2020, 2021, Family, Food, Gatherings, holidays, home, Kids, pets, Uncategorized

a new year – hopefully

31 Comments

YA and I ordered take out from our favorite Chinese Restaurant over the weekend.  I set the table nicely with red plates, chopstick holders and even lucky red envelopes (with chocolate coins).  But our only guest this year was Nimue, who made herself at home on the table. 

This completes my year of no festivities.  Last year I was all ready for Pi Day when the world turned upside down.  I had all the ingredients for my pies, had a to-do list of what needed to be done in what order, including baking times and temperatures.  I even had little placecards done with the names of all the pies.  Then on Friday, the day before, I had to cancel; the pandemic had arrived at our door.

Since Pi Day, there have been several other occasions when, during “normal times” I would have entertained: my Girlfriend High Tea in May, our neighborhood Memorial Day gathering, a new neighbor welcome party in June, my birthday bash in August, Leaf Pile in October and, of course, the Great Gift Exchange at Solstice.  This list doesn’t include book club meetings or other breakfasts/lunches/dinners with individuals.  I would have always said that I entertain a lot but when everything is listed out like this, I realize that it’s an enormous part of my life.

So now that we’ve celebrated Chinese New Year on our own, we’ve come full circle.  Unfortunately there won’t be a gathering for Pi Day this year either, but I am hoping we can do a Pi and a Half Day in September.  Fingers crossed. 

What’s the most interesting party you’ve ever been to?

31 thoughts on “a new year – hopefully”

  1. a year ago my final party was st patrick’s day bash pre match 17 but just barely
    i went for an hour where usually i would hang for 3 or 4
    most memorable party was not very memorable i guess
    coming up with nothing
    back in sex drug and rock and roll days i went to some interesting bashes but it was an era not an event

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  2. We once had 10 members of a mental health self help group to our home for a sweet corn dinner when we were in grad school in Winnipeg . Many of them had psychotic disorders. The vibes were interesting.

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  3. I have mentioned before the New Year’s Eve parties that we used to attend, hosted by a Mayo Clinic Doctor. Those were probably the fanciest things I’ve ever attended. There have been some pretty memorable cast parties.
    I remember my 25th birthday party at a local restaurant that stands out just because of how many amazing friends were there.
    My bachelor party stands out mostly because the minister was there and no one knew it besides me, but again, just a good group of friends.
    The Porta Potty Parties that we host have been fun, again, the friends that showed up or people that would offer to perform, (a friend and her band drove down from Duluth in exchange for a case of beer just to play on a flatbed wagon for an hour. )
    I was just speaking with someone recently that if things settle down, this would be a good year for a Porta Potty Party.

    But what about those Dud parties? We hosted one of those for theater volunteers, but it was October and it was cold and it was raining and we had a tent and about six people showed up. The chickens got a lot of leftovers that day.

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  4. The fanciest party I’ve ever been to was actually a reception in Washington DC. It was part of the Malcolm Baldridge quality awards the year that my company won and I was selected as one of the employees to go To Washington for the ceremony. I had to borrow clothes in order to go to this reception because I didn’t have anything fancy enough. Other than having to borrow clothing for such a fancy occasion, there wasn’t anything memorable about that party at all.

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  5. My friend Al used to have Pagan Parties for his birthday. I remember being so amused about burning tax forms at one of them.

    Another friend had 3-day Memorial weekend parties for years at a historic stone house on the Straight River. These parties were notorious in Faribault but they were always peaceful, no one ever got hurt, lots of good food was eaten, and lots of folk, bluegrass and traditional country music was played around a bonfire. I don’t remember the police visiting us, ever. I was part of it every year and even lived in that stone house for a couple years. It’s still owned by another old friend of mine, another alumni of those parties, and it still feels like home to me. Kind of my hippie home.

    I’m not a big entertainer. It just really messes with my head. All kinds of OCD comes out and I end up being truly exhausted. I reserve what little entertaining skills I have for my family and very close friends. I’m a true introvert – my home is my safe place.

