Despite my fears, the Neighbors Night Out open carport was a great success. We didn't get a huge number of people (and all the people who hate us didn't come), but a decent enough number that they filled the carport, so it looked like we had a big group.
Walt did yeoman's duty getting ready. My part was easy--fixing the food and writing my review for Damn Yankees. Always afraid there won't be enough food, I made chocolate chip cookies, sun dried tomato pesto (which turned out GREAT), and clam dip ('cause you can't have a party without clam dip, you know). I also bought a bit of Boursin cheese, which I had at the winery the night we had our DCN board meeting. And I made my grandmother's parmesan cheese/scallion broiled appetizers.
While I was doing the kitchen-y stuff, Walt was washing all the chairs on the patio and cleaning up the carport to make it look all pretty. Last week he had washed the walls and repainted it so it all looked nice and fresh.
We moved out what I've come to call "the dog table," the narrow table that goes behind the couch, which Lizzie has claimed as her perch from which she watches folks walk by. I figured I'd use it for the fruit punch. Sheila was so funny because she sleeps on the couch in the afternoon. When I go into the living room at night to sleep, I never turn on the light and as soon as she hears me, she gets off the couch because it's my turn to use it. But apparently in her mind, this doesn't apply in the daytime. She was determined she was NOT going to get off the couch to make it easier for us to remove the table behind it!
Around 6:30, I started moving food outside, wondering if anybody was going to come. Shortly before 7, Walt was sitting in the carport, after it was all set up, talking to his mother on the cell phone.
You can see the glow from my iPod, which I stuck inside that black thing on the side of the house. Jeri should get a kick out of seeing that, since she made it a very long time ago for some production she was working on.
At 7 on the dot, the first guest arrived, bringing a tray of hors d'oeuvres, which looked suspiciously like my parmesan cheese appetizers, only hers had crab in them. She was a perfect example of why events like this are good. We have lived here 35 years; she has lived here 36 years and one of her daughters, it turns out, had been our babysitter once or twice when we first moved here. I had never met her before tonight! She only lives half a block away.
At the height, the carport was filled with people.
Of course the people who hate us didn't come. Walt says he thinks they were out of town, when I pointed out that their lights were on early in the evening and off later (he thinks they are on a timer). That may be true, but even if you're paranoid, it doesn't mean that they aren't out to snub you, you know!
There were supposed to be representatives of the city stopping but but none did. But we all sat and chatted. Ashley brought out Nicki and later, I decided to bring Hannah out too, since she gets so nervous when her baby isn't around. They were, needless to say, the hit of the night.
Everyone started leaving after about an hour and a half, except for Ashley, who hung around to help clean up and take some of the food home. I'm sorry she didn't take more. I have lots of temptations waiting for me tomorrow!
Would I do it again? Yes, I think I would. Only next time I want to do something different and have an ice cream social in the afternoon, rather than a late evening gathering.
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