". . . little shall I grace my cause

In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,

I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver . . ."

(William Shakespeare's Othello, I.iii.88-90)

Monday, August 11, 2008

Play Date

Some of my Lutheran homeschooling friends came over to play this weekend. We had a great time. Friday afternoon I picked up Lora at the train and we came home to a supper of spaghetti with pesto sauce, tabouli salad, and cantaloupe. The basil for the pesto and parsley & tomatoes for the tabouli salad were grown in my very own garden!


Later the rest of our group arrived: Melody & her daughter Mary, Barb K., and Jenny J. It was my first time to meet Barb! What a treat--she was just like I imagined her to be. We stayed up well past everyone's usual bedtime, enjoying brilliant and witty conversation (these are some of the smartest women I know) as well as chocolate and a little Riesling.

Saturday included knitting,

more knitting,

yet more knitting,

a trip to the Farmer's Market (or is that Farmers' Market?),



browsing in the bookstore,


Mongolian barbecue (the big blur in the middle is the cook's knives flying through the air),

and trips to Hobby Lobby and Michael's along with some Monty Python DVD's and yes, more talking. We also did some singing around the piano. It wouldn't be a Lutheran gathering without a little hymn singing, right?

It also wouldn't be a Lutheran gathering without everyone bringing food. And what great food it was: Jenny had the same idea as I did and brought some of her homemade pesto as well, along with homemade preserves and Greek salad; Barb contributed homemade hummus; and Melody brought BBQ brisket and homemade bread-and-butter pickles. We gave Lora a pass on bringing food since she had to ride the train! (She earned her "keep" by being the resident knitting coach.)

Sunday morning was Southwestern style crock pot eggs (with farm fresh eggs from Melody's hens and peppers from my garden) followed by church, lunch back at home, a little more knitting, and finally, goodbyes. Here's a photo of our whole group taken by our waitress on Saturday. Pictured from left to right are Lora, Barb, Cheryl, Evan, Mary, Caitlin, Melody and Jenny. My guess is that in the very near future some of those pictured here will be posting their own write-ups and photos.
You know, our pet name for this gathering is "Mamapalooza" because it is a gathering of "Mamas." But we could have called it a "Blogapalooza" since everyone pictured below has his or her own blog (including the four-year-old, although he does get a little help from his mom)!

It was a weekend to remember, and I can't wait for the next one!

10 comments:

Susan said...

Hey, in that one picture at the Farmers Market, is Jenny holding a torpedo onion? I'd never seen nor heard of such a thing until they started showing up in my farm co-op boxes a couple of weeks ago. Seems funny to be seeing one in your pictures (if that's what it is).

Cheryl said...

Actually, no, it's a miniature eggplant (not sure if it has another name. Help, Jenny?)

Elephantschild said...

I'm sure it has some pinched-nose Frenchy name. ::snicker::

I've got no clue what it would be. They sure were cute, weren't they?

Wolf Pack said...

Would zat be zee eegplant mini?

I'm SO jealous that you all got to knit! I've been trying to get better at it but never seem to have time. Hmmmm maybe I need to convince Kay that we need to leave the boys to their fathers and run off and knit!

Glad you all had fun!
In Christ
Jenn at Bull Run

Marie N. said...

What fun! I envy your good time!

Michelle said...

Looks like tons of fun! Wish I could have joined you! My husband got an email on THURSDAY that said he could put in 7 hours any time during that week for his "Friday workday". If he had gotten that email earlier - maybe I could have joined in the fun! DARN!!!! Love the timely notification for my husband!

Glad you all had a wonderful visit and safe trips home!

Jane said...

Soooo jealous. :)

RPW said...

It was wonderful....can't wait to try the eggplant tomorrow!!!

Genuine Lustre said...

Barb is just Miss Popularity this summer, isn't she??!! Wish I was there. Luckeeeee ( said in Napoleon Dynamite voice).

Lotzastitches said...

Looks like a great time! I would have loved to be there!