The Day After - September 8th
09/08/2009
Yesterday, Labor Day 2009, we held our second Annual Labor Day Cookout at The Farm. The Nancy and I planned for up to fifty guests, and shared our day with about thirty-five to forty of those we invited. Mostly adults with a sprinkling of kids, it was a mixed bag, for sure – mostly people from The Nancy’s office. We also had friends we have made at our favorite Beautiful Downtown Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, restaurant, that being the famous Lot 12, and a few neighbors. Of course, out where we live we only have a few neighbors.
The Nancy and I own a Jeep Wrangler, kind of a “farm use” vehicle. In the warm months I take the doors and the side curtains off, making for a breezy ride, and the kids that come always ask for a ride in the Jeep. Yesterday I must have made a dozen or so trips through the field trails with squealing, excited kids bouncing up and down as much as their seatbelts would allow. One young man asked me to just go just “medium fast.” Some others wanted to go as fast as we could go. In those fields thirty miles an hour feels like traveling at the speed of sound. I think they enjoy all the bumping and the openness and the wind blowing in their little faces. I just enjoy listening to their excitement.
One of our guests is somewhat of a local enigma in Berkeley Springs. He’s a local attorney who reportedly could have funded the Stimulus Package out of his savings, though you would probably guess by his appearance couldn’t afford a haircut or decent clothing. I like the guy, but he always looks as though he slept in his clothes and lacks personal hygiene, and certainly could not own a comb or brush from the look of his hair. He drives a car that appears to have been in a demolition derby; it has dents and dings from bumper to bumper. Eccentric hardly describes him, but it does fit.
We put the food inside and the drinks outside. A circle of chairs wrapped around the big maple tree just outside the porch door, and that is where nearly everyone stayed. The kids couldn’t decide whether to be outside or inside, that is if they weren’t bugging me for another Jeep ride. We all managed to fill our stomachs with salads, burgers, hotdogs and ribs, and a host of other dishes – hot and cold, and loads of cakes, pies and other sweets. You might guess some beer and wine was consumed, and more than a few sodas for the kids.
It’s fun to have people at our home. We love it. This group started coming at two and the last to leave made it off the property just after dark. Today is a school day, so we knew most people would be out of there fairly early, and that allowed for The Nancy and I to get it all put back together before we crashed in the bed. A party like this is a lot of work, a lot of prep, but it is really a whole lot of fun and really tiring. Neither of us had a bit of trouble falling a sleep or staying asleep, and we decided this morning a third Annual Labor Day Cookout will definitely be held in 2010. Plan to be there, if you can?
And that is all I have to say about that…