November 26, 2011

Enough Food For All

For Thanksgiving 80 people showed up. Forty were invited. It usually works the other way. Half as many as invited show up.

I washed a total of four plates and spent the afternoon playing croquet on the lawn with our guests.

I don’t get the alone time I’d like to have here in order to write, and this past week was especially challenging with the holiday.

But that’s the world. I’m thankful for a roof over my head and for being able to swing a mallet while the cleanup was done without me.

42 comments:

Almas Kiran Shamim said...

a belated happy thanksgiving ed :)

glad that u enjoyed the day.. :)

Brian Miller said...

and i am thankful to see you...smiles.

glad you had fun...

how did you get out with just 4 plates?

That gentleman's lady said...

80 plates sounds like a successful thanksgiving and croquet on the lawn sounds like an excellent idea.

Here's to hoping that you find time soon x

Jax said...

Only four dishes? That's not bad at all. I think I washed about 1000. hahaha

Writing is great, but the experience you are having right now out ways it all. Glad you had a great holiday :)

Marion said...

I'm glad you had a happy Thanksgiving, Ed. I did have to wash lots of dishes, but I didn't have to cook much, so that was a good trade in my book.

Love & Blessings,
Marion

-- said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful, T-day, Ed! Tons of guests, very few plates to wash ~ winning combo! :D

We must never forget how fortunate we are to have a roof over our heads ~ glad you mentioned this :)

Hope you can find some time to write more soon. Despite that, I really enjoyed this post! :)

Claudia said...

a thanksgiving party with 80 people.. wow - sounds awesome..maybe next time you should use paper plates..then there's no washing to do at all..smiles..love the pic...def. has style

Pat Hatt said...

Wow that is a ton of people. I bet you only had to wash 4 plates because you gave the rest paper plates, right?..haha

Jill said...

Very heartwarming, Ed. Those are 80 lucky people.

I also miss your writing and comments. Just know that we'll all be here when time allows you to visit.

Lisa said...

okay there is no romance in dishwashing, everything else sounds fun.

Geraldine said...

You have a kind and generous heart Ed. I'm glad the dinner went well and there was enough food for everyone. Croquet in November, what a novel idea when you live in Canada LOL

Sheila said...

I'm with Claudia - paper plates, Ed , paper plates! :)

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

Whew, 80! Glad you were able to pull off stretching the food. I've been part host of parties with about 50, and it's daunting but fun, too. Croquet sounds like the best solution. ;)

EcoGrrl said...

way to go - sounds like you guys had a great impact on the community! congratulations :) not LA weather here but mild and sunny in the 50's here - definitely miss my santa barbara days when i'm shivering here!

ps to the other comments - NO on promoting paper plates - horribly wasteful! :)

Janie Junebug said...

Croquet sounds so aristocratic. I prefer my poor little polo pony.

Love,
Lola

Kathy G said...

SO glad you had enough food for all the extra guests :-)

Ruhi said...

Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving :)

Mary said...

One must live the life that comes one's way. There are always trade-offs. An afternoon of croquet seems a find trade-off for an afternoon of writing poetry. Happy Thanksgiving, Ed.

Wine and Words said...

Funny Shutter Bug, I read your life, but I have a hard time picturing it. You are so descriptive of others, but of yourself I am shown outlines, within which I must color, and I am reticent to get it wrong.

Sheri said...

I haven't played Croquet in forever. Sounds like a wonderful day. Happy belated Thanksgiving. I do hope you have time to write soon; I look forward to it.

suvaiba said...

i just wish that you enjoy each day as this one.
and the picture you know it's pretty common but i dunnoe why but it gives me a sense of SPEECHLESSNESS <3

Bernie said...

Sounds like a wonderful thanksgiving, so happy for all of you......:-)Hugs

Ed Pilolla said...

brian, i got out with only doing four plats by virtue of stepping up to the sink when two other people were already bellied up but a few feet away at the time placing plates in stacks. when there are too many cooks in the kitchen, it's the perfect time to scram:)

Andy Santana said...

Olá,
passando para conhecer o seu blog,
adorei,
bom domingo.

Ed Pilolla said...

claudia, the suggestion was made at our meeting early thursday morning: let's use paper plates. we have those very sturdy, multiple section paper plates and they would have been perfect. but real plates have a more intimate feel. so i was the vote that tipped the scales to real plates. then i only washed four:)

Su-sieee! Mac said...

LOL! There's nothing like walking away after 4 dishes or offering to help when only 4 dishes are left to do.

ayala said...

Happy belated Thanksgiving !
Happy you had fun! :)

Ed Pilolla said...

we had so much food. people left with leftovers.

Yvonne Osborne said...

Too many dishwashers can get in the way of an orderly cleanup. Smart of you to get out of the way! Know when to walk away....know when to run! I can't imagine 80 guests. We had a table of four, but it was intimate and special in a different kind of way.

darlin said...

Wow, that's a lot of people to feed, how many cooks were there? Sounds like a great way to spend a day in my opinion, I love having people over and feeding them, I'm weird like that.

Birdie said...

my belated 'happy thanksgiving' Ed, i have been traveling ... and a part of all the really important things today i'm just so very grateful for the washing machine (i think i have so much laundry like you mentioned in your past post ;-) hope you're well :-)

Alexandra said...

Yay to the respect that real plates implies: it says you're worth the trouble.

Love this idea.

Ed Pilolla said...

yvonne, what's interesting is that 20, or even 80 is intimate here. the soup kitchen serves 1,200 meals in a day. but thanksgiving is a sort of national day of volunteering holiday, which means the missions and other places serve beautiful meals in skid row for the poor, which allows the l.a. catholic worker (i'm not fond of the name but that's the name of this place) to go smaller and more intimate for the holiday.

the economy is producing a ton of poor people. we see it at the soup kitchen, and we saw it on thanksgiving. homeless people are routinely put in jail and prison for minor infractions, including jaywalking and missing a meeting with their parole officer. it seems as if the elites are trying to incarcerate the entire underclass and though they have built so many prisons to that end, they can't keep up with the number of poor people their global economy is producing.

Ed Pilolla said...

for the record, it is much cheaper to house the homeless with social services on the premises than to cycle them through the missions and jails. every study that has looked at this data has come to the same conclusion.

said...

Way to be a Mary instead of a Martha, playing and congregating instead of working. I'm glad you only had to wash 4 plates. :)

Susie Clevenger said...

Happy Belated Thanksgiving...sounds like you had a wonderful day. Thanks for taking the time to let us know how your day was spent.

trump said...

I hope that you yourself had your Thanksgiving Ed, and i bet you felt really good for doing that. Your a good man. Richard

Stephanie D said...

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I was on "clean-up" duty this year, but there were only 5 of us (plus 3 cats eyeing the turkey). It was a fair trade for not having to cook. :)
I've starting reading The Glitch. Really enjoying it so far.

Unknown said...

Wow, but I am sure you enjoyed the company. I am sure you have plenty of alone time as it is. Great post. Thank you for sharing!

-Erick Flores

P.S - Please check out my poetry blog, it would mean a lot. Thank you in advanced. I hope to hear from you soon.

Zeba said...

Aw. That sounds like fun. And good reasons to be thankful for. Lucky you. :-)

Jingle Poetry At Olive Garden said...

breath taking.



How is your day?

Time flies, appreciated your handsome inputs to our poetry picnic.

Share a random poem today.
Bless you.
Happy December,
Enjoy A Wonderful Wednesday Ahead.

xoxox

Jyoti Mishra said...

Happy thanksgiving... I know m very late :P

but never mind !!