Sunday, October 08, 2006

A Creative Weekend


I spent the weekend at Susan's farm in Valley Falls. She invited a number of us up for a creative get together. Jocelyn, Debbie, Diana and I went from Hutchinson. We were greeted by a gorgeous moon on the way.

We stopped in Brookville for some chicken. It's great stuff - we ate the coleslaw until we thought we would pop. It's made with cream - real cream - and it's delicious.




It was the first time Jocelyn had had Brookville. I was telling her the creamed corn was really good. A more accurate description would be that it is corn, in cream.

We got the weekend off to a good start with lots of laughter while we were having dinner.










We arrived at Susan's about 10 p.m. Being the gracious host she is, she had little baskets of goodies for each of us, the house spotless, and snacks ready. I had something I've never heard of - candy corn mixed with peanuts. Yeah, I know, it doesn't sound that appetizing. Let me tell you, we couldn't stop eating it. Even those of us who don't especially like either of those ingredients.




Saturday was a gorgeous day - a perfect day. I worked on the books I mentioned in my last post while the others went to Lawrence for a little while. When they returned Jocelyn worked on cards a bit and Debbie painted for awhile.







Susan and her friend, Elaine, took Debbie and Diana on a little jaunt over to the pond for a walk. Lets just sum it up by saying that everyone arrived back safely.




Saturday night we were favored with a beautiful sunset.




Susan fixed a wonderful dinner and then we had smores by the fire.




We were also greeted with a completely full moon and it was stunning. It was a struggle to decide whether to look at the moon or the fire.




Jocelyn, Kathleen, Diana and I were sitting near the fire long after we were done with smores.

We were gathered near it and there was a huge explosion. We thought a log had exploded. We all ran back, with bits of embers falling all over the place, popping back about 10 feet behind where Jocelyn and I were sitting.

Amazingly enough, none of us got even a tiny burn, including Jocelyn who lost one of her sandals when she was running back. Turns out the concrete had busted beneath the fire. We don't know what caused it but it was scary.

This morning we could see exactly what had happened. It was as if it had scraped off a bit of the top layer of concrete where we had built the fire.

Today there was plenty of time for relaxing and chatting...




... and lounging.




I asked everyone to pose for a group photo. That's Kathleen, Susan and Elaine in front; me, Jocelyn, Diana and Debbie in the back.




It was a wonderful weekend and I'm so thankful to Susan for the invitation. I love being at the farm and she is such a gracious host. I'm honored to call her a friend.