Fly on The Wall

First, a bit about the chocolate bash. The concept is, loosely, "a Tupperware party, but with chocolate". It's Dove Chocolate Discoveries. A hostess (me) invites a bunch of friends and a 'chocolatier', in this case Linda, brings chocolate. There is sampling, ordering, and just general fun. And, since it's my house, there was an "after party". But more on that in a minute.
Although I don't have pictures, because I forgot my camera for hours, in attendance were Malea (see her stuff THIS weekend at Twist Fair!), Dena, Mary, Linda, Jacinda, GL, Katy-with-Lindsey The Bat Wrangler, Kristen, Mary Alice, Sara, Rue...and if there's anyone I missed, I apologize. It was kind of hectic in here for a little while, but a lot of fun with good friends and good food and a little bit of the grape. And the potato.
First, Jacinda won the game. She made 49 words from the word chocolate. This is a big score for homeschoolers everywhere, in my oh so humble opinion.We sampled chocolate things, and some people ordered chocolate things. There were chocolate martinis, and chocolate trifle, and chocolate cupcakes, and chocolate macaroons. Linda did a splendid job.
As the evening wore on some folks headed home, and others stayed behind. Dazee recovered from her long day of Divadom.We got the Grill Master into the game, cooking up chocolate chicken two ways; one spicy, one not so much.Kristen got "the wrong one". Totally not my fault. I swear it didn't seem hot to me. And this was on top of Mervin making a hole in her foot with his evil claws...Poor woman will never come back between cat assaults and spicy chicken.
Rue was happy, and so were Barb and Jacinda. We toasted the Springdelle Farm lambs in honor of the other Barb who could not be with us because ewes, like people-moms, do things in their own good time. We toasted chocolate. We toasted.The sun went down and the stars came out.
Eventually I brought out a lamp, so we could see who we were talking to.Mary Alice was very impressed that we have stars here. Rue used to be, but now she has stars at her house.I hope we can do this again soon. I am planning already.
This week I've been working on a One-Skein project that seemed to defy me. It wasn't the planning or the writing. It was the knitting. I just wasn't committed, which is sad. I adore the yarn, love the colorway and love the project. Sometimes I just get snotty about "work" knitting and become obsessed with non-work, like potholders or socks for Gene or baby things.But today I managed to complete this, which you can't see yet. The yarn is Schaefer Anne in the colorway Elizabeth Zimmerman, which I adore (both yarn and colorway!). The project, if it does not appear where I hope it will, will eventually make a reappearance here. Dazee continues to recover from her wild weekendand so does Mel.If I am honest, I must say that this has much less to do with the weekend and much more to do with the heat which has been oddly high for April in Massachusetts since Saturday. A cold front is coming in this evening, and I am very glad. The heat has had some good benefits. The daffodils, of which there are many here, have all come out.Some have also gone away a bit faster than usual, but are lovely while they are here. We walked across the road this evening to look at an oddity in a tree that turned out to be nothing more than a growth. I love walking over there because it gives me different perspective on my own space.And I get to spend time with the barn.One good strong storm, and I think it would fall right over. It's been there for a long, long time.But time has a way of changing things, even barns.It's not really good for much more than having it's picture taken anymore. But sometimes I can feel it's history, and imagine the lowing of the milk cows who once inhabited it. The cupola has fallen in. The dairy has collapsed. But the post and beam main structure defies age and gravity, and carries on.
We came home to discover that someone had managed to get into the garden.Just one someone, and happily not as destructive as he might have been, as he stayed in the garlic box near the fence. Woe to him if he gets into the asparagus, or the peas. I assisted him to make a better choice of location.
The chocolate party, however, had nothing on today's Big Event. In a stellar display of genius, I decided to redecorate my kitchen.With chocolate. What do you think? Tres chic, no?
2T Hershey's cocoa powder + 2 tsp Agave nectar + reheated leftover coffee + ice cubes + five pounds of "duh." = beverage FAIL. I am pretty sure there's chocolate in my ears still.