We Gather.

 Time rushes by, doesn't it? 

Thursday, we drove to Buffalo and picked up my youngest daughter from the airport. The traffic was hairy, but the old folks did alright. 

Friday and Saturday rushed by in a flurry of activity. People coming in. Meet ups. Food prep. 

My youngest daughter spent the next 3 nights in town to maximize her time with nieces and nephew, and siblings too. 

The reception went well and was a pleasant celebration. I am sure glad we pushed so hard to make it happen indoors. It was 53° and raining. Not a day anyone wanted to sit in an outdoor pavillion. It was nice though, and a chance to meet my son in law's family. Being a merry prankster, he showed up in a shirt he had ordered special for the occasion. It said, "I am my mother in law's favorite child." (After the laughter died down, I offered to give him back. His family said there was a no return policy.)

I had bought the flowers from Mattie's greenhouse. She also made 5 dozen rolls and the girls churned butter for us. They were a huge hit. People were able to take the hanging baskets from their tables. Even still, I ended up with three baskets at my house. They really were just gorgeous.

As mentioned, I made 20 lbs of barbecued chicken, 20 lbs of garlic chicken and about 30 lbs of ham. To my relief, everything was very good. I am nervous about things like this because if there is to be a disaster of any sort, it will happen at an important day. I was a little more nervous than usual because the day had actually started out with a power outage.  I had three large roasters plugged in and everything blinked off. It was only for a few minutes, but oh, people! I nearly had a heartattack!

After that clean up/packing up, we were glad to get back to our little house and end the day relaxing...after dividing the left over meat up into single serve packages for the freezer and scrubbing out the roasters. 

Sunday, Tim went to church. I spent the morning getting ready for dinner here. The kids and their families and their dad were all coming here for an old family comfort food: homemade pepperoni rolls, or as my oldest granddaughter called it, 'inside out pizza'. 11 for dinner.

Because the day was not busy enough, I found a find. Someone I knew was selling an old fashioned oak table, 3 feet wide, 6 feet long. I knew it was perfect for our kitchen space. It was 40 min away. Tim grumbled, but as soon as he got home from church, I left my dough to rise and we headed off with the truck. For all of Tim's grumbling, he fell in love just as soon as he saw it. It is Amish made and extremely heavy. 

We got that home, the old enamel table to the basement. It will double the work area at the meat cutting station. The new table went in, and I was rolling out dough on it when people walked in the door. We don't have a lot of counter space and this was a beautifully functional addition.

Monday morning started with a huge breakfast send off at my sister's. I made a strata. She made a breakfast casserole and monkey bread. Fresh fruit and plenty of coffee, juice and milk completed that. 15 at the table that morning. We said our goodbyes there and Dylan and his family left for home.

Cara is now sleeping here. She is a very avid 'rambler' and belongs to a club back in the UK. She does 15 mile rambles and thinks nothing of it. We have walked over 20 miles in 3 days at Oil Creek Park. They have 35 miles of trails, but some of those trails were little more than deer paths, literally. We were walking on steep paths with sheer drops. She may have thought nothing of this, but it was challenging for Tim and I. We got it done, I am proud to say. Yesterday was 7.2 miles.

It is an off day for walking. Cara has business to take care of before she heads back home. Tim is chauffeuring. I am going to get my garden beds planted this morning. This afternoon, I am making homemade pizza. My sister and Cara and I will play a ruthless game of scrabble after.

Tomorrow is Friday already. Cara will spend the afternoon at my nephew's house. We will meet up with Dylan and the girls on Saturday at Bald Eagle Park which is almost precisely half way between our house and theirs. We will have a picnic and go hiking once more. 

We watched three good movies here in the evenings. Remarkably Bright Creatures. Thursday Murder Club. Grandma. Light and enjoyable.

We will be driving Cara back to Buffalo airport Monday morning. I am trying to hold on to these precious days but they trickle through my fingers like water.