Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Miraculous Moments

Oh what a beautiful day yesterday turned out to be! The sun was shining. I was making progress on processing the basil. So far, I have two gallons of basil leaves cleaned, and I was finally finished getting the house ready for Pat and Will’s arrival.

Going to the van to check the condition of our herbs, I found more basil, which was still a vibrant green – as were the dill, oregano, thyme, and rosemary. I started moving our book signing supplies out of the van to make room for our guests to sit for sightseeing. As I lifted the folding chairs, I spied more green of a non-organic variety. It was the two hundred dollars, still with the rubber band around it, which I thought had been stolen at the Buzz Fest! Upon further inspection, I located my camera. I still don’t know how they go into the van, but I suspect that they somehow fell into a fold in the chair when we were giving change to a customer. I don’t really care how this miracle occurred; I was just so happy to report to Jack that we hadn’t been attacked by human hogs, after all.

Will had said that they would arrive shortly after lunch, but he hadn’t told me what time they eat lunch. I hadn’t factored in the fact they they were driving from the Central Time zone to Eastern Time. Vibrating with anticipation of seeing my soul-sister Pat, I succeeded at channeling this excitement into culinary occupations while Richard went to Mamie’s garden to remove the potentially deadly sweet potato vines. I was able to complete and pack for freezing a huge kettle of red beans, prepare lasagna, and freeze the extra marinara with Italian sausage.

The buzz of the food processor as I fed basil and olive oil into it drowned out the sounds of Gypsy welcoming Pat and Will mid-afternoon.But I did hear Pat's musical voice as she came up behind me to ask if I was preparing pesto. She almost succeeded in getting a pesto-covered hug.I didn't smear Pat with pesto, but we did enjoy pesto and tomato appetizers with our wine while we rejoiced over their finding us without getting lost – or shot.

Richard did such a wonderful job of remodeling our master bedroom and bath that I love to share it with our best friends. There were no fresh flowers to put in their room, and I had forgotten to buy mints for their pillows. But they seemed okay with the fact that we gave them our beautiful master suite with our pillow top mattress and Hershey bars, while we retired to the RV.

It’s so nice having long-time friends in our house. I love to be with people with whom we feel so comfortable that we slip right back into the middle of our relationship the minute we see each other. It’s kind of like your favorite blanket that you curl up in and know that all is well with the world.