4th of July

Well ... not far off. It was difficult to plan our independence day party this year because S has been away so much, with more absences to come. This week was the only window of opportunity, so we went for it. 

"Let's invite fewer people this year," we said, though we really enjoyed last year's very large gathering. We drew up a guest list of 20, expecting that some people wouldn't be able to come. Then we added a  few more people. Then various people said they had family staying, and could they come? "Sure", we replied. Then some had visiting friends. We ended up with 24 adults and five children, did the shopping and then randomly agreed to some more guests. Our food supplies were looking a bit scanty, but we knew several people would bring food, and after all we'd described it as an apéro gourmand, not dinner.

Our other problem was the weather. It's been windy all week, and the forecast was for gusts of up to 60 km/h. The afternoon gossipmongers who normally sit on the bench outside our door tried several spots around the square before settling on the little placette at the side of our house as being the most sheltered. So we followed their lead and put the tables there instead of in the more picturesque location of the fountain. It still was windy with some massive gusts, but it wasn't cold and our stack of blankets was not needed.

I can't tell you how many people we ended up with because I didn't count them, but it must have been close to thirty adults plus six children. Of course the catering was fine; we brought it out a little at a time. Salads and dips followed by tarts of various sorts, a massive cheeseboard on which everyone descended like vultures, lots of bread, then S disappeared indoors and returned, to everyone's astonishment, with mini skewers of marinated pork and chicken. Having only calculated enough meat for 20 or so people we decided to go tiny, and serve it late when everyone was already fairly full. And finally, a groaning table of desserts just to finish them off.

It was a manic evening; after an hour or so I realised I'd only eaten a slice of tomato tart and a tiny bit of frittata, because I was so busy rushing back and forth. And as for my drink, I kept putting it down and not being able to find it again. I did eventually sit down and have some food and drink though. It was all very convivial and once it got a bit too chilly everyone pitched in to help tidy up, so it was done in a trice. Bed ... 1 a.m. Exhausting! Just as well it's only once a year.

I only took two photos, when someone reminded me -- the other in extras.