A Grand Get-Together with the Garufis

For the past two weeks, Elliott and I, well, mainly Elliott, have been preparing the Blue House, because his parents and brother, Roger, with his girlfriend, Maureen, were visiting. All four of them were coming for lunch, and we'd be celebrating Roger's birthday as well as Father's Day. Much dusting, polishing, washing and tidying up ensued, in the house as well as the garden. When we were done, we defied a single speck of dust to land anywhere and the plants were ordered to remain upright and in full flower. The day was cloudy and overcast, yet thankfully, not too hot or humid. We were ready for inspection!

Elliott had shopped for seafood and was preparing, for the first time, paella. He chopped up octopus, which I preferred to not watch, among other sea critters and added kielbasa and chicken along with the rice and veggies and spices. It smelled divine.

 

I had made bread and the salad dressing, plus a rhubarb and ginger ice cream and a strawberry and chocolate ice cream. Elliott's mother was bringing the 'birthday cake', a locally baked pear tart. The table was laid, every place setting different, so guests could choose their 'spot', and the now permanent trees in the dining room were dressed up with crystal beads and tiny lights. Tricksie Treat and Rosie Lee made themselves scarce, all traces of fur were removed, and we were ready.

I was a little concerned about the 'crowd' arriving as our rooms are small, but once through the door, everybody moved and sidled around each other as if on well-oiled wheels. We showed them through the house, room by room, and then out into the back garden. Elliott and I grinned hugely as exclamations of delight and smiling eyes roved up and down the deck and raised beds, packed with blooming pots and growing veggies. Elliott has been doing a superb job of keeping the groundhogs at bay; there are now four of them that we have to contend with. We pointed out the bees and the pond and then Elliott showed them the now bare back fence, stripped of decades worth of ivy, and he seemed a little taller than usual as he puffed with pride at his most splendid achievement. But then a few drops of rain began to fall, so I left the group and scurried to grab handfuls of lettuce leaves from the beds, along with clumps of basil leaves, cilantro and nasturtium for our salad.

Lunch was simply superb. There were no fisticuffs over selecting places at the table, and by the time Elliott and I brought the food into the dining room, everyone was dutifully in place, with nary a scratch. Elliott's paella went down splendidly. The sides accompanied it well; plates were pushed away empty and glasses drained. Success! The delicious pear tart was brought in, which Roger shared out and even a couple of scoops of ice cream made it on to plates. It was such an enjoyable affair that I completely forgot to take any photos, but I borrowed one of Maureen's that she took of Renate and Larry. And damn, as I'm writing this, I realize, we never offered coffee afterwards! So I'm going to be squirming in my seat for the next few minutes while wondering, why did nobody demand this? I would have!

We sat and chatted, passed gifts to each other and just had a splendidly wonderful time. But time passes, and soon Elliott's parents were wanting to head home. They had not been impressed at the length of the journey from their home, and I sympathized with them. I make the infernal hundred mile round trip daily for work and so badly wish I didn't have to. And so everyone left. I had felt at ease immediately with Roger and Maureen, and just know there will be fun times ahead when they either come back down here or we travel to Vermont. We were sad to see everyone go, the time had flown by at Concorde speed. Elliott and I waved them off and then relaxed on the back deck with a beer before tackling the dishes.

The next morning we were up early to drive to Elliott's parent's house and see off Roger and Maureen before their long drive to Vermont. Elliott's mother is a master at entertaining, the table looked wonderful and breakfast was served, coddled eggs with croissants, fresh bread, jams and fresh fruit. We all chatted for a while, trying not to be conscious of the time, and Roger and Maureen's imminent departure. At our home, we had brought up taking family group photos but forgotten about it, but today, we made sure they were taken.

The Garufi family posed alone, Larry holding his Father's Day cards, and then Maureen and I joined the group. Roger sat with his mother and showed her photos of childhood possessions he had at home which needed explanations, and Renate remembered every single one.  Roger and Maureen wanted to get going, and I didn't envy their journey. We all said goodbye to Larry and Renate, and then Elliott and I followed his brother downstairs, where we hugged, looking forward to the next time we meet.

Elliott and I headed towards home but stopped at a small park that I used to frequent when I lived at Meadow House. There was only one other car and we didn't pass anyone on our walk around the lake. We had planned on hiking through the park's trails on the other side of the road but the sun was burning so hot that we decided to save that for another day. We saw a red-winged blackbird and an egret, butterflies and dragonflies, beautiful flowers, and enjoyed the country silence and the fresh, floral fragrance, and then collapsed, relieved, into the car. We drove home and relaxed instead on our blue deck under a blue roof with a fan above us brushing our hot skin with cool, balmy breezes. So lovely to rest and unwind after such a fun-filled weekend.