While I have been writing about our latest North Carolina trip, it's been busier at home than I can handle anymore. Seriously, I am such a wuss these days. If there is too much going on, oy vey! Nevertheless, I held it together for the last two weeks and I'm fixing to tell you all about it.
Perhaps I have mentioned before our annual Independence Day celebration complete with fireworks shot from a barge in the lake? Okay, so I found it in this post when I detailed how our then property manager got our vendors to agree to donate much-needed funds to make it happen. My great committee, consisting of Susan, Ellie, Sherry, Diane, Patti and Jennifer, all had roles to fulfill and they did so with aplomb. Because it had been so long since we'd had a party due to Covid, the residents bought pre-sale tickets like nobodies business. So, in the week leading up to it, every day I went to the office checking on the count. By Friday, the count was higher than ever before, so much so that I called the barbecue guy and ordered more. Originally we thought 175 tops, but as it turns out, despite ordering more food, we ran out for a variety of reasons. The ticket count was off as well, so when it was all said and done, I think we probably had about 215 people.
You also might imagine that the weather plays the biggest role of all; planning only goes so far here during our summer rainy season. As it turns out, from the time we returned from NC, every day was dry, that is until Saturday when it rained non-stop, finally coming to an end at 6:10 in the afternoon. Our Sunday party was to begin at 6:30, so al I could think about was what in the world were we going to do? I was more nervous than I probably should have been, but it's the truth. To occupy myself during that long rainy day, I finished making brownie bites for our alternate dessert. Diane picked up two beautiful cakes from Costco and the bites were for those who might not like cake. As it turns, out more people liked cake than we had slices for!
I used a super easy brownie recipe:
Melt one stick butter in pan.
Dump in one cup sugar and stir, followed by two beaten eggs and 1t vanilla.
Combine 1/3 c cocoa, 1/2 c flour along with 1/4 t salt and baking soda.
Beat with wooden spoon until combined.
I used mini muffin tins, sprayed liberally and baked for 11 minutes.
When cool, sift powdered sugar over all to make them look prettier.
All in all I think I made about two hundred between two Saturday afternoons. Mornings, of course, are reserved for pickleball!
In spite of the very, very dark skies at 4:30 in the afternoon, it never rained! The sun came out, it was relatively cool, we had both a rainbow and a sunset! Had we not run out of food it would have been absolutely perfect. As it was, it was pretty darn close thanks to all of the volunteers.
Click on this link to see the party pics and admire our decorating ladies work.
I would be remiss if I did not ooh and ahh over the fireworks display, something our committee labored over, as the price, like everything in this post-Covid world was far more than we would have liked. The amount of time was also reduced, but by golly, it was just wonderful. Bill and Fallon were there and she remarked that the length was perfect and I agreed.
At the same time, as I was worrying about every party detail, our son David had Covid again which was bad in and of itself, however, Bruce had been with him when he contracted it from Eddie. Every single day we worried Bruce would come down with it and thank God he did not! Poor David tested positive for at least eight days and missed the party because of it. We missed both his and Michelle's energy that's for sure! Bill too, was in the exposed group, but thankfully he also avoided getting sick which was a blessing because he just went back to work for Truist days before. after having worked for Regions for three years.
Our friends Keith and Patty were a great help setting up the tables and chairs, as well as moving the regular deck furniture. Sometimes they come to Dover Shores in the morning and beat us at pickleball! Patty is wearing purple.
So, there was the party, the Covid scare, AND the annual calendar contest to think about. You may recall, (how could you not), last year I was out of commission and did not enter like I normally would. So one morning after pickleball, I payed a visit to this year's historic neighborhood.
What I neglected to mention, while talking about the party, is Nancy's arrival for the week. As you may recall, she has finally gotten the go-ahead to transfer to Orlando from the Atlanta area. We got through the party and then it was time to turn our attention to finding a place for Nancy to rent. Although Bruce and I thought we'd found a super spot nearby, when Nancy and I visited there we were highly disappointed. What we have been reading about all year long, the high price of rent, not to mention the scarcity of apartments, was brought home in a big way. I even turned to Facebook, asking anyone if they had any leads. Bruce called an old friend from our market days who is a property manager and he did have a nearby one bedroom, however, while it was nice, Bruce and Nancy decided it was too small.
NOW WHAT? It is Friday afternoon and she is slated to leave the following day.
Let's just say a miracle occurred when we least expected it! Nan chided me on my non-optimistic nature which was entirely warranted! Well, dear readers, on the way home from lunch at Firebirds with her new manager, out of curiosity she decided to take a look at a home Maureen rented on Park Lake Street, probably 40 years ago. Turning the corner from said house, lo and behold, there was a for lease sign in the yard of the adjacent duplex. One of the most frustrating things about this whole apartment hunting business was that no one returned calls. That is, until the gentleman who owned the duplex answered his phone. He said he had a showing at 11 Saturday morning, but if Nancy wanted to come at 9:00 he would meet her there.
Naturally we could hardly wait and we both went to see if this was the one. BTW, it is across the street from the house pictured in color above!! I had just been roaming that street a week before!!
Talk about a Godsend! And you know what? The plot thickens. Turns out he has lived in Orlando pretty much all of his 80+ years and so we began talking about places and people we know. He'd just been to our friend Kim's Mom's funeral a week ago, he lives next door to the woman who was the head of HR at ORMC when I went to work there, and the list goes on. But the icing on the cake is.... when Nancy mentioned that our sister had rented the house behind the duplex and.....you guessed it! He owns that house too and was her landlord!! Both Nan and I almost burst into tears when he reminisced about Maureen. Paying the deposit with glee, she won't be back in town until her Atlanta apartment lease ends in mid-August. But what a relief to know she has a place to call home once she arrives!
Finally, in all this hubbub, I forgot Matt's 46th birthday! What Mother forgets her son's birthday you ask? This one, or at least almost! Actually, I remembered it too late to send a card to London, however, it will all work out in the end, or so I hope. While Bruce, Keith and Patty were dragging furniture around the pool deck, I called London and we had a nice Facetime chat. You can imagine that first thing I apologized profusely. BTW, it was raining while we were talking and Matthew kept reassuring me it would all be okay with the party. By golly, he was right! And he and Tom are back in the USA for a holiday, visiting friends in Boston, Chicago and Lancaster, PA.
All is well that ends well.
your friend,
Gail
No comments:
Post a Comment