nostalgic
drarwenchicken's graduation! It went fabulously well, and I meant to write a long post about it, but it's been over a week since it happened, and who can remember things clearly that happened more than a week ago? You see my point. Here's what I recall...
Much of the weekend revolved around the preparation and consumption of food. Friday, it was breakfast at Zells with
holyhippie, Valkyrie and the kids. I went to work, then we met back at Old Wives Tales for dinner and waited for the rest of the group to arrive. Then drawenchicken called; Amtrak was running HOURS late, she'd wait at the station, but we should go ahead and order. Eventually she showed up with the parents, but by the time we got out of there, it was fast approaching my bedtime. Saturday, I went to the home of drarwenchicken & J, where my parents were staying. We engaged in the long, slow process of getting everybody fed and the kitchen cleaned-up after. Once that was done, it was about time for me to go to the airport to pick up StoneCarrier (my older brother), and we then embarked on a non-food errand. We had to buy a hat. Really. StoneCarrier had lost his good hat, and Stockton apparently no longer had any stores to buy a dress hat (baseball caps are still available). We tried Lloyd Center, where one can buy hats at one of the little kiosks below the food court, but they didn't have any of the proper size and style. A nice clerk at the men's suit store directed us to the place to buy hats: John Helmer Haberdasher. (I like that they sell top hats to Viking helmets from their website). We Maxed to downtown, and got to see the pre-parade crowds staking out their spots on the sidewalks. Once there, it was only a matter of a couple minutes to find the exact make and model of hat he wanted (the model is actually a man's name, so I spent the weekend telling people that StoneCarrier bought a hat named "Glen.")
The next event was the graduation part at Red Wing Café (not a random choice, it's owned by J's cousin, J). Both J's family and our family were there, as well as some of drawenchicken's friends, and everybody got along quite nicely. The food was great, and everyone could eat it (the focus on food in my family isn't because we're gormands or epicures. Many people in my family have food allergies, sensitivities or other health-related restrictions. I believe the only food item that everyone can eat is turnips, and not everyone likes them that much. So food decisions always involve making sure that the menu includes options for everyone. Having a party where everyone could eat more than one food item is a major triumph.)
Next time... Graduation!
