Thursday, July 5, 2012

Charles Town WV: Party Central


We are well into our ninth day of 95°+ weather and it is getting rather boring.  We manage to do our exercise routines in the early morning and then the gardening after coffee so that we can get everything done before noon.  Afternoons are just intolerable and we either go and do some shopping or just stay inside and work on our computers.

Yesterday was no exception and the grand Fourth of July party that was supposed to be outside was moved indoors, except for the kids.  Either the kids - ages three months to thirteen years - wanted to distance themselves from the adults or they have a strong desire to increase their internal temperatures.  We adults marveled at how they could keep crawling into this plastic inflatable slide set that must have been 110°, and slide down for two seconds and then repeat the process.  Finally someone realized that there was supposed to be water running through the slide and then it all made a bit more sense. The kids loved it.

There must have been about fifty people at the potluck and I must admit it was a lot of fun.  We are all united against the Dirty Rotten Nasty Nazi Dictators that run the HOA and with this common purpose we found enough common ground to have lots of conversations.  The food was fantastic ranging from chicken mole poblano to hot dogs and everything in between.  Swedish meatballs, Peruvian Causa con Pollo, vegetable soup, chicken tenders, salads of all colors and flavors, including our famous three bean salad with lots of garlic, cakes and fruit and chips and dips, truly a multi-national feast for the eyes, nose and taste buds.  There was a lot of cold beer and we had brought wine to share.  About two hours into the party, which started at 5:30 for us, the hostess announced that it was time for shots.  This is the line of demarcation for us, the old timers, and the rest of the younger crowd.  The thought of throwing back shots of tequila chased by bottles of beer has zero appeal to either of us.  We did realize that it would be a good time for us to begin to make our exit since we knew the shots would go on and on and on until they began playing with explosives!

We watched the Fireworks on the Mall on TV and enjoyed the music - and they certainly had some top grade fireworks.  This year the fireworks outside our house ended by eleven, which shows that the neighborhood is maturing.  Five years ago at our first party here the show went on until well after one in the morning.  Cindy said that there was a whole lot of debris from the fireworks when she went out for her run, but it was cleared up by early this afternoon and it appears no one was injured.

Ciao for now, Wm

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