The hermits have a party

We had a party at our place on Saturday to celebrate my husband's 50th birthday. We haven't been the most social of creatures lately; it's easy to just retreat into our little world in the woods and muse on how we're too weird for the rest of the world to understand. And our home is not quite set up for entertaining. But maybe it was the season, the greening up of spring, the emergence from a long winter holed up looking at each other, maybe it was the well known implications of turning 50, and the desire to keep that day from turning into a crisis of self reflection and eventual despair. Whatever it was, I was ready to party, and it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable evenings we have known.

Being the hermit I am, I'm not compared with Martha Stewart too often. I like good food, especially when someone else is doing all the work. But Saturday morning the spirit got a hold of me, and I cleaned the whole house then took over the cookshed preparing the feast. We had chicken flautas with guacamole, shrimp and avocado dip with chips, veggies and dip, cheese and crackers, bratwurst, grilled vegetables, and black bean salsa. We had a watermelon in the cooler for dessert, but that was forgotten when Missy brought a fabulous homemade cheesecake with dark chocolate. I surprised myself; I really enjoyed serving and seeing everyone enjoy the food.

Of course we had music, but that began fairly late in the evening as we were waiting for my guitar playing friend Bob to show up. He didn't get my email directions and ended up getting lost somewhere near the Wisconsin border, but somehow managed to find us; it had been years since he was here. Bob and Fred and I played until about midnight on guitars and mandolins. Then after Fred and Missy left, Bob and Russ and I stayed up talking and finishing off the beers until about 2 in the morning. Bob's an old friend of ours we hadn't seen in years, so there was a lot of catching up to do.

It was so wonderful to be among old friends, new friends, good neighbors, good food and drink, and great music.