Still Celebrating

Friday Night Dinner

Thursday night's concert and fireworks display was exciting and that excitement meant I couldn't fall asleep until 5:30 a.m. on Friday!  As a result, I slept all morning on Friday!

In the afternoon, daughter tidied up the house and I dusted and vacuumed, as we had invited my late friend A's family to dinner.  The afternoon was quite warm with the high being 97F ("feels like 99F" according to the weather report) and I must admit that I found it tiring (in contrast, today, Saturday, the high was 87F and I've felt quite comfortable).  Yesterday reminded me why I generally don't entertain in the summer!  It's just too hot!  But, with daughter helping me, we got all the dinner preparations done.  

M was here in the evening to tend to the garden and he watered and weeded and planted the raspberry canes in a wooden box a tree had been delivered to one of his other clients.  I had made some peach lemonade and M enjoyed a glass of it before he left.  

Our friends arrived shortly after 8:00 p.m. and the house had cooled off to a fairly comfortable level, with two stand fans set up in the living room and the doors and windows open.  

I served tortilla chips and potato chips as a snack and everyone opted for the peach lemonade instead of the sparkling apple cider that was also offered.  

When it was time for dinner, one of A's daughters said a lovely prayer of thanksgiving for friendship, for gathering together, remembering those who were no longer present and times past and looking forward to continuing friendships in the future, and I said a few words of remembrance of my friend.  

For dinner, we had rice, chicken curry, cashew curry, dhal, sauteed green beans (which my daughter cooked), and homemade tomato chutney.  I had prepared a spicy sauteed potato dish, too, but, I had kept it in the fridge and we forgot all about it until after dinner was over and our friends had left!  Oops!  I don't have an automatic ice dispenser in my fridge/freezer and the tray of ice I had made was buried under bags of frozen blueberries and peaches.  So, we put several bottles of water to cool and just kept the bottles on the table.  I had stacked the plates at one end of the table and kept the flatware near the plates; the girls then placed the plates on the table and put the flatware on the plates.  We didn't pull the table out from the wall and the three girls sat in a row on one side.  Everyone enjoyed the meal and we had  two flavors of ice cream for desser. 

Afterwards, I served some of the leftovers into containers (old yogurt containers that I had saved), added a new jar of tomato chutney, and gave them to take home.  I told them that I didn't need the containers back, so, that's 5 containers decluttered!  Friend A's older daughter's birthday had been at the end of June, so, we gave her the birthday gifts we had bought and made for her.  

I was feeling tired by the end of the evening and daughter put away the leftovers for me (which was when we realized that the dish of sauteed potatoes was still in the fridge) and loaded the dishwasher.  

Today, Saturday, daughter and I relaxed in the morning.  In the afternoon, we went to pick up two new stand fans that we had ordered.  The stand fans I have been using are over 20 years old (probably more like 25 years old) and while they both work, one is broken at the base and I've duct taped it to the stand and the plastic casing around the motor has a big piece broken off.  The other fan no longer holds the angle it is set at and the part with the fan blades tilts down and the wire cage knocks against the stand and makes a racket that sounds like a helicopter taking off!  So, yesterday, we ordered two new stand fans and today, we went and picked them up at the store.  One store was all out of them and the other store had only five left, but, we were able to purchase two of them.  They were on sale for 15% off and each fan cost a little under $28, including sales tax, which I thought was reasonable, although I don't think that they will last for 25 years!.

Then, we went to the grocery store and daughter went inside to pick up another half gallon of milk ($2.79), a pint of half and half ($2.69_, and a dozen mini croissants ( $4.29; I had a $0.70 off digital coupon for them).  My total came to $9.77, bringing my July grocery spending to date up to $80.08.

We had croissant sandwiches (with salmon and lettuce as the filling) for a late afternoon brunch.  

I did a load of laundry, watered portions of the back garden, gave Dancer his flea prevention medications, and called friend R to check on her.  Later in the evening, after it had cooled down, daughter and I went for a very short walk, just up and down our driveway and along the sidewalk.  Today, I developed a slight pain in my side, so, I stopped after less than 10 minutes of walking.  Don't ask me how I managed the walk up the incline on Thursday.

The neighbors are having another birthday party, but, the music is not as loud.  They are also sending up fireworks (which are illegal within city limits).

Tonight's dinner will be leftovers from last night.

I am grateful for:

- Being able to have friend A's family over to dinner
- Daughter's help with all the preparations and cleaning up, afterwards
- M's help with the garden
- Being able to order and pick up new fans
- Getting in even a short walk

My joyful activities have including having friends to dinner and spending time with daughter.

Plans for tomorrow include going to see daughter's friend who had a baby at the end of June.  Afterwards, daughter said she will need to pack.  She will work from home on Monday and fly back to Berkeley in the evening.

How is your weekend coming along?