potluck

Tonight was the last Wednesday of the month which means it was potluck night. I didn't count but the official tally was 120 people for supper. As could be expected in a crowd of 50 or so grandmothers nobody had any reason to go home hungry. There were a couple of exciting moments. Of course it doesn't take much to make the moment exciting when the average age of the room is north of 65.

The first moment came about 15 minutes after we had drawn numbers to see what order the tables would go up to the buffet line. Our table was 3 tables over from the west wall and we drew #2. That seemed pretty straightforward to me - we would go up to the food line after table #1, whoever they turned out to be. We went back to visiting. After a while we sensed a commotion further up the table and turned to see what was going on. We turned just in time to hear an elderly gentleman speaking very firmly and loudly saying "this has always been table #3 - you can see if you count - 1 - 2 - 3" and he gesticulated toward the wall. Several people attempted to explain the system to him but he seemed intent on sticking with the plan to be table #3. I have a short attention span so I went back to my conversation but Marilyn apparently stayed focused on Mr. #3 and he stayed focused on being #3 almost up to the point where we all got up to follow table #1 and left him behind. By then he seemed to have it figured out.

Now it was pretty hot in the hall and when you put 120 moderately overweight people wearing shorts in an already hot room with limited circulation the temperature isn't going to drop. So it shouldn't have come as any surprise when somewhere between chicken wings, lasagna and the dessert table there was another commotion at the far end of our table. Come to think of it, our table seemed to be providing the only entertainment for the evening. Round 2 wasn't nearly as benign as simple confusion about a table number. Round 2 appeared to be some sort of a cardiac event judging from the pallid complexion and anxious gathering of ex-nurses taking pulses and generally fussing. Shortly after we realized that something was happening we heard an ambulance pull up and six - yep - count 'em - six EMTs appeared to attend to Mr. Cardiac. One may have come in a separate vehicle since his sole responsibility seemed to be payment details and he stuck around after the meat wagon had left but the other 5 seemed to be directly associated with the actual ambulance. Marilyn's comment was "no wonder their healthcare is so expensive".

Tomorrow we leave for the Keys. I've heard about the Florida Keys since we first moved to Nipawin. Ron & John Harker and their wives used to go to the Keys in the winter. I had never really paid much attention to them but they look to be a pretty neat location. We'll watch some sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico and post some pictures once we get back.