Well, we had a big (for us) party for Memorial Day . . . the Memorial Day part was incidental, really - the Big Deals are that May 28 is Stephanie's birthday, May 29 is Emil's birthday, and May 31 is Charlie's birthday. Oh, and David graduated from high school this year . . .

So, since Steph is over from England (until tomorrow), we managed to gather the whole crew for a brunch barbecue. The crew even included Richard's mother, in from California.

For the past couple of weekends (and much of the week, for me), we've been preparing the back yard. Emil laid more bricks, so we now have a path around the pond, with a bench where you can sit and watch the fish (six small goldfish, and Big Fish from the aquarium in the basement) and drink your morning coffee . . . We planted a new peony (can you ever have too many?) and a beautiful purple and white iris, which I'm hoping will multiply quickly . . . I got the bed between the driveway and the house planted with petunias, and we finally put up the hose keeper, so the hose doesn't have to either pile in a knot in the corner of the yard or be stretched out in unsightly fashion . . . The bed with the gazing ball now has a big yellow dahlia as well as some blue things I got from Louise, and some pinks, and other things I don't know the name of . . . lavender flowers and pink flowers, though. I'm really getting into having these splashes of color all over. I love playing with color.

So the sunroom just sort of naturally opens out to the yard this time of year, and you have the feeling that the back yard is just another room in the house. The weather was perfect to accentuate that impression today - mid-60s, blue sky and fluffy clouds, and no humidity (which was remarkable, considering we woke up to rain). I served brunch buffet-style on the dining room table, and people carried their plates out to the yard to eat. Oddly enough, we seem to have had a "children's table" - the younger generation (not a one of them a child any longer) sat at the picnic table, and the older generation(s) sat by the pond.

I think the food was well-received; I can never tell at these gatherings because I'm too preoccupied with preparing and serving it - but I liked it, anyway. We opened with mimosas and cheese and crackers. Then we had two kinds of quiche - broccoli and cheddar, and roasted red pepper/asparagus/goat cheese. There were grilled veggies marinated in various things (the crowd is predominantly vegetarian), two kinds of salad (tossed, and my mother's tomato-and-onion - served in the very bowl she used to serve it in - always the same bowl, you know), and lamb kafta and burgers for the meat-eaters. Then banana bread, ice cream, a fruit and custard tart, coffee, tea . . .

And people exchanged presents. I think the presents were well-received, too . . . Presents this year were a friggin' nightmare. Virtually all of our initial forays were met with frustrations of one kind or another. My principal gift to Emil was Linux software for his negative scanner, and it took me nearly a full week to figure out how to get it . . . Our gift plans for David went through three or four transmogrifications because his gift from his parents changed. I wanted to get Steph a photo-uploading service based in the UK, and I found one - but it's free, so that wouldn't work as a gift . . . and I couldn't remember if she wanted classical music for the tin whistle or Irish music for the recorder . . . we were going to get both, but there's no such thing as classical music for the tin whistle . . . and on and on and on.

But, of course, everything turned out just fine. It was a very nice day, all in all. Richard's mother said several times that the house was cozy, and she asked questions about the sunroom (like, what were its dimensions) that made me think she was wishing she could add one to her house. Kathy also mentioned more than once that she found the back yard really pleasant, and she stationed herself where she could watch the fish . . .

And now we've got a pleasantly clean house and lots of leftovers. We're both basking in a happy post-party glow and are getting ready to watch Vanilla Sky, one of Emil's presents from Steph . . .

I wish we had such gatherings more frequently!