Potluck?!

In Monday's post, I said that I was already looking forward to the next potluck. Well, it turned out that the next one was much sooner than I expected. It was sort of a surprise to me. And it was at my house!

Here's the story. Every year for the last several, we have hosted the August birthdays potluck (partially because my birthday is in August). So a couple of weeks ago, I asked Lou Ann when she would be leaving the island; I was thinking that if she was leaving in early August, we could have the potluck on the first Saturday of the month (August 2nd) and she could still attend. She said she was leaving before the end of July. Then, a few days later, she updated me and said that she would be leaving on August 3rd or 4th, so I said "we should have the potluck on the 2nd". I thought I said that only to Lou Ann, but apparently at least a few other people were there when I said it. Anyway, last Saturday at the Women's Opry, Lou Ann explained that her plan had been changed again, and she would be leaving before August 2nd. I decided that we might as well have the potluck later in the month in that case (since she wouldn't be able to attend anyway), settled on August 15th, and penciled that date in on my calendar. I didn't think I needed to tell anyone, since Lou Ann was the only person I had invited for the 2nd. That was my first mistake. I forgot that any potluck invitation around here comes with the message "pass the word", whether that is explicitly stated or not.

Fast forward to today. At 4:59, I walked into Books to be Red to get a birthday present for Lachlan (his party is on Monday). Imagine my surprise to see Lou Ann in there. Then imagine my further surprise when she hid what she was buying behind her back, saying "you can't see this, it's your birthday present - I'm bringing it to the potluck tonight". The potluck. Tonight. In one hour. At my house. Yikes.

I explained to Lou Ann that I didn't think there was going to be a potluck tonight, and we quickly figured out what had happened. Lou Ann then quickly filled me in on all the people she knew were planning to attend. Well, as you already know if you've been reading the blog for...well, a week, I love a good Ocracoke potluck, so there wasn't any way I was going to cancel. I was in a bit of a tizzy, though, realizing that I now had 55 minutes to prepare my house and myself for company!

I ran to the Variety Store to pick up a few things, then headed home. When I got there, I said to John, "Guess what? We're having a potluck here in ... oh ... 32 minutes". And then the rapid motion began. I tidied up the living/dining room area (including the kitchen counter, which was literally covered from end to end with random stuff from the past week), brought in the outdoor table, made (what else?) macaroni and cheese, got out the potluck supplies (plates, utensils, napkins, etc.), while John went back to the Variety Store to get what I had forgotten, fired up the grill, cooked burgers and hot dogs, and sliced tomatoes and lettuce for them. When people started arriving, it looked like we had known about this potluck for much longer than an hour or so!

The food was plentiful and marvelous (of course), Philip brought his fantastic deviled eggs so I was a happy camper, the kids had a ball, the adults all enjoyed wine, each other's company and some wonderful conversation, plus humored Lou Ann and me by playing a funny game, and we even came up with a birthday cake (more on that below). It was good, clean, last minute fun.


Lachlan and Mariah had a blast with Connor's toys.


Fran, Amy and Lida toasting the birthday people.


The four of us with August birthdays - Lachlan, Philip, James and me - blew out the candles together...


...and Lachlan cheered for all of us. Oh, and yes, that is a partially eaten cake. It was the leftover cake from Lida's birthday last week. Bill went home to get it when he heard the story of when I "found out" about the potluck. It was delicious!

Now here's the funny coda to the story. At 4:57, when I was driving to Books to be Red, I was thinking that as soon as I got home, I would pack dinner for Connor and take the family out to Dajio for a meal. So if I hadn't seen Lou Ann in the store, there would have been nobody home when the potluck guests arrived! (I'm glad it didn't happen that way, although in some ways that would've made for an even funnier story.) Philip said they would have come in and had the potluck anyway, and we could have just joined in when we arrived home. That would have been fine, too. Although they would definitely have had a hard time finding a spot on the counter to put the food!