A post in which it is a very busy Sunday

I was up in time to call Russ this morning, and he was up and around when I called. He came by he house to pick me up on the way to Anderson and brought coffee. Yay. There wasn't a whole lot of stuff there, but there was more than the last time I went. Even at 10am or so though, people were packing up to go home because it was so hot.

I ran across a pink Bubble bowl that I wanted. It was so pretty, and Justin has one that I admire. This is apparently a not uncommon vegetable bowl, but it is one of the few pieces of this pattern commonly found in pink. I turned it down at $10 (I only had about $25 with me), but when she marked it down to $8 I couldn't resist.

"Bubble" 8 1/2" vegetable bowl in pink by Anchor Hocking, circa 1934 -1965. For some reason the color is a bit off in this picture. My bowl is a nice soft Depression pink.

Russ had decided that we would go to Jeff and James's house for dinner tonight, which suited me fine. It's been too long since I've seen them. He also wanted guacamole (or avocado dip - I have kind of drifted from the traditional guac recipe) so we picked up some avocados before we left. We were kind of in a hurry, and the woman was kind of crowding me, but they seemed OK. She also hosed us on some cilantro and overcharged.

Russ dropped me at my place about noon. I had a bunch of stuff to do today because I was worthless yesterday, but Russ told me to go ahead and do my stuff and get a nap (evenings at Jeff & James's tend to run late) and he and Billy would call later and tell me when to come over. I decided I would get done what absolutely had to be done, and do the rest next week. I was not going to miss a visit to stay home and do chores. Especially with as much time as I've been spending by myself lately.

I spent about an hour putting the ratatouille in the crock pot and lay down for about an hour. The phone rang at 2:12. "You can be here in about an hour right?" I agreed, somewhat incoherently, then hung up the phone and started to panic. I hadn't even made the guac yet. I had to call back and beg for a bit more time.

I finished up the ratatouille, cooked the rice to go with it, and wrestled the guac together. The avocados we bought didn't seem ripe enough for me and I had a hard time getting the pits out without tearing them all to pieces. Additionally, the cilantro we bought had obviously been out in the sun all day yesterday and was pretty pitiful. She had put two bunches together to make them look better, which was why it was too expensive. I kind of picked through it and got the guac made. I was at Russ and Billy's by about 4pm, which I thought was pretty damn good.

It is always good to see Jeff and James, plus Amanda was there (I adore me some Amanda), and Morgan and Corbin were there as well (they were the boy/girl couple that came tubing - I now find that they aren't quite together, but that's another story). As usual J&J put out quite a spread. A lovely carrot souffle, homemade potato salad, BBQ chicken breasts for them, and grilled portobellos for Morgan and I (she's pesce as well). Russ and Billy had brought along a fruit torte for dessert, and I had the guac for an appetizer. The guacamole didn't turn out to be the disaster I feared, and indeed almost all of it was eaten.

Jeff has apparently been wanting to put a pool in, and James is against the idea (which I can understand). Russ had picked up a wading/paddle pool for them last night at Kmart, kind of as a joke. It actually turned out to be a lot of fun. We filled it up and sat around with our paddies in the water, yakking.

Corbin and Jeff

Moi, huge ivory thighs ablaze - thank goodness the sun wasn't out!

Amanda, Russ, and Jeff. Can't you just feel how thrilled Amanda is to be having her picture made?

After supper and a bit of time on the porch, True Blood came on, which was kind of the reason for the get-together. Russ and Billy came up to watch the show with J&J. I wasn't thrilled about being in Spartanburg until 10pm on a school night to watch a program I'm not that crazy about (I've read all the books the show is based on, and the show kind of vaguely pisses me off) anyway, but I'm not going to be a spoilsport. Plus it was worth missing some sleep to see everyone. I sat down to watch.

About halfway through, I looked up, and both Russ and Billy had gone outside on the deck. I was like whatever.

When the program was over, it was time to start thinking about heading home. So we did. It was a lovely evening though, and I was so glad to see everyone. I had a great time. It was well worth dragging a bit tomorrow.