Saturday, June 15

Up at 6 a.m., but skipped my exercises again, because I needed to cook the lemon pudding for the cake. Once the pudding was done, we had breakfast, and then I went upstairs and dressed for the day.

Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house early, and she helped do various things in the kitchen before company arrived, like making slaw dressing and mixed it into three bags of prepared slaw.
When  the pudding cooled, she spread it on the cake, while I made meringue topping for it.

We spent a couple of hours preparing food, making tea and lemonade, setting up tables, etc. The first of the family arrived around 10 a.m., and by noon everyone was gathered. A few folks couldn't make it, but there were still seventeen of us.

While the meal was being prepared, Hubbie and his family visited in the yard. We now have about  a dozen bag chairs, so everyone was comfortable.

At noon, we were ready to eat...a choice of barbecue or hot dogs on buns, potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans, veggies and dip, chips and cheese dip (that I bought at a Mexican restaurant yesterday while on our errands), and a fresh fruit tray that Hubbie's daughter brought, as well as a choice of cakes for dessert.

By moving the couches along the wall, and setting up three card tables with chairs in the living room area, there was plenty of seating, and folks weren't crowded.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal, and there was scads left to send home with those that wanted it. One of Hubbie's daughters, and his niece, both took generous portions.

Following lunch, we traveled by caravan to the home of the man who has the beautiful gardens with the Japanese tea house. Hubbie had arranged a tour of the garden earlier this week. We got there about 2 p.m., returned home around 3 p.m.

After that, everyone was ready to head home. It was an enjoyable visit, though tiring. There were four very young children in attendance... Hubbie's two great-grandsons, one of his great-granddaughters, and his great-niece. Also attending were his two daughters, their husbands, his two sisters, two of his nieces (one of whom has never been here in the thirty-one years we've been married), and an adult great-niece and her significant other (they are expecting a child).

Mother was also ready to go home, so Hubbie accompanied her. Then he and I ran a couple of errands. One was to visit a Red Box to pick up a free movie. We got the movie through a promotional code on a box of soft drinks that we picked up at the WDCS yesterday. The movie I chose was "Anna Karenina." From there, we went to the home improvement store, where Hubbie picked up a roll of plastic.

Back home, we watched a suspense movie, and then watched the free movie. This version of "Anna Karenina" is more an art film than a straight-forward drama. I think a person would have to read the very long and complicated novel to be able to adequately follow it. It so happens I read the novel recently, so I had no problem following the plot.

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Well, drat it, wouldn't you know that our central air conditioning decided to act up today. It appears to be frozen, and is refusing to operate. Naturally, it'll be Monday before we can call anyone, and then who knows how long it'll be before someone gets around to it. In the meantime, I guess we'll sleep in the camper, and maybe hang out at Mother's house.