Indian Summer in Texas

While there was a lot of preparation involved, the result was quite outstanding, and the weather cooperated. Charles hadn't done a dinner in a long, long time, so this was well deserved. Of course with him putting in a lot of effort into the decor of the gazebo and the food, I had to clean the house from top to bottom.. from the floors to the windows. It'd been quite a while since I'd done the windows, and it showed. Chaz can't really see the dirt, but if it was important for me, he said, he's glad I did it. It was important. Our friends from San Antonio made it up 2 hours early, which stunned us to no end. Usually they get trapped at the outlet mall between here and there and wind up late for the party.

Sam, Bud, Steve, Brent & Daryl, and Gordon were our guests, and they made the preparation well worth it. Plenty of dish, with Steve keeping a scorecard of who dished whom, and lots of good camaraderie. Yeah, maybe it was just a bunch of old queens in the backyard, but it was pretty special being able to have some time that wasn't crowded and rushed and having to be 'on' for everyone.

We've been enjoying the mild summer, and a harvest dinner of giving thanks to the family that we built around us was entirely called for, before heading into the last 8 weeks of the year.