At this year's roundup the lovely ladies that came were Lora/Magnolia Blossom, Lisa/Mangel, Sheila/Mi Being Mi, Brenda/bhawk, and Nicole/Soup Loving Nicole. Nicole also brought her husband, James, and Max, the dog. We also had Janice, a friend of Brenda's, who made Lisa feel right at home. I convinced my sister she should come too and she brought her husband. Terrie who was here last year wasn't able to make it but she did breeze thru, drop off goodies and pick up some Almond Grahams aka "Crack" that Lisa was kind enough to make. It really is an addictive recipe.
Let's start with the "perfect gifts". Back in November I decided to have the roundup over my birthday weekend so I could ease into the idea being 50. Geez when I was 18, 50 was pretty close to having one foot in the grave. What a surprise to find myself at this rather large numbered birthday! I didn't think it was fair to have the day just be about my birthday so I came up with an idea that I thought would include everyone's birthday. As with some of my ideas, the idea is sound but the execution is lacking. While my guys were boar hunting, I started my presents. Painted flower pots with herbs. Simple idea but I went a few steps farther. I used the zodiac to get the birthday girl's herb and color associated with the their month. I also ran across sayings that went with their month so I figured I'd stencil their names, birthdays and sayings on the pots. I thought the sayings were really neat because they seemed to fit. Lora's- "I Dream, I Believe". Brenda's- "I Feel". Lisa's- "I Have". Sheila's- "I Think". Nicole's- "I Will". That one is mine too and really seemed to fit because that's what I kept saying to myself while trying to get everything done for this year's roundup.
So what went wrong? To get the right colors I used the wrong paint on some and ended up redoing them because they ended up bubbling and looking warty. Then since I tried to pick from the herbs listed ones the ladies would like, I started from seed. Should have been a simple thing but all the pots got infested so I replanted 5 times. Deep sigh! Even then I had to change herbs and dig some out of my garden. What should have been big bushy wonderfully filled pots of herbs as you can see weren't. The ladies seemed to think it was a neat idea though. Not everything is pictured here but the gifts the ladies brought were perfect and very much appreciated!
Also, All Recipes Elizabeth surprised us with bags filled with goodies. From last year Lady Sparkle and What's for dinner, Mom?'s number 1 daughter had generously made enough gifts so I was able to give a washcloth and apron to Lisa and Nicole, our new attendees. With one apron left that went to my sister in her favorite print. So how perfect was that?!
Now the perfect flower filled and vegetable garden, yeah right. Only in my dreams. For what seemed like forever I weeded. Those of you that I regularly chat with may have noticed a marked decrease in emails from me. Don't think I forgot about you. Thinking of each of you, wondering how you were and what was going on with you gave me something to think about besides the scorching heat, bee stings and all day weed annhilation.
Even poor Bane got fed up with me working everyday in the gardens. That's my gardening glove in his mouth.
For the perfect party atmosphere I thought a signature drink was needed. One created just for us birthday girls and using fruits from Missouri. Have I ever done this before? Nope. Certainly didn't stop me from trying though. Let's just say it looks better than it tasted. Again deep sigh!
The perfectly pristine house we are not even going to talk about. Dear sweet Lora came in on Friday night and I listed what was again left to do. She was all for getting up at 6:00am and helping and she did. She even baked these delightful muffins for us to have for breakfast. Did I mention I left to go to dog obedience class that morning for an hour? Yep, I'm trying to be a responsible owner and get proper training for Bane and I. We have a wonderful trainer but one of the classes was scheduled the day of the roundup. Again deep sigh!
BBQ Dude was at his best this year. Although, I believe he miss timed getting some stuff on the smoker because he was busy talking with Nicole's husband. And perhaps an adult beverage or two.
It didn't matter. When you invite cooks to your home you are going to get some wonderful food. Not to mention a wonderful fleet of cooks willing to help on last minute food prep. They are even willing to risk getting yelled at by the head cook who probably should have had an adult beverage by then instead of worrying about perfection. Right, Brenda?
Just look at this deliciously ladden table. All the leftovers from the feast prompted my teen to say this the next day. "I have a different question for you tonight, Mom. What don't we have to eat?"
We were a decidedly lively bunch this year. One of us started fairly early with the adult beverages which then encouraged some of the others to join in. Lisa brought chocolate wine. Lora made the sangria that she had at Maui girl's roundup. Pretty soon the conversation was flowing and we were all acting like we had known each other forever. And yes, the party lasted well into the night. We talked about everything from food, pets and topics that, well, might be censorable. We decided what happens in the garden stays in the garden. Just like Vegas :)(:
I got 2 lovely and very thoughtful surprises yesterday. One of them had me squealing like a kid who had a pony arrive at her birthday party. I hope I didn't damage her hearing.
Just as all of us ladies were proceeding on a garden tour, my son came to the door with the phone and said, "There's a woman on the phone for you and she won't say who she is." Ok, so by this time I'd had some adult beverages too so I was really puzzled because everyone was here. I answered the phone and the lady asked how the party was going and who all was there and then she said, "Do you know who this is?" Well, no. "It's Laurie." That's when the squealing started. Last year she had sent me the sweetest cross stitched birthday card. This year has been so rough for them and so many others in New Zealand that I didn't expect anything from her. To say it was delightful to have her call me from tomorrow and finally hear her voice is an understatement. Some day I will see her in person. Then we got another call. This time from Maui girl. Too cool!!!!
The next morning the ladies that were left sat in the garden talking and blowing bubbles. We were supposed to do that the day before but we were too busy. The window in this picture came from an old house and has 2 poems on it that I really like. sueb gave me the idea for the starry windchime and I just had to have a picture of the bubbles floating past.
We discussed having the roundup at Brenda's next year so we could see her garden but she says she likes coming here. She also thinks Sheila will be likely to spend the night too at next year's roundup. Yep, the camper is that big.
So for all my imperfect plans what made the day so perfect? The people, of course. Those that came, called or were here in spirit.
I sincerely thank each and every one of you for my perfect day!
