I missed not having Madi around for two days. She was happy to be home, mainly I think, to watch cartoons and eat pretzels.
Paul and I went to the Galeria to see an opening art show. There wasn’t anything there that needed to come home with me. There is a picture of a fisherman that I really like, painted by the same artist who did the picture above our mantel.
Kier told me about the teen drama at the party last night. But when isn’t there? She slept in until 1 p.m. Just in time to pack and get ready for a trip across the lake. One of her friend’s grandparents has a big house with a pool, and invited some of them to come over for a night or two. They certainly have a system down here. Everyone brings a bag of food, a towel, swimsuit, pjs, then they’re good to go. Kinda like how they do camping here, too. We dashed to the grocery store to buy teen friendly food. As usual, you’re always responsible for bringing your own water, since that can’t be taken for granted here. Before Kier left I got the cell numbers of her friends who are going. If I need to get in touch with her, I want back-up numbers.
We are having a little-girl sleepover of our own tonight. That’s right, it’s our turn. Some of the parents from the school were lamenting that the kids have all the sleepover fun and we don’t. Then the perfect opportunity came. The teachers of the school live in a complex of four houses. Many of the renters (who are friends of theirs) are out of town for Semana Santa, so there are numerous cottages available for the night. It’s only short walk from our house. First we are eating with the kids. Then the kids are coming back to our house to start their sleepover activities. We adults will have our fun. Then later Paul and I will come back to our place to sleep. Madi has been doing lots of planning to get ready for the big party. We bought lots of foodie things.
[Later, apres-party.] Great evening! There were about 15 people at the party. Everyone brought food and drinks. Food was amazing, diverse. The host was a baker, so she made this incredible bread bowl and warm cream cheese dip. She also baked a bread loaf stuffed with meat, cheese, broccoli.
Highly educated group, but able to have lots of fun. I don’t mean for those two to sound mutually exclusive, although sometimes that has been my experience. There are wide-ranging life experiences which provide a large base for lively conversations. These people have lived all over the world. When you talk politics, environmental problems, somehow the issues seem more immediate and personal, less abstract and theoretical. The evening was invigorating, hilarious, enjoyable.
After the meal we played a game where each person wrote four proper nouns on a slip of paper. We were divided into three teams. The first round each person can describe the word on the paper with words, the second round we use the same words, but you can only use one word to describe what is on your sheet of paper, the third round you can only mime. Your team has one minute to guess as many as they can. Team with the most correct answers wins. Since you are using the same set of proper nouns, it’s important to pay attention in the first round. The proper nouns were hilarios. Some were small cities in Africa, a river in Australia, movies I’d never heard of. I know it’s not a humble to say so, but I rock at this game. I wasn’t much help on the sports references, although I was the person on our team to get Bobby Oar (Paul was impressed). Such a good time. Our team won by 1 point. We were, of course, horrible gloating winners and did some kind of obnoxious victory dance around the room. Three new names for me: Ned Kelly, Benin, Srinagar.
Of all the significant subjects discussed in the course of the evening, we all agreed the most significant question emerging from the heated banter was whether “special brownies” is a proper noun. No one would admit to writing the card. In the end the group consensus was to blame the guy from Berkley, California for writing it down, even though he consistently denied it.
In the middle of our game, Cali had found herself a bed somewhere in the house and went to sleep. Poor third child. She just does what she has to do to take care of herself. Scrounges for food when she’s hungry, looks for a bed when she needs to sleep. When she is tired, she curls up somewhere, regardless of location and noise volume, and she sleeps. Eventually Paul carried her all the way home.
After the game was finished, I walked Madi and the rest of the kids who were going to spend the night, back to our house. Upstairs we have space for 3 to sleep on beds, 2 on an airmattress, 3 additional sleeping bags, en suite bathroom. It’s the perfect sleepover setting. They watched one movie and had popcorn. I’ve learned that I cannot stay up as late as the girls, even the young ones. Paul and I went to sleep and eventually they must have to.
There was that huge noise on the roof last night. Paul and I were startled awake. Same indescribable sound, like something heavy jumping on to the roof. The source of the noise seems to know when we have company over. But none of the girls woke up this time.