Come spend the week-end

Somehow Andy and I had gotten in the pleasant habit of inviting collecting friends to spend the weekend with us a day or two after arriving home from London and Paris. The collectors liked this because they got the first choice of the antiques that were nestled in the trunks. They also were comfortable here; they enjoyed their stay. They liked the food  because often I would buy interesting items from the trip for them to taste and try, and, I was also in the midst of my Martha Stewart faze.  I tried everything she told me to including the puff pastry wrapped turkey for 30. Sigh. Those are days I'll never get back. The two mentioned couples were here for the wrapping of the bird and the eating later in the day.

 Often these two couples came from far away in all kinds of weather to spend the week-end and it was great fun. We would relax and play cards and talk and once we watched the complete set of Martha Stewart's entertaining videos. Even the men liked her first attempt at becoming famous back when she was a bit more relatable. We had a cocktail or two as well.

We had just moved into our dream home that we had waited to get for 15 years. (It then took us 27 years to come up with the perfect name...Many Branches.)  It was 1987.  We got a call from the first of the two collecting couple that had just gotten into the game and had all my books and they were eager to visit.  We said we would be in London and Paris for three weeks but they could come for the week-end  a couple of days after we got home.  The dates were set and everyone was pleased. The woman wrote me to confirm the dates and time before we left saying exactly when they would arrive.

After three weeks of heavy buying, we had six trunks to unpack, sort, place, wash, and price. Andy went to work the next day and I staggered around cleaning, cooking, arranging and setting the dining table.  I had things under control on Friday after having just arrived home the day before.  I had done all of these jobs by not going to bed.  I stayed up, but worked in my nightgown.  I wanted to make the mother-in-law-suite perfect for these first time guests whom I had never met face to face.  Secretly I was hoping they wouldn't hack us to death in our beds.

I had one more job to do and that was to mow the nearly three-acre backyard and I chose to do it in my nightgown.  We have trees, bushes, fences, and extreme privacy so what could go wrong?

David, our son, was not married at the time and still lived at home.  But, he was working and I didn't expect anyone to see me as I zoomed around on my John Deere.  I was in my zone when out of the bushes David jumped scaring me to death while letting me know that the guests were at the door. Stop it, they are not due for 26 hours. No, they are here and I put them on the porch. It was hot that day and I was steaming.  I asked David to get them something cold to drink and I tried to get back to the house, still out of sight, and up the stairs to a shower.  I pulled myself together and stepped down the stairs like Scarlet O'Hara (minus the curtain rods) The couple was hot but gracious as I ushered them into our lives.  The house was cool and pretty and suddenly we were relaxed. Do you drink? I asked. And so we did.  By the time Andy got home from work we were very happy, so Andy joined the fun. I sent them off to their accommodations and to wonder about the house and look at the collection and the sales items while I went into the kitchen.  The meal I had scheduled for the next night had to be eaten that night, but I did not care at that point.  Everyone was so comfortable I could have fed them peanut butter and jelly and they would have been happy. We had many more week-ends together at Many Branches. However, we never reconciled the time mix up but it didn't matter much among friends.