Ordinary Wonderment

Today's Joy: Everybody Gathered Around for Dinner.
As I was headed out the door to work this morning, Reader, and feeling a bit sorry for myself to be working on a lovely Sunday, Aunt said those magic words,"Everybody's coming over for pot roast tonight!"

Of course, it could have been BBQ chicken, potato soup, polenta, duck with orange sauce or one of a hundred other succulent, spur-of-the-moment dishes. My reaction is always the same: Hurray! After all, Aunt Chef--whose culinary training includes a stint in Austria--makes food that is 14 kinds of delicious. Even the stuff she doesn't think is up to snuff is pretty darn good.

But the conversation at these get-togethers is what I most look forward to. My family is full of characters. I don't mean the garden variety kind of nuttiness you find in every family. My family is a character writer's dream. Each a unique and autonomous soul whose strengths play well off of one another. It's just plain fascinating to watch them interact. They also seem to get into mischief en masse and you never know what they'll be up to next. I can't wait to tune in and hear about their latest & greatest adventures. Like the time my uncle dressed up in a gladiator's outfit with a blond wig and drove a team of four ponies around the indoor arena at a horse show. Or the time Aunt Chef was herding escaped cows with Uncle's truck.

There are many, many more wonderful stories, of course. Some of which might be a tad incriminating. So, apologies, dear Reader, but posting them to my blog would be bad form. However, if you happen to join us for dinner some evening, you can hear them in all their juicy glory for yourself. I promise, you won't be disappointed.