Magical Frog Pond Dig Soiree

It is the sort of event you aren't sure is going to come off -- like a move. Is it going to happen? Is it going to be awful? Are my people who promised to come going to come?

The event was scheduled for Dining at 6, Digging to Commence Immediately After. Adrian has never been an especially enthusiastic physical laborer and I've never set down judgments about that, though I could, considering he is of a family of physical laborers... Is it a good thing? A bad thing? I don't know. But he agreed to come -- this Magical Froggy Pond is for HIS upcoming child after all.

While planning this event it seemed a lovely idea to set up a canopy. Dining outside, nice enough on it's own, also provides a lovely "nest" if you will for Shanna, the mother-to-be, to be. And so the canopy was raised, a nice cushioned wicker chair was settled in. Odd chairs from here and there were gathered round. Lucy the Cheerful Bichon, who is visiting, checked to make sure all the preparations were being placed correctly. She especially approved the sheer swag for it's
festive appeal. I was about to string lights inside the canopy when it began to rain buckets and vermin.

Oh no -- I was pretty sure I could get them to come to dig ... but would they come to dig if it were raining? Would they bulk... would they grumble? Well, yes, they would grumble, de rigeur for any work required event. The food was already prepared and with rain coming in torrents there was only so much fussing I could do with the tables and table settings. Then, just in time, it cleared. The rain ceased, the sun came out -- temperatures had dipped comfortably and the ground where the digging would take place was softer but not soaked. How good was this? Divine Providence.

And so they came... Well, Shanna, the Mother-to-Be, did not come and I was very sorry to not get to spend time with her -- she is very dear. She sent her regrets and it reminded me of when Adrian was very nearly here. I had a day when I felt, oddly, not quite right... and then nothing. For several days I was fine as fine, till one day, during which I felt like any other day, he came.

My workers were amazed that I set out all this for them. If not for them, then who? And as it was raining I didn't get to set up the lights or really fuss with the tables, but men do not notice. As it was they seemed pleased. Impressed. Hungry.

I love those little ceramic dishes -- they all have lids, so I can prepare all my foods, stack them in the fridge and yet they are nice enough to set on a table (I have issues with plastics as tableware. Seems lots of my issues involve the table... I eschew paper napkins... Oh, if only there were time enough to seek proper mental health.) What I opted to serve -- because we would be working afterward, and because my son and his wife are vegetarians, -- was veggie wraps. Filling enough that my workers wouldn't faint, healthy enough that they wouldn't stuff themselves into a useless stupor.

It worked and so did they. They dug... they cracked concrete. Adrian, as it turned out, was a really really good digger. And he was the one who helped me figure the shape. I can usually envision anything -- things that aren't there is a specialty of mine... But this Magical Frog Pond had me stumped. The white stuff is flour that we used as a sort of "chalk" line. They did such a nice job.
Once the big chunks of concrete were broken up and once the perimeter was dug my workers enjoyed a lovely dessert... strawberries, apples, raspberries with orange glace and whipped cream. We admired their work and then they left. It is now up to me to dig deep, to fuss, to get the fine points right.

This is what I will be doing for days -- but what I lack in speed, I make up for in sheer sticktoitiveness ... and so I go, back to dig. It will be done soon. It will be a Magical Frog Pond.