Friday's tree

Another foggy morning. If you look closely, you can see that all the maple tree's underpinnings are turning yellow, and the ground at her feet is covered with leaves. This tree is the last in the neighborhood to get leaves, and also the last to lose them.

You can see a lot more of the stand of firs behind her. It's nice to live in an established neighborhood with well-grown trees. The only time we worry is when the occasional hurricane or ice storm blows through. The neighbors in back of us have a huge old fir tree that has never been properly thinned, and the wind hits it just like a big sail. The tree is to the south and west of our house. Most of the big storms come from the south and west. I guess, like the big earthquake they keep predicting for us, it's just a matter of time . . .

I'm serving oatmeal/cranberry cookies, and chocolate shortbreads sandwiched together with coffee jelly. Think I ought to bake up a pan of basic shortbreads as well? the honey/applsauce cake (with apricots) came out quite nicely as did the lemon cake. Then I'm fixing a quick fruit salad with canned pineapple and mandarin oranges with coconut and a touch of yogurt (at DH's request. I don't know if he wants to save me effort, or if he's craving some.) and I think I'll pick up a bag of clementines because people should have the opportunity to choose SOMETHING remotely non-fattening. And one of my new guests, who is intolerant to glutten, is bringing her own cookies.

Tomorrow morning is going to be divine madness. I'll have to re-arrange and dress the living room, sandwich the shortbreads, slice the cheese roll-ups (I forgot to mention the cheese rollups. Gotta have something savory with all that sugar) and plate them, make multiple pots of tea (and fill thermoses) make coffee (and fill thermos) put out milk and fruit salad, clean the cat boxes just before I expect people to start arriving or the crapweasles will leave a stinking present for everyone to enjoy. They Love to crap in a freshly cleaned litterbox. Oh, and gather some colored leaves from the snowball bush out back to enhance the decorations. And take photos. Geeze I wish you could be here. I just love the bustle and adrenalin of the party prep. And then the laughter and love that fills the place when everyone arrives splashes up on the walls and ceiling and lingers for weeks after the fun. These tea parties fill my home with good energy. I'm usually so jazzed afterwards that I could almost run a whole block! Poor DH gets his ears just chattered to little nubs because between the sugar, the caffeine, and the happiness, I simply can not stop talking. Now I have to go plate the oatmeal cookies and put out the cheese spread so it will be soft enough to smear when I get home from work. Squeee!