We arrived at the farm, only a few miles from my house. Parked in the recently cut hay field. Sauntered past the pond, bonfire, and assorted barns and paused to chat with Mo, her hubs, and her momma. Then wandered up to the party barn to find something refreshing to drink, see and be seen - as is the custom. We glanced at the silent auction items. Spoke to those we knew, introduced ourselves to a few we did not.
Observed the grill masters, hard at work preparing our dinner. And wandered to the paddocks to see if we could pet the horses. We admired the flowers and scenery (see photos).
And then proceeded to find seats near the stage. We sat with two delightful couples, but found the barn uncomfortably warm after the side doors were closed to block the glare of the setting sun. Since we were near the front, we got to go through the buffet line first, after the pledge of allegiance, blessing of the food, announcements, and recognition of veterans and service members, of course.
The food was delicious! Steak, baked potato, carrots, corn, fruit salad, and rolls. Yum! Stowell's Catering always puts on a lovely spread! (I should know, I've only eaten their food 3 times in the last week.)
The music was rather loud so it was difficult to converse with other members of our table. As we were finishing our plates, Mo came over and AB and I offered to help organize the silent auction check out. AB collected final auction slips and I ran credit cards through this nifty device that connected to the app on someone's phone. It was mass chaos for at least 45 minutes. Once the live action began, things settled down and AB and I retired from our impromptu duties to enjoy strawberry cream pie and sit with Mamatez for the duration of the evening.
Best moment of the whole evening occurred after our traipse through the dark hay field to AB's car. Turning out of the farm, we noticed some strange lights in the sky. I joked that we were witnessing an alien invasion. In a grand spirit of adventure, we followed the source of the lights and discovered that they were not aliens - I was disappointed - but chinese lanterns being released from someone's yard. AB pulled the car over and we marveled at the wonderful sight they created. The movie Tangled makes a lot more sense now. The lanterns really are beautiful.
AB took me home and we gave a summary of the evening's events to my parents, much like what you've read. And that is all.
Thus, my first time attending the Rotary Roundup. Thank you and good night!
