I’m not ready for September, and it’s breathing down August’s neck. I’m going to enjoy every minute of Summer I have left.
We had Italy, and it was wonderful. A week with girls and ghosts at The Greenbrier, just awesome. My at-home time’s been work and gardening, primarily, and that’s just fine with me.
It’s been a serious battle with the deer. They won a few, we won a few. One even came within a few feet of the house to munch out of the bird feeder. I mean, come on, sister.
I’m delighted to have what they didn’t mow down blooming beautifully.
Last weekend, I took a break from writing and gardening to make a mountain of food for our annual summer party. Jason and family came up Friday night so we could start right off on Saturday for the Sunday event. In addition, all the grandkids and their partners came Saturday. I actually wonder how we pulled this off over the years without so much help.
I do seven or eight pounds of potatoes for potato salad, and that’s a lot of peeling! Then there’s pasta salad, cole slaw, 3 dozen eggs to devil, a big veg crudite and a lot more. It involves much slicing, chopping, peeling, stirring, mixing. Kat and Lauren did yoman’s work on that chopping and peeling. Kayla made her yummy trifle, and walked Lauren through my great-grandmother’s bread pudding recipe.
Meanwhile, outside, it’s move the grill to the back patio from the front deck, haul out the outdoor tables, clean them up, put up the tarps to keep the sun off everyone.
The next day, they’re all back to help with day-of stuff. Fill the coolers with ice and drinks, etc., haul up the bar from the pool house, marinate the veg reserved for grilling, day-of side-dishes to deal with. Since everyone—especially Colt—went for those swimming in chocolate pudding profiteroles, Kat’s making them. And finds out they don’t really mark the packaging very well between cook it and instant pudding. Oops. But she’s Kat, and after some trial and error, figures it out. Colt helps with cream puff placement and drizzling pudding over it all.
Dishes are brought up and out to the table with ice pads. I don’t know how many times Jason, Logan, JR or Colt went down to the second fridge to bring something up they’d taken down to Saturday. We have two fridges, and used every inch of both for storage. Strong backs bring up my huge pot for the spiced shrimp I’ll make in a bit. Heat up the grill for those burgers and dogs!
Everything looks great.
But, the star of the show is unquestionably the fruit salad.
Kat has Colt’s girl Peyton—another artist—draw a turtle on the watermelon she sliced open—and had Lauren clean out. Then Kat gets her carving tools. She’s Kat, so naturally she has carving tools. With them she creates an adorable watermelon sea turtle, complete with flippers and tail, and some flowers. A vessel for her cousin’s gorgeous fruit salad.
While Kat carves something every year, this time, she outdid even the Amazing Kat.
We had a nice crowd on a beautiful day. Not too hot, not rainy, just perfect weather. A fun day with family and friends. And at the end, Logan’s pals—strong, young backs—helped break it all down. A real community effort this year, and much gratitude to all of them.
Now, even though September’s a couple days off, the kids are back in school. Second grade for Griffin! How is that possible? And I’m taking today, with all chores done and my windows open, to appreciate my blooms, the hummingbirds at the feeders, the woodpeckers at the suet.
Hope you’ve made some happy memories this summer, and sneak in a few more before we head into fall.
Nora
I LOVE ❤️ family meals, cookouts, gatherings….I have 3 boys/men now, every moment together is precious….have a wonderful end of summer Nora, thank you for sharing…maybe we will go stay at your Inn again for our anniversary in September..🍁 Slainte’
Whoa! What a production! Kat’s piece was gorgeous! Including the little flowers in front! When you have a gathering this size, it’s good to have a herd of young backs to help with the lifting. Congratulations on another successful gathering!
Sounds like a fabulous family and friends get together. The turtle fruit salad pool was perfection. Kat is so very talented. My hat’s off to her. Your garden looks wonderful. Thank you for sharing.
Omg what a wonderful family time. All looks great. You outdo yourself every time. Gad you have lots if helpers. Flowers look beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Can’t exit for September book Fury.
Love the plants & flowers that the deer didn’t inhale. Yeah, friend used to wake up during the night, look out & see deer eating out of the bird feeder in the middle of the back yard. She’d open the window & say something, not too loud since neighbors, but still would chase the deer off. But they’d come back, if they hadn’t cleaned out the feeder already, bless them! Sounds like a great party, with marvelous help before & after. So wonderful to have all that help! Just reading about all the prep left me exhausted! I laughed at the thought of pasta salad, always makes me think of the pair of non-cookers making pasta salad for the Labor Day party in Tribute; I’m not sure which sweated it more, Ford or Cilla! And yes, that’s one of my favorites of your titles. I’m with Eve, do we have to have vegetables in pasta salad? Especially broccoli??
People always ask me, what’s your favorite title, or top ten and I tell them forget it! Too many under both Roberts & Robb; I can’t select just 10 under either name! Better chance of least favorites, maybe! Looking forward to 9/8 & Fury ID’s release. Thank you!
What a marvelous get together! That watermelon turtle was sensational. Kudos to all who helped put this family shindig together. We are having our family Labor Day feast next week-end. I do love them and know I am so lucky to have family who wants to be together and who get along so well.
Thank goodness for September. That means only another couple of weeks of triple digit temperatures.
My first thought was Kat’s watermelon turtle, but have to mention Colt’s cream puff placement. Way to go Colt.
Your party sounds wonderful. What would we do without family?!? We welcomed 2 great-grandchildren in the last 5 weeks so that made our summer very special. God bless you and yours.
Congratulations, Jo! 2 new babies so close together. You must be going in circles but still enjoying every bit of it!
Glad you are keeping the deer in check.
One of ours figured out that he could get in the fenced yard by going into the garage making a right turn through the door into the flowers.
Fantastic event and adorable sea turtle. I bought an indoor turkey fryer years ago that is multi-functional. You can boil a full bag of potatoes in it. I peel after they’re cooked to keep the maximum amount of carbs in tact.
Late summer trip to Maine… Happy autumn, all!
That looks like so much fun, but I need a family tree for your family like we had for the McGregor brides.
3 dozen eggs boiled?? That’s 72 deviled eggs. Just enough for me! My favorite picnic food. Your flowers are beautiful, I couldn’t do anything this summer because of my back fusion, so I can truly admire yours. Next year for sure.
Wow! Just caught up with this most recent post, as well as the travelogue from your summer trip. (Haven’t been able to do much as I just finished a third knuckle replacement surgery – yes, it’s a thing – so using a phone/tablet/computer has been difficult.) So it was fun to just lie here and finally catch up on your trip travels and adventures. I like the last little bit of your final post about your family once you were home: that not only do you love each other, but you like each other. What a true gift! Thank you for sharing.
July 4, 2026 family celebration and Labor Day lunches at my place involved the men moving the table and hauling in the humongous cooler. The table is oak and heavy (currently being used as a quilting rack). Potluck so everyone contributes and dont I love that. July 4th, I broke out the RWB table cloth, white napkins, and blue paper plates so no cleaning them. And everyone helps with the cleaning up. Between now and March 3rd, three great-grandbabies are expected. Two within a week of each other so Thanksgiving will be interesting. But am so grateful the grands (including spouses and kids) still want to visit me. What a blessing.