Gourds, goats and good food

I hosted our gourd club's annual potluck yesterday. It was so much fun and everyone had a great time. With everything that was going on I can't believe I actually did this; but I never picked up the camera and so I have no photos of all the delicious food , or the interaction with the goats, and all the creativity that was going on.
I did a mini workshop on how to make gourd pins and was amazed at the beautiful and creative results. We sat outside under the trees and everyone worked on one or two pins that they could take home with them.
At our next meeting I will take some photos of some of the wonderful results. I shouldn't be surprised at the art work that was created. These ladies and gent (Don, you were a brave man among all those women) are very talented people.






This morning I was greeted by this beautiful bouquet of Gladiolus. My friend Sylvia brought them yesterday. Look at them! Have you ever seen anything so gorgeous? She has a lovely garden in the valley and grows lots of vegetables, flowers and ......, gourds. Thanks Sylvia.


Now, I want to talk about the food that came with the flowers. The best thing about a potluck is the delicious food that everyone brings. We had a chicken mushroom casserole that was really wonderful, a pasta salad with string beans, fresh bread, rosemary chicken, fruit, fresh lemonade and ......desserts: How about fresh homemade lemon meringue pie, brownies, chocolate ranger cookies (with big chunks of chocolate pieces), and a creampuff dessert with custard, whipped cream and chocolate sauce? Oh my gosh!! We all died on desserts. What a feast it was!

For intertainment we had the goats do what they do best. ( Now I really wish I had gotten the camera). They were so cute and greeted everyone with joy. I even found two of the ladies inside the goat enclosure having a "moment" with the boys. I'm so glad that they were comfortable being around goats. Janice, one of the ladies, has goats of her own so I knew she was fine with them. All in all, we had a wonderful day.

Today it's very hot, but yesterday it was as if we had put our order in for absolutely perfect weather.
As I said goodby to everyone I thought, to myself ,how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place and be able to share it with my friends and family. Sometimes you've just got to step back and say a quiet "Thank you" to whom ever is listening.