The Wearin' o' the Green

Dave Syferd, Carol Anderson, Van Strom

Last evening, Ken and I were looking forward to joining friends at a St. Patrick's Day dinner party.  Ken asked me several times during the day what time we were going to the party and I looked at my calendar and responded that we needed to leave at around 5:30 pm in order to arrive at around 6:00 pm which was when the party was starting.  We puttered around during the day getting projects done that needed to be done looking forward to the get-together until it was time to don our appropriate green attire and go to the party.

Nancy Strom, Spike Anderson, Joyce McCallum

Ken was having trouble getting the buttons on his green shirt in the buttonholes (too much starch!) so we left a few minutes late, but there was little traffic and we arrived at 6:05 pm.  We didn't ring the doorbell but just walked in and hearing voices headed into the kitchen where we found the rest of the guests all sitting at the table with empty plates that they had just finished eating!  I said, "Are we late?" which we obviously were, but was very surprised since I thought we were only five minutes late.

Leeks, white tulips, kale and Waterford Colleen crystal

It turned out that the rest of the guests had arrived at 4:00 pm which is when the hostess had asked us to come.  Somehow, I had missed updating my calendar with that information and wanted to believe that I hadn't gotten the message.  However, when I looked at my email later at home, I saw that I was the one that made the mistake.  My bad!

The table was set with sparkling Waterford Colleen crystal which is one of my favorite patterns and the centerpiece was an artful arrangement of leeks, white tulips and kale.  Happily, our host and hostess replaced additional chairs at the table for us to join them and we microwaved some delicious corned beef, parsnips, turnips, carrots, potatoes, and red cabbage and we ate while the rest of the group regaled us with stories.  Delicious!

Ken & Cathi Hatch

Van Strom and Trudi Syferd

One of the very best stories was one that Spike Anderson shared that had us all laughing out loud and wiping tears from our eyes about when he and Carol were first dating and he decided to take her to the San Juan Islands with an open cockpit fifteen foot boat.  It involves destroying the propeller, running aground, losing his car keys, a locksmith who had a recent stroke, the boat falling off the trailer, and a hippie in a muu muu with no underwear who helped them.  I can't do justice in repeating the story, but it is one that if you can get him to share it with you, it is hilarious!

The other St. Pat's Day celebrants included Joyce & Doug McCallum, Trudi & Dave Syferd, and Nancy & Van Strom.  Everyone had a wonderful with the "wearin' o' the green".  And by the way, though Nancy insisted she was wearing green, she was really wearing turquoise!