Surprise visit.

Just as we were finishing up lunch today, our friends C & L called to tell us they were about 30 miles north of us, on their way back to Clear Lake. Could they stop by? Of course. They were driving with their daughter, son-in-law, and their three teen-aged daughters..... was that still okay? Of course!

C & L used to come to all of our parties when we lived in Clear Lake...... for the Halloween parties in particular, C would search the Internet sites for truly spooktacular dishes to bring for the pot-luck dinners. For one of the Halloween parties, she brought a life-sized plastic skull covered with thin slices of baked ham..... the honey-baked ham looked like slices of skin, and with each layer that was taken from the skull, the overall effect became more and more grotesque.

And this daughter of C & L's this afternoon.... she was the one who painted the tattoos on her dad's arms for the Halloween when he came as Paul Sr. (from the Orange County Choppers show)-- between his resemblance to Paul Sr., and his outfit that night (black jeans, black sleeveless tee-shirt), and his own mustache (especially grown long to look like that of Paul Sr.), L truly looked like the man he was trying to impersonate that night.

So there they were this afternoon, C & L, their daughter and her family.... they wanted to see all of the house, plus the cottage and the barn guest rooms, and they even peeked into the chicken coop (The Coopacabana-- they got the joke), and then the three girls had ice cream and thoroughly examined (and approved of) all the Halloween decorations around the house. They especially liked the black and purple Halloween tree and the black crows in the living room.

C's daughter asked me if we missed having our big Halloween party every year, and before I could answer, C said "Well, we surely miss going to them!" C asked if we ever tried to host a Charades party up here for the neighbors, and I told her that only four of the neighbors right now would possibly be interested in that type of party, and the other two who would be Charades-worthy are only here for a little while in the summer.

This subject comes up time and again....... our parties. I'm willing to give it a try, but my husband truly believes that it's just not going to work up here in the hills. "These people are into hay raising and farming, and horses and cows...... no way, no how are they going to dress up in costume and play Charades." Oh well.

Anyway..... we had a nice visit with C & L.... they've been here twice before already, and it was nice to meet their grandchildren and one of their daughters. It was a nice surprise on a quiet Sunday afternoon.... that seemed really way too quiet after everyone had left.