catching up
I notice that it's been a few weeks since I posted so thought I should catch up a little. The visit from Andrew's sister and family went very well, and we sincerely hope someday they will find their way to moving up here - Jackson is too far. They arrived on Thursday afternoon, and that evening we went to the folks for a delicious meatloaf dinner. I took Friday off work and we took the nephew to MOA for lunch and a few rides, and did some prep work and shopping before settling in to play a trivia game on the PS3. I finally did win a game, but Real was tough competition. Saturday night I grilled steaks and Andrew's mom made a special nostalgic angel food cake for Dana's birthday.
We hosted a party at the house to celebrate the folks' 50th wedding anniversary. We had some help with decorations so the place was appropriately festive, and we displayed the wedding dress in the living room. Andrew had prepped a loop of stills and video from photos and home movies, and we had that playing on a display in one corner. We had ninety or so people, but the weather was cooperative and we could spill into the yard. I was glad to have Del's help in the kitchen keeping hot snacks moving. We had twice as much cake as necessary since we'd forgotten how tall the cakes were from Baker's Wife, but it was very tasty. It was a successful, and I was glad we could show them a good time to honor the occasion.
There have been a few other recent parties. We attended a couple's dual birthday party at the start of the month, a housewarming party shortly after, and somewhere in there I had a birthday as well. It was midweek this year and fell on our Gaylaxian book discussion night, but Andrew surprised me with a cake and the new Elm Street movie.
Yesterday we attended a memorial service for Reen Brust and spent a couple hours at the Courts of Chaos wake. The service was quite touching and it was great connecting with people we don't see often any more. We somehow didn't know Reen well at all, but as happens in fannish circles knew many people whose lives she touched in very meaningful ways. There was a tree planted in her name, lots of storytelling and hugging, and overall many more smiles than tears.
We hosted a party at the house to celebrate the folks' 50th wedding anniversary. We had some help with decorations so the place was appropriately festive, and we displayed the wedding dress in the living room. Andrew had prepped a loop of stills and video from photos and home movies, and we had that playing on a display in one corner. We had ninety or so people, but the weather was cooperative and we could spill into the yard. I was glad to have Del's help in the kitchen keeping hot snacks moving. We had twice as much cake as necessary since we'd forgotten how tall the cakes were from Baker's Wife, but it was very tasty. It was a successful, and I was glad we could show them a good time to honor the occasion.
There have been a few other recent parties. We attended a couple's dual birthday party at the start of the month, a housewarming party shortly after, and somewhere in there I had a birthday as well. It was midweek this year and fell on our Gaylaxian book discussion night, but Andrew surprised me with a cake and the new Elm Street movie.
Yesterday we attended a memorial service for Reen Brust and spent a couple hours at the Courts of Chaos wake. The service was quite touching and it was great connecting with people we don't see often any more. We somehow didn't know Reen well at all, but as happens in fannish circles knew many people whose lives she touched in very meaningful ways. There was a tree planted in her name, lots of storytelling and hugging, and overall many more smiles than tears.