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An early Father's Day and a great party
Jun. 20th, 2009 10:30 pmWhat a busy day! R. wanted to celebrate Father's Day today so they wouldn't have to change their work schedule, so after he got back from his radio show and checking on the daylilies, he took D. to see Night at the Museum 2. B. arrived in the afternoon, and we did the gifts, then I took D. to opening day at the neighborhood pool, even though it was only 67° out. Then we drove over to JG's going away party, at H's house, which is very conveniently only about six blocks away.
H's back yard is gorgeous - several decks, a fire pit (unused tonight), and a badminton court, surrounded by flowerbeds, then a lawn with oak trees, and beyond their property, an expanse of meadow and oak forest. We barely even noticed that it was cloudy and cool. He and his wife are excellent hosts, too - we've been to half a dozen parties there, and I would never turn down an invitation.
I had so many conversations. One of the most interesting was when R discussed South African plants with a guy from there, who's married to our project AA. Also, our data analyst's wife and I discussed our respective PhD programs with much enthusiasm. And it was fun to catch up with a woman I hadn't seen in years, who now lives over in Bend, on the other side of the mountains, and who had a cute, curly-haired toddler. There was wonderful food - I almost never eat pork, but one of the guests had brought three shoulders of newly roasted pulled pork, and we had these fabulous sandwiches with really crisp-tart cole slaw and lots of salads. The beverages were first rate - H. makes wine, and another guest makes really good quality beer, and the couple who had brought the pork also brought cider made professionally by their son (R. and DH had even been to his cider-making establishment a few years ago). There was a video program of JG's time with us, and some tearful reminiscences. There were chocolate cakes, and there was a memory book. Also, R. and I learned that H. had taken a glass-blowing class and got to see his results, which were really cool. And I was amused to find that D. had never tried Sprite before. I'd expected him to grumble and complain a lot, but he stayed enthusiastic for the whole four and a half hours because he was having a really great time playing hide-and-seek and badminton with two of the other kids. I still refuse to believe that JG is really leaving, though, or rather, that she'll be gone for good.
H's back yard is gorgeous - several decks, a fire pit (unused tonight), and a badminton court, surrounded by flowerbeds, then a lawn with oak trees, and beyond their property, an expanse of meadow and oak forest. We barely even noticed that it was cloudy and cool. He and his wife are excellent hosts, too - we've been to half a dozen parties there, and I would never turn down an invitation.
I had so many conversations. One of the most interesting was when R discussed South African plants with a guy from there, who's married to our project AA. Also, our data analyst's wife and I discussed our respective PhD programs with much enthusiasm. And it was fun to catch up with a woman I hadn't seen in years, who now lives over in Bend, on the other side of the mountains, and who had a cute, curly-haired toddler. There was wonderful food - I almost never eat pork, but one of the guests had brought three shoulders of newly roasted pulled pork, and we had these fabulous sandwiches with really crisp-tart cole slaw and lots of salads. The beverages were first rate - H. makes wine, and another guest makes really good quality beer, and the couple who had brought the pork also brought cider made professionally by their son (R. and DH had even been to his cider-making establishment a few years ago). There was a video program of JG's time with us, and some tearful reminiscences. There were chocolate cakes, and there was a memory book. Also, R. and I learned that H. had taken a glass-blowing class and got to see his results, which were really cool. And I was amused to find that D. had never tried Sprite before. I'd expected him to grumble and complain a lot, but he stayed enthusiastic for the whole four and a half hours because he was having a really great time playing hide-and-seek and badminton with two of the other kids. I still refuse to believe that JG is really leaving, though, or rather, that she'll be gone for good.