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  6. I understand the word “party” (used as a verb) to refer to socializing with people I don’t know. If partying involves one or two strangers, I might be able to fake being normal. Each additional stranger increases my anxiety by about 30 percent, so a gathering of just four unfamiliar persons boosts my my anxiety to 120 percent. By that time I will have sought out a hiding place behind the drapes or in a dark closet where I can knock down drinks in peace until it is safe to come out again.

    I think the last party I attended was at my home just before I sold it and moved to Oregon. There was only one stranger present, so I should have been okay. I asked the stranger if he had a connection to Trail Baboon, and of course he turned out to be Dale Connelly.

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  7. Long ago my interest in amphibians(including habitat/census for Hamlin University) became well known among my family and friends. They threw a surprise frog-themed party on my behalf. Toys, t-shirts, Frogger video game, puzzles, calendars and a decorated cake were among the gifts.

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  8. Well, head and shoulders above all others was a cross-dressing Halloween party in around 1990, dubbed “Come As You Aren’t”. Pulling together the costumes was as much fun as the party… Husband wore a light blue brocade strapless formal, complete with pearls, make-up, heels… (can’t recall where we found heels to fit him!) I was in a tux with a rose-colored bow tie and cummerbund, black fedora, maybe a pocket watch… It was fascinating the different personas brought out by the change.

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  10. Rise and Shine Baboons,

    I have been to many interesting parties. As I get older though, I am much, much pickier about what I go to. The most interesting and distressing one was the one I have told of here before–husband’s employer rented a houseboat on the St. Croix. Everyone (but me) got wasted and jumped in the river and someone came close to drowning. Nothing, NOTHING worse that being trapped on a houseboat with a bunch of drunks with no judgement about danger.

    Meanwhile, I like to entertain in my house. I love hosting my Art Circle Potlucks, book groups, etc. When we get home the kitchen should be back in place, so it should create a better flow for serving potluck, etc. I cannot wait to host Blevins again. And now the mice should be gone. Who needs those roommates?

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  12. Like everyone else on here, I’ve attended numerous parties over the years that were memorable for one reason or another. Some I’d rather forget about, frankly, but that’s another story.

    The most memorable party, however, has to be one hosted by the couple I worked for at the US Embassy in Moscow. Special guests were John Steinbech and the Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, and several other Russian poets and artists with whom I was not familiar. It was a cocktail party, so no loud music or dancing, but lots of smoking. It was interesting just hovering around and listening to the exchange of ideas.

    Another interesting party, also in Moscow, was the “stag” party held at the apartment of the embassy’s Marine guards. One of the high ranking military attaches, after an evening of entertaining Marlene Dietrich and her pianist, Burt Bacharach, brought them to the apartment for a nightcap. I lived in the apartment one floor below the Marines, and someone called me and told me to quick put on a dress and come upstairs. For about half an hour I was the only other woman at that party, but soon, of course, word got out and various embassy wives and female personnel showed up as well.

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      1. Fame is a fleeting phenomenon, BiR. I’m pretty sure that a lot of younger people today have no idea who any of the four mentioned above are. That said, a lot of the people they consider famous, I have no idea of who they are. Different universes.

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  13. Late to the, ahem, party… memorable or interesting parties… like Ben said, cast parties are almost always interesting, for a variety of reasons (some of them not safe to share or print). A few wedding receptions that included things like breaking a chandelier (the venue changed their setup after that – they realized the thing hung too low to be over the dance floor area). At least one gala fundraiser where I felt awkwardly dressed and the Famous Person who was the entertainment for the evening was clearly not sober…

    But favorites are things like the 10 year anniversary party my (non-Baboon) book club threw for itself, including DJ, rented hall, etc. – mostly because of the company and the fabulous evening of dancing. Or my mom’s 75th birthday – memorable because it was the last birthday party my dad was at and we got to see so many of her wonderful friends (it was also a surprise party for her…which we managed to pull off, including having her sister drive down from Brainerd). Or the annual party a friend used to throw that always included the guessing game of, “who will I run into that I didn’t know knew B____?” (one year that was my spouse’s boss…) The through line for the best parties are the ones with good friends and laughter. And maybe a bit of gin. 🙂

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