washing machine and helped deal out more meal options onto the side table so as to support her fine husband and daughter and heaved pretty botanical around the kitchen and dining room.
June had a clean house.
Most everyone of the 15 at the party helped in someway, including cleanup.
May had a birthday and picked fresh peas.
All had a great, good old time, because we hadn't seen everyone in a long time and seeing each other had always been fun, which is easy to forget when you haven't seen each other, but hopefully won't be forgotten in future times.
April and April's family were SOOOOOO grateful, but June and June's family were SOOOOOOOO grateful, too, for being included in many, many, many Thanksgivings and Christmas's and even Fourth of July's so it was a tie.
Sounds like friendship to me.
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2 comments:
lovely, amusing summary of a lively gathering in a wonderful setting. all the guests enjoyed the old radios, flowers, birds and paintings too. Thank you for the fun! We think you two would be natural bed n' breakfast host/owners.
sounds like such a great day with wonderful friends and delicious food!
yahoooooooo!!!!
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