A September Sunday

By Belinda

They followed me home from church, their silver van tracking my beat up, faithful Honda over the rural road, up hills, past farms and fields.

At least once a month we have a big family dinner and this was the day. We missed last month's due to vacations, so it felt like a long time since our house was filled full with grandchildren.

They piled out of the van and Andrew said, "We followed you all the way from church."

I said, "I didn't realize. If I knew you were following I would have driven so much better!" This was true. :)

7 year old William asked, "Do you know if we are having Yorkshire's?"

"Hmm," I said, thoughtfully, "Let me see."

"Well, obviously you do know," he said, seeing that he'd asked the wrong question.

I laughed and was happy to confirm for William that yes, indeed there would Yorkshire's! I made 48 Yorkshire puddings in fact, to go with the roast beef, and all of them vanished, devoured by the 11 hungry mouths around the table. That makes an average of 4 each and I know I only ate two. Oh my!

Later on, as the happy chaos that unfolds with a house full of family was getting tidied up, I checked my suddenly much faster email. Pete had worked magic with our internet, making it run as fast as greased lightning after he checked the signal strength and wondered how we got by with such a grindingly slow signal. We had nothing to compare it with so who knew?

There was an email from Susan! It said:
How would you feel about giving a cup coffee to two weary travelers who don't want their vacation quite to end yet? If so, the GPS says we would arrive about 7:15 - maybe 7:30 if we have to stop for gas one more time. 
If you and Paul are doing something else, or are too tired, don't worry about it. We just thought that sharing some of the adventure with you face-to-face and hearing how things have been going for you guys back here would be a nice way to wind up our time away. 
I replied:
Come on over! That would be wonderful. I can't believe you are so close to home already! The coffee pot will be on and the red carpet out.See you soon!
And that's how a perfect day ended. With two dear, freshly vacationed friends, tanned and with sun kissed hair, sinking into our wing backed chairs and treating us to tales of the beauty and culture of Newfoundland, where they have spent the past couple of weeks.

And tomorrow is a holiday. I am deeply grateful for blessing upon blessing this September Sunday.

Comments

Dave Hingsburger said…
Joe's dad, a Geordie from Seam Harbour, made the most magnificent Yorkshire puddings. They always rose hugely high in the pan and were perfect recepticles for gravy. My mother's puddings were a bit more, um, Canadian, resembling hockey pucks. Either way, I loved them. We've only once made them like Joe's dad's, and barely succeeded at failing as well as my mother did ... our attempts have been doughy and chewy and, in a word, awful. So how about, one day, a picture of your Yorkshires ... I'm guessing that they're more like Joe's dad's than my mothers.
8:20 PM
Susan said…
Yes, I agree with Dave. You need to post a photo of your Yorkshires. How 'bout this Thursday night? That would be a GREAT day to take a picture! :)
8:32 PM
Belinda said…
Ha ha! My Mum makes the hockey puck Yorkshires too!

Susan, I can't do it on Thursday, but I'm making them for Friday, for the roast beef dinner for your team. :) I will take a photo then. I've decided that making 48 at once isn't a good idea. I'm going back to batches of 24 cooking at a time. Some cook perfectly and others are soggy dough balls when I try to do too many at once. Nobody seems to notice mind you! :)
9:36 PM
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