saturday we hosted a party where all of the parents from sabin's class were invited. everyone had to bring a course and since we were hosting, we only had to provide snacks and a welcome drink, plus coffee and a bit of fun from the liquor cabinet at the end of the meal. i did up my famous stuffed bread and we made a warm spiced apple cider, since we started out with everyone outdoors on the deck to take advantage of the glorious weather. they could choose to spike it with calvados or a marvelous cinnamon-vanilla snaps (you can guess which i chose). we figured a good glug of liquor to start off would relax everyone. along with a little puzzle game, it seemed to do the trick.

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i'll admit i hadn't really been looking forward to the party all that much. i had suggested an abba theme, where we all dressed up 70s and played abba music all evening and drank fun retro cocktails, but the less daring members of the party committee vetoed the idea as soon as my back was turned (tho' not to my face, of course). i figured that since all we really had in common with these people was breeding at the same time, the party would be short and everyone would go home by 10:30 or so. my dread was slightly confirmed when the first guests showed up not fashionably late, but unfashionably 15 minutes early. sigh. i was afraid it was going to be an awfully long night.

but people had gone all out on their assigned dishes and when we started off with a beautiful salmon herb roll artistically arranged on my marilyn monroe plates, followed by another spectacular creamy herby roll with scallops and shrimp, i cheered up considerably. main courses were a beautiful spinach quiche with a grilled eggplant salad, lamb kebabs and a fresh tabbouli laced with succulent red kernels of pomegranate, and a gorgeous spicy, lemon grass and coconut milk thai dish. for dessert, an apple crumble and a chocolatey ice cream cake. in all, a brilliant menu. and there's nothing like good food and plenty of wine to ease the flow of conversation.

it was well after midnight before the first guest left and nigh on 3 a.m. when the last ones departed, so i think it was safe to say it was really a successful party and despite my reservations at the beginning, i had a great time. less successful for me the next day after all that wine, but life is short and you have to go to extremes sometimes.

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sabin and lizette

on sunday, while i took sabin to her riding lesson, husband was industriously preparing the outside of the house for the filsning it's going to have (i don't know what that's called in english...it's when you cover the bricks of your house with a thin layer of mortar and sand). part of the preparation involved getting rid of some cords on the outside of the house. one of which happened to be our live internet cable and not an old cord at all. and he snipped it off at the ground. which, you can imagine, made him very popular. he must have begged and pleaded, because TDC came out already this morning and fixed it. i think he knew his very well-being depended on it being fixed quickly, so he worked some kind of magic.

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sabin and felix

sabin really jumped for the first time at her saturday lesson. she was riding felix, an oldenburg. he must be at least 17 hands tall and has the most beautiful gait and he eagerly jumped for her. you can see the big grin on her face in this shot. she was so happy that she got to jump for real that i just had to share this picture. our resolve is even greater to get the farm with space for horses. (hence the whole thing with preparing the house for sale.)

i'm a little bummed that i missed a day of posting, but it wasn't all bad to find out that i still existed, even when i wasn't online. catch you the rest of this week from norway.