Quadruple the Fun… Exponentially!

After-Performance Photo, 2017

What a weekend it was here in Oysterville!  The Rose City Mixed Quartet (Mark, Cameron, Dale, Helen) arrived Friday night and the fun was non-stop until their departure Sunday afternoon.  At least, that’s the way it was from our point of view.  From theirs… I’m not so sure.

Up until the day before their arrival, Nyel was still in the hospital in Portland and the plan was that the RCMQ would stay at the house anyway, as originally intended.  So… in addition to their play clothes and performance outfits, they came laden with food and surprises.  Just in case we got sprung from confinement.

Mark, Nyel, Dale – The Graybeards

Their Sunday vesper performance had been planned for a long time.  So had their stay here at the house.  It was Regatta Weekend in Oysterville and they had been invited to all the attendant festivities here at the bay side of the Peninsula.  It was also Kite Festival Weekend in Long Beach so they planned to do a bit of playing on the ocean side as well.  And I’m happy to say that all of those things happened.

The only possible confusion to the weekend was who in the heck was hosting whom.  It wasn’t really us.  Nyel was in recovery mode and more lowkey than usual.  I was in frantic catchup mode for some writing deadlines and locked away in my office for hours at a stretch.  So… the meal preparation and serving fell to the four you-know-whos.  It was magical!  Just like having four house-elves à la Harry Potter, but without the mischief (as far as we know.)

Æbleskiver Skillet

And, despite an unexpected early departure directly after Vespers (Cameron’s husband Bill works for FEMA and had a hurricane-related deployment so the RCMQ sped homeward so she could see him off), they still found time to wash sheets, re-make beds and clean the upstairs within an inch of its 148-year-old life.

Æbleskiver!

Perhaps the most unexpected serendipity of their stay was Mark’s Sunday morning breakfast treat — Æbleskiver!  This was our introduction to the traditional Danish pancakes made in the distinctive shape of a sphere.  Mark brought the special skillet and other ingredients but counted on our girls to supply the eggs, which they did. When he was growing up in Luck, Wisconsin, it was the pièce de résistance at church events and he is an expert at making them.  I’m so sorry I missed the cooking process, locked away as I was in my office.

But… I ate at least a half-dozen of them, some with cinnamon, some with applesauce, some with blueberry jelly!  Wow!

And I don’t even eat breakfast!

 

One Response to “Quadruple the Fun… Exponentially!”

  1. Cindi Bartels says:

    Wonderful ! Sounds like heaven !

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