The "Barbeque" was Fabulous

At least, I'm going to claim it was barbeque (even though it was technically a cookout). About 20 guys showed up with lots of food, and everyone seemed to have a good time. I enjoy hosting these parties but I'm glad I have Sunday to recover.

Tim came over a couple of hours before the party began to put finishing touches on the preparations. Every time we'd get finished with something, I'd remember one more thing that had to be done. Tim was very gracious and cheerful, and has plenty of experience dealing with a very blond Happy.

Guest started arriving in significant numbers around 4:30. As always, they gathered in the kitchen. I started the charcoal in the grill, and about ten after five started throwing the meat on. Jim offered to help, and Jim's Tim rolled his eyes and came along to supervise. It turned out that Jim and Tim were quite the culinary team, and never were there more perfect hamburgers or sausages (as well as the Korean short ribs that Charley brought along). Such excellent help these days!

We had the sailors in the kitchen, the intellectuals in the living room, and the hungry boys (mainly square dancers) downstairs waiting for meat to come off the grill. The evening had a very interest social ecology going on, with guys moving from group to group, but each group maintaining a lot of its own integrity throughout the evening. The great coming together was over the dining room table, and most guests made multiple trips to the spread, all the while being very social, so that everyone pretty much had an opportunity to talk with everyone else.

The cleanup was quick after the last reveler left, and I was in bed watching South Park shortly thereafter.