I kept a journal from the seventh grade through sometime in the early days of having kids. There is a wooden box with notebooks full of daily entries, stashed under a desk upstairs. I always think if we have a fire, that is one of the first things I will rescue. Since the advent of the computer, I have wrestled with maintaining that handwritten routine, and it is basically lost. I have moved on to other record-keeping modes, mostly shared now. I still have one notebook that I write in about once every few months, whenever I get a twinge of Not Enough Journal Writing, but mostly I just use a keyboard nowadays and push the "publish" button.
This morning I woke up feeling like I should write down what happened yesterday, so I will use this postcard blog to do that, and I may use this venue from time to time as a journal.
Saturday, May 16, 2015
It gets light so early now that waking up by 5:30 is easy. Arrived at the stand before 6 and found Becky and Carrie loading the market vans, everything in order. Three vans rolled out on time and I went to visit the pigs. These pigs are so personable, I just have to go into the pen and scratch their ears almost every time I see them. Home for breakfast and to see how the preparations were going. Alissa was getting started on dessert items, Jon was making a list for shopping. I went out to pick radishes and beet thinnings that we didn't pick yesterday for Takoma Park and eventually Carrie and ML came out to join me. We finished picking all the tidbits, I picked a crate of lettuce for the lunch, delivered it to the Common House and washed it in the big sink. We got a message from Lucy saying she was all out of spinach at Falls Church so I stole three crates from the TP pile and delivered them to her, telling ML he could pick some more for tomorrow.
Went to the Common House to check on Jon. He had one big chick pea salad all finished, Becca was cutting up vegetables for tabouli, he assigned me the green salad. When Anna and Gordon arrived to set up the tables etc. I said to Anna: we forgot to think about flowers. Gordon took over the salad prep and I headed out on my golf cart to gather up some lilacs, sage flowers, chives flowers, rye grass -- not much blooming out there but enough. It was getting very hot out and I had to pick fast. Went back and filled up eight vases, put them on the tables that Anna had arranged with tablecloths and napkins. Anna set up the scrapbooking table, Jon and Gordon started cleaning up the kitchen.
Anna said I had to change my clothes because I looked like the kitchen help, so I went back home. It was way too hot for blue jeans anyway. Alissa and Rebecca were putting the finishing touches on the German chocolate cake, taking the lemon bars out of the pan, pouring a glaze over the Apple cake that had fallen (as is traditional -- last year Alissa made a "mud slide" that was delicious). We carried the dishes to the Common House where the guests were arriving.
We were on a tight schedule because Mom had to leave by 2:15 for a final rehearsal for her concert (she discovered her concert was in the afternoon, not the evening, about two days ago and we had to tighten up our party plans). There were about 45 guests who pretty much all knew each other -- over time all the circles overlap. We ate cold salmon with delicious sour cream dip, saffron rice, those salads. At 1:45 Anna banged on a glass and said that if anyone wanted to share any thoughts or birthday wishes with Mom, this was the time. In 20 minutes, lovely thoughts were shared by her personal trainer, a longtime fellow book club member, people who had worked for her, Maria who said her own children think of my mother as Grandma, her grandchildren. As ML said later, it was so nice because no one thinks she is dying or going anywhere soon, so no one had to say all that could be said -- these were appreciations that were small glimpses, not speeches. There is a longstanding family tradition of putting candles on a cake that pose an arithmetic problem (like Challenge 24) -- Alissa and Jon had decided to make it simple so Grandma wouldn't have to struggle in front of such a big crowd. They put groups of 4 and 4 and 5 and 5. We light the candles and then the birthday girl figures out how the candles get to the age (80 in this case) and then we all cheer and they blow out the candles. Grandma did the math, and Susan and Chip's grandson Julian dashed in at the last minute to help her finish blowing out the candles. Large cheer.
Minor interlude of clean-up, wrapping up the market loads (thanks to Becky and Carrie), I had a 10 minute nap on the hammock because all the cousins were filling every space in the living room.
Then we piled into a car and went to the concert. Mom and grandson Michael and Jim all sing with the Vienna Choral Society, and Michael had a solo early in the program so we had to be on time. This group has concerts four times a year which is a heavy load for both singers and family members who attend loyally. The choir director, who is wonderful, has a personal mission to make her concerts meaningful to the community. This sometimes means that her musical choices are not the best, as she tries to squeeze her mission in with the music. This was another one of those concerts. The theme was "heroes" and, as the kids all said in the car afterwards, the definition of heroes was not very nuanced. As audience members, I think the row of grandchildren was a very tough group: heavily politicized, deeply aware of current events, a bit sarcastic, and music lovers too. But loyal as the day is long to their grandmother and brother/cousin and father/uncle. My own assessment was that this program would have been perfect for a Disney cruise. The singers are all prepared, the accompaniment is great, the director is energized, it's just the music and theme this time that made us squirm.
At least it rained a lot while we were in the church. We needed the rain badly.
As soon as we got home, Jon and I left for NVHC. We were an hour late for the Silent Auction but we didn't really mind. This is the ninth auction and we now go more out of duty than out of huge interest. I did want to see how my donation was going: "Want To Learn to Drive a Tractor?" It was going great. People were trying to outbid each other up to the end. After the silent auction came dinner and the live auction. Our table was only half full, as Nell had gone back to South Carolina to be with her mother (seems these are the last days) and Libby was sick and Seldon didn't feel up to coming and Helen stayed home with him. Anyway, we had dinner and enjoyed Rob J's final round of auctioneering. He has thrown his heart and soul into that role, and it is very hard to imagine the auction without him. He is so un-humble it is amazing. In the end, we spent money on a raffle ticket (didn't win), a donation to the Forest Edge food program, and one gift certificate to a restaurant that we have been to once that was okay. I will try to find someone to give it to, as Jon hates gift certificates.
Came home to find all the cousins talking and laughing and watching movies, filling the house with their hilarious, happy presence. They get together so infrequently now that they really are intentional about the time they spend in one big pile. Only Benjamin was missing. There is always someone abroad these days.
Went upstairs and fell into bed, to the sounds of Stephen's booming laugh and Rebecca's responding shrieks. All is well in this small world.
